Social & Information

Tri for me is dominated by the swim. Having learned to swim in advance of my first tri season, 2009, I haven't been doing it long enough to feel comfy. I seem to spend hours before races worrying about the time in the water - will I drown? Will I get punched or kicked? Will someone swim over me? Will I finish last? I feel like kissing the ground as I crawl out, generally!

This time, the swim was relatively uneventful for me - until the end... There seemed to be loads of people bunched up swimming similar times to me, so I deliberately took a wider line. This strategy was going well until the last turn, when I found myself on the inside and surrounded by thrashing limbs. Amazingly, I emerged unscathed, but I lost a bit of ground in the process.

The 800m dash into transition always feels dreadful after the swimming, but once I'd found my bike I was happy - soon I was up to speed and overtaking swimmers (always confidence-inspiring). I had to be disciplined on the bike, and try to ride within my comfort zone, as previous experience suggests I go too hard on the bike and then can't run for toffee! Even so, as soon as I got through the second transition and out onto the run course, I struggled to hold a decent pace, and was passed by several of the guys I had flown past on the bike... The heat on the run course also conspired to make it hard, combined with the cobbles and the soft boarding. I couldn't find anyone afterwards who enjoyed the run! One of the great things about London is the support you get around the course, which was really helpful. Thanks to everyone who shouted for me along the way - I think I saw most people, but I wasn't always in the position to reply!!

The event is the Olympic distance triathlon at London,. The official distances are Olympic Distance (Tower Bridge Route): Swim - 1500m / Bike - 38.7km / Run - 9.8km but Heath reckons the swim was long and we all feel the run was 10K plus (or is that just cos it hurt?)

Greg took part in the sub 2.30 group (no mean feat!!) and did a superb 2.16.41 to come 27th in that group. The rest (apart from me) took part in the men's open event and their positions and times are below. I decided to take part in the men's age category (V50-54) and came 20th and was best pleased to actually do it justice this year (1st year got kicked off my bike and fractured my elbow, 2nd year set off on the last wave so was not allowed to complete the 2nd lap on the bike as they had to re-open the roads, so whilst it seemed a great overall time it was not a true reflection, also nearly had to be cut out of my wetsuit as the zip got stuck.

I think it is safe to say we were (almost) all pleased with our results, Heath as he had a good bike leg, Martin as it was his first go and he was not too keen on open water swimming, Keith, as I think, judging by his 1st transition, had plenty of time to do his makeup and nails!! Mark I think was aiming for sub 2.30 but I haven't had chance to have a good chat with him yet.

London Triathlon 2010, 9th August 2010

Name	Category	Swim time	Bike time	Run time	Total time
Greg Elwell	MSUB	00:26:33	01:00:41	00:44:10	02:16:41
Heath Reilly	MOPEN	00:29:41	01:06:11	00:52:53	02:34:48
Dene Townend	M50/54	00:40:18	01:08:37	00:45:27	02:40:59
Mark Gaughan	MOPEN	00:36:44	01:12:41	00:50:33	02:46:30
Keith Midgley	MOPEN	00:34:57	01:17:00	00:59:56	03:01:26
Martin Haigh	MOPEN	00:44:55	01:19:43	00:55:10	03:08:06