Report from Hamish. The VALT is the biggest triathlon in the country with 13,000 competitors taking part across two days, over distances from super sprint to Olympic plus, and in categories from elite to age groupers to corporate relays. It all happens around the ExCel centre in London’s Docklands, and with waves of athletes moving through every 30 minutes, some starting, some finishing, others mid transition, all in amongst an EXPO selling every conceivable piece of triathlon kit known to man, it’s an exciting atmosphere. It’s all about mass participation, and with a handful of celebs and even the Branson family in attendance there’s a real buzz in the air. My race was the Olympic distance (1500 swim/40k bike/10k run) for SVM age groupers. Having entered last year and found the swim a bit of a slog, I knew my big challenge would be to nail a better swim, setting me up for the bike and hopefully a strong finish. Our age group was first away on Sunday morning, start time 6.30am. Saturday had been a perfect sunny day, but there was definitely an autumn chill in the air when the doors of the Excel opened at 5.30am and around 100 of us shuffled in hoping the Costa would be open (it wasn’t). With over 20 waves of all types racing that day, the transition area is simply massive; row upon row of bikes, towels, shoes, drinks stretching seemingly for miles. As we sorted out our kit, the main topic of conversation was whether it would actually be light by 6.30, let alone sunny. By 6.15 we were all gathered at ‘swim despatch’, but with little sign of the dawn, the organisers decided to wait for another 20 minutes…not the best thing for jangling nerves! However, we were soon filing down the steps and leaping lemming-like into the black docklands water. I’ve done a few mass swims now but it’s still a bit daunting when 100 swimmers strike out en masse. You do get a bit of physical contact for the first few minutes, and a couple of kicks to the head followed by a lungful of Thames water certainly woke me up. After a few hundred metres I found some similar paced swimmers and we drafted along together, meaning the rest of the swim flew past, over 5 minutes quicker than last year. I’m pleased to say I also avoided swimming into a rescue canoe like last year – result! Transition is known as the ‘4th discipline’ and while I’ve always been a bit sceptical about the seriousness with which some take it (practising taking off your wetsuit seems a bit extreme to me) I have to admit it is pretty impressive just how fast some people can get out of their wetsuits and onto their bikes. As I fumbled with clips and velcro I made a mental note to be less sceptical next time… The bike leg is two laps on closed roads around London, taking in some […]
triathlon
Report from Hamish Despite sounding like something out of the Channel4 sitcom ‘Father Ted’, the Craggy Island Triathlon is a tough but entertaining, sprint distance off-road triathlon set on the small island of Kerrera, just off the west coast of Scotland near Oban. Launched last year by Durty events (www.durtyevents.com, inventors of the now legendary ‘Celtman’ race) it was voted ‘Most Enjoyable Event’ in 2011 and sold out so fast this year that the organisers obligingly decided to host two races, one on Saturday and one on Sunday. Having accidentally (ok, stupidly) entered on both days, I figured that if the ground was wet then the course would be easier on day 1, so Saturday it was. (Only Grant or Brendan would have done both days ) I duly turned up on the pier at Gallanach with supportive wife, all my triathlon stuff (technical term) and a broad range of other competitors, to catch the tiny ferry across to the island. The crossing takes the same route as the impending swim, and the excited tri-related chat dried up somewhat as the boat butted through the grey waves, taking much longer to cross than imagined. With slightly wobbly legs we arrived at Kerrera, registered at the tent and made our way to ‘transition’, in a big grassy field. The banter was soon flowing thick and fast again as we applied lube and struggled into wetsuits in the rain, and fought with the wind to lay out our kit in some sort of order (ok, heap). With wetsuits on, it was time to get the boat back to the mainland for the start of the race. The combination of the landing-craft style ferry and the apprehension in the air was reminiscent of the start of “saving Private Ryan”, but I’m pleased to say that the briefing and heckling on the pier was great and in no time we were in the sea warming up. (“16 degrees” the organiser said. “Farenheit?” came the reply.) With a blast of the hooter we were off, 170 blue caps churning our way back to the island. I hauled myself out of the water and up the jetty after about 11mins in 35th position – thankfully without any jellyfish encounters – and raced off towards transition. There is a granny gear on my bike so embarrassingly low that I feel I really shouldn’t use it, in case I get spotted by some ‘real’ Mountain bikers. By the first Km marker I think I had already used it about dozen times. A combination of muddy foot paths, quad tracks, open hillside and loose land rover tracks may sound like a playground to some, but it was a pretty stiff challenge for my non-cycle specific legs and tragic lack of mtb skills. Several climbs were so steep I had to get off and run, the descents an hilarious mix from untracked hillside to fast-as-you-dare farm track. The description of the ride on the website is “go out as fast […]
This is an off-road sprint distance triathlon, (distances are roughly 400m swim/20k bike/5k run) and is aimed at the novice and not-so-serious triathletes (the tone was set by Frazer the race director at the briefing: ‘anyone caught taking this too seriously will have penalty points added’ and ‘activities such as stretching will be frowned upon!’) It’s a very popular event, and with Saturday already full I turned up on a gorgeous sunny highland Sunday morning to race my first tri of the season. The swim took place in the newly refurbished and swanky Lochaber Leisure Centre, where competitors ranged from very accomplished freestylers to more leisurely breaststrokers; heats were run in lanes (none of the usual rough and tumble of open water swim starts) with a very civilised break between swim and bike. Times duly noted, (I finished 14th, 4mins30 behind the fastest swimmer) we got changed and cycled to the bottom of the Glen Nevis road, ready to set off according to our swim times. It is truly agonising to watch 13 cyclists get a head start on you and disappear off into the distance, but over the 20k mix of tarmac, fire road and single track (including a couple of climbs that had me reaching for the granny ring and one white knuckle descent) I managed to catch a few and by the time we got back to transition I was in 6th place. Using my signature move of overtaking one person who was changing her shoes, (I’m not proud of it but it all counts!) I set off back up the Glen, this time on foot. By this time the sun was out and the views were stunning across the Mamores, taking my mind off the akwardness of running straight off the bike. Some ‘interesting’ offroad climbs and a furious forestry descent later, I now found myself in 3rd place with number 2 in sight; with the gentle easterly wind at my back I managed to reel him in slowly and finished in 2nd place, 1st SVet. Congrats to Race leader Martin Steven who won by nearly 5 minutes, and to Saturday’s winner Ewan Thorburn who was over 7 minutes quicker still. Very glad not to have been in that race! Once again, No Fuss conjured up really nice atmosphere, a great course, big medals and bobbly hats. If anyone fancies it, they run another triathlon in September, although it’s slightly more challenging: a 1.9k swim in Loch Lhinne, a 90km offroad bike ride, finishing with a 21k run to the summit of Ben Nevis and back. Details. Go on, you know you want to Report from Hamish