Brize Norton sprint triathlon

This was my first triathlon of the season. And after having a tough race only a few days before (including my crash), I was going into this with very little expectations. Anyway, this is a small event put on by the RAF to try to encourage new people into our great sport and we were not disappointed; we had some amazingly quick novices turn up, in fact the winner was a novice!

The swim went ok, I was held up for a length in the pool, but the guy in front very politely stopped at the end of the pool after I tapped his feet a few times. I touched the wall after my 16 lengths in a time of 6:43 and was fairly content with that.

Quickly through transition and I was out on my bike (after almost wiping myself out with a poor flying mount!). The bike course is flat, but it seemed quite windy to me and I never felt like I got going. My legs felt tired after the tough Olympic duathlon only a few days before. I didn't really see anyone on the bike leg, one guy from my swim wave was away up the road and the other two were behind me somewhere. About 2 or 3km from transition a guy from my swim wave caught up to me, we then rode back together, pushing each other hard to get into T2 first. My calf cramped up slightly as we rolled into T2 but soon released itself.

My new racing buddy just got to T2 first, we racked our bikes and set off for the run. I had a quicker transition and got a few seconds on him. I then felt that my laces were not tight enough on my running trainers (poor admin on my part!), so had to stop, pull them tight and then BANG. Cramp in my calf again! A quick stretch and the cramp was gone, but so was my new racing buddy. The calf still didn't feel right but I set off after him, he saw his chance and pulled away and put 15 seconds into me very quickly. I wasn't running that comfortably, the calf wasn't painful, just a little annoying. I ignored it and set about my task of catching the guy in front. I was working hard, but not getting any closer to the guy in front. It was still 15 seconds and even though I couldn't see the guys face (as I was behind him) he looked super smooth. At this point I thought I wouldn't be able to run him down, so just concentrated on my own running form, thinking "lean", "fast feet" and "head up and relax". I was passing other competitors from previous waves, but the guy in front was still looking good. I guess we were a little over 2km from the finish, we were crossing a meadow and I thought if I had any chance of catching this guy I would have to really work hard from here on in. I knew we had a short flat section ahead, followed by a small hill, if I could close the gap by the top of the small hill I might just have a chance. It was time to step into the Hurt Box!

It wasn't pretty from here onwards. I pushed really, really hard. I got to the small hill and pushed again, passing other slower competitors. I got to the top of the hill and timed how far in front my guy was, it was now 10 seconds. I knew we had just over 1km to go. He was still looking strong. Could I get to him?

I was pushing hard again, my form was terrible, there was sweat, snot and spit everywhere (sorry for the graphic description!). He was too far in front. He was looking strong. We rounded a corner and there must have been about 300 metres to go. However, as I got round the corner he was about 5 seconds ahead of me and slowing down. I actually thought I might catch him. He looked round, saw me and looked a broken man. Before I knew it I was on his shoulder. I remember reading a race report from an American triathlete called Jesse Thomas (who won Wildflower a few weeks ago) and he said as you catch the race leader (or any runner really) on the run, you must blow straight by him, to not allow him to latch on to you. With this in mind, I pushed again and he seemed to drop away, although I could still hear him working very hard behind me. We were now back on the RAF base, we had about 20 or 30m to go before turning a corner, then another 20 or 30m before the finish chute. I turned to see how much time I'd put into my new friend. He was actually still on my shoulder! OMG! It was going to be a sprint for the finish!

We turned the corner and both gave absolutely everything! We both were sprinting as if our lives were depending on it, we crossed the line and both collapsed on the floor. I got it!

I managed 12th overall and a time of about 30 seconds faster than last year. I've not analysed last years result, but I would imagine that the time was made up on the run. As I said earlier, I felt flat & tired on the bike, hence a fairly similar time overall. Looking at this years results there was only 25 seconds separating 7th and 13th position, so it was a close run affair at my level.

A great race and a big thanks go out to the organisers. Train and race smart all!