Brecon Triathlon 2011 Race Report and Results

Brecon triathlon went well for me yesterday. Anna and Morgan came with me, so after a fairly early start and porridge for breakfast I packed the car and we headed off for the two hour drive to Brecon.

We got the just before 9am so saw the first of the swimmers start. I wasn’t supposed to start until around 11am so we had a wander around, I registered, set up my transition area and we watched a few people head out on the bike and then return. I then got changed and as the organisers were ahead of themselves they were letting people start earlier than their allotted time so I got ready to start my race.

The pool was quiet and I didn’t get held up at all but I don’t think I was really quite ready for it. I didn’t do any sort of warm up and just wasn’t really concentrating. I even remember halfway through the swim thinking to myself that I wasn’t quite ready for that. Needless to say I had a pretty slow swim split  at 7:05 on the official timing even though I’m capable of a sub 6 minute 400m swim fairly easily. 7:05? What was wrong with me I must have been asleep. T1 went well though and I was soon out on the bike.

The weather was perfect, nowhere near as hot as it had been at home the day before but dry, sunny and with a light wind. I was soon up to speed and weaving my way along the narrow country lanes. I overtook quite a few people on the bike and felt comfortable on the aero bars. One guy did go past me, I kept him in sight for a while but couldn’t stay with him. The final drag along the dual carriageway, up hill into the wind was a bit of a struggle too but before I knew it I was back at the leisure centre and into T2. All was fine with this and I was off onto the run with a quick wave to Anna and Morgan who were watching from the sidelines.

I went the wrong way coming off the playing fields on the run because the wind had blown the sign around, but I soon noticed the error of by ways, tuned back and went the right way. I then got a little bit lost again in the woods just after the ‘steps of doom’. A guy wearing a team GBR tri-suit corrected me here and then went on to overtake me (he actually went on to win the event as well). I followed him for a while, but he too went the wrong way a little later into the run and we ended up doing an extra little climb followed by a scramble down a steep hillside back onto the right track.

I’m glad I’ve been doing some hilly runs lately rather than my usual flat runs around home as the run was hillier than I had expected. In fact, the so called ‘steps of doom’ were just like a shortened version of some of the coast path climbs so my runs along there came in handy.

It was then back to the leisure centre to cross the finish line in an official time of 1:08:14. I was pleased with that.

I had a chat with Scott who I met at Pwllheli triathlon, got changed, had a coffee with Anna and Morgan and then hung around for the presentations. I’m glad I did as I won a bottle of wine for being 3rd in my age category.

The official results are out and they make pretty good reading for me.

  • My swim time was 7:05 – 11th overall and 3rd in my age group
  • My bike time was 38:41 – 6th overall and 2nd in my age group
  • My run time was 22:28 – 5th overall and 2nd in my age group

Overall that put me in 5th place which I’m pretty chuffed with. I think Anna was quite impressed too, but only first place will do for Morgan, so he wasn’t quite so impressed.

Other than a few problems getting lost on the run everything was great, the organisation was good and as per usual everyone I came across was friendly. I did of course say thanks to all the marshals on the course as I passed them, but if any of you are reading this, then thanks again. And thanks to all the organisers too, it was an enjoyable day out.

After the drive back it was time for a ‘pig out’ BBQ in the back garden with Anna and Morgan. I think they enjoyed the day as well which is good, especially seeing as we have to do it all over again next weekend. I left Anna and Morgan in charge of the photos and I think they forgot how to use the zoom on the camera, but here are the photos they took anyway. I’ll see if I can find any others from the event online.

 

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Alan Cole

Alan is a Freelance Website Designer, Sports & Exercise Science Lab Technician and full time Dad & husband with far too many hobbies: Triathlete, Swimming, Cycling, Running, MTBing, Surfing, Windsurfing, SUPing, Gardening, Photography.... The list goes on.

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