East Grinstead Triathlon Results

[Marek]

Yesterday was my comeback to the Triathlon scene. Had entered the 500m swim 26km bike and 5km run as a tester before my main goal this year the London Tri. Now, it takes a bit of getting used to, wandering around a transition area in the freezing cold, peeing with rain and wearing a weird swim suit trying to hang your bike off a long metal rail. But I think I have just about mastered it. Right that was the getting ready, next it was into the pool to queue up for the swim. My supporters club came to watch this bit, as it was dry for them due to the attocious conditions outside, my loyal supporters did not actually see me do anything else.

Got to lane 5 and was given a very fetching red swim cap to wear. Blimey, I forgot we had to wear these stupid looking things, thankfully I did not given the pink one, think I would have gone home at this point. 3, 2, 1 and I was off. Into the swim, there were 3 of us in the lane and I was plodding along nicely, did not feel great in the pool, not sure if it was the nerves or the tri suit, but felt pretty ragged. After a while I caught up with one of the guys in my lane, so started stroking his feet. This is not some kind of mating ritual, this is apparently Tri ettiquette, he is meant to let you through at the end of the next lap. He didn't, next lap and I was giving the bloke a full pedicure, he let me through on the next one. Before long the 2 laps to go sign came into the water and then out I got and dashed into the transition area. It was lashing it down with rain and my ACC jersey was soaked, got it on as best I could and then chucked on some socks and put my bike shoes on, helmet and grabbed the bike and off I went.

Had attached my tri bars for the event and got straight into the tuck position. Absolutely hammered the bike section, felt really good and smooth and was overtaking people along the route all the way, there were lots of targets which is great. Did not get overtaken so was pretty pleased with this section. The wind and rain were really doing their best to put a dampner on the whole thing, but I was actually quite enjoying it.

Into the transition for the final time, a quick change, off with the bike jersey, change of shoes and into the trainers and off I go. This is when it started to hurt a bit. First 1km or so was not great and felt a bit weak, there was a guy in front who was running a similar pace to me and after a bit I managed to gradually pull him in and then over take. Now I was feeling a bit better so on the 2nd lap opened it up a bit more and got into a better rhythm as I came into the final 1km I heard a guy catching me up, not much I could do about it as he went flying past me, I think I had started after him though so did not need to chase, but it did make me up my pace for the final km to try and keep him in check and then I was now overtaking a few others. Into the finish and I sprinted with all I had to get those last few seconds.

According to the results I came in 16th. Jim B was 2nd overall and Paul H was 10th. I had wanted to try to beat Paul but I reckon his run was a bit faster than mine and his transition sounded a bit more professional than mine. He laughed at me when I mentioned socks.

www.egtri.com

Great fun and good to be back in the Tri scene. Results are here, although splits are not available yet, they were having some techy issues on the day.

Cheers

Marek....

[Jim B]

Good result for a roadie Marek!
Just shows what you can do with a solid bike split. Your swimming and running can't be bad either. Being tall is no bad thing for swimming.
Did you have tri bike shoes on your bike? Putting normal bike shoes on would have slowed you down in transition as well.
Socks are a major faux pas akin to turning up at a bike race with hairy legs. You need to pick your trainers carefully though as some will rip your feet to bits without socks. I like Nike Mayflys as these have no stitching on the uppper and are dead light (and only £20 a pair).
Make sure you get some open water swim practice in for London. Think of the last 500m with the bunch all together in a road race and you get the idea for what the start of an open water event is like.

I give you 3 more months before you start running in sunglasses and visor like a true triathlete !

[Sylv]

I saw the results earlier, well done guys. That photo of Paul looks like he is actually doing the swimming and the cycling at the same time. 1h15 for a tri that is short!

[Paul H]

Managed to improve my swim by 20% compared to when I did this Triathlon last year (thanks Mrs Snoop).

Still not happy with my bike. I booked a session with Nick so hopefully he can sort me out.

Ill have you next year Jim.

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[carl f]

Good going marek,very good result for your comeback race!
Very well done paul and jim

[Michelle]

Nice one chaps.