Race Report

Frenchy.

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It was on the 18th of July that Chris and I travelled down for an overnight stay in the area – Chris has chosen the Standard and with a swim start time of 07:30hrs we wanted to be in the area for easy travelling. I chose the Sprint, and with a more civilized start of 10:00hrs had the opportunity for a leisurely breakfast. The night before consisted of Carbo loading (fish and chips) and hydration (a quite pint) followed by an early night. Unfortunately, my nights sleep was interrupted Chris being violently sick – we blamed the fish but the end result was a weak, shaky and disappointed athlete unable to compete in the Standard Tri and so it was up to me to fly the Brecon Multi Sport flag…

As I intermittent above, this event is a very good one and if you take on the Sprint it’s easily commutable on the day from Brecon (unless they start the Sprint first next year!). It’s thoroughly recommended – it’s a definite for us next year and we may even rope in Lynda!! With Chris not well enough to compete we had to kick our heels until 10:00 when I was due to start, which meant lots of good coffee (just for the caffeine you understand) and extra Carbo loading through sickly sweet energy bars.

The Standard distance event catered for all levels of capability and there was a well represented field of 201 competitors. Highlight of the wait was watching a fine display of distance swimming by a John Wood (ex-GB so we understand) who effortlessly clocked up an impressive 19:11 swim for 1500m. The event was eventually won by an Adam Wells in a time of 2:13:32 (swim-23:31, T1-58 sec, Bike-1:10:42, T2-27 sec and run-37:53). The Sprint had only a slightly smaller number of entries (140). The overall winner in a time of 1:21:22 (swim-12:12, T1-49 sec, bike-48:00, T2-49 sec and run 19:26) was a Johan Berote of Bath University Cycle Club. Yours truly, in a time of 1:26:10 (swim-14:44, T1 50 sec, bike-49:14, T2-52 sec and run-20:28) came 7th overall and 2nd male vet.A good course and a time that I think I can better next year.

All in all a great event and one I would recommend to anybody – if you plan to do a Tri next year then you should put this one down on your race calendar.

For those that don’t know, Parc Bryn Bach is a 360 acre Council owned leisure site which boasts its own lake and golf course. Criss-crossed with roads and paths it’s a great location and facility for many types of sporting activity. On arriving Chris and I (with Lynda and Simon in tow to take the photos) booked in at the registration point and received our race numbers, timing chip, tee-shirt and other goodies. As we walked toward the transition point to rack and stack our kit we bumped into fellow multisporter Rob (sorry Rob forgotten your surname!) who had decided, late in the day, to enter. Rob was not feeling at his best having spent the previous night at work thinking the event was to take place a week later. However, it was good to see another club representative on the starting line regardless of how tired he felt.

You would think that as a National Grand Prix race the event would be well attended; we were surprised to find out that there were only 38 entries for the Standard – did people know something that we did not? Prior to the main event there were Tri-Star and youth events and it was great to see the younger generation (I can say being a veteran) competing with such enthusiasm, and in some cases potential. Once these early races had been completed our race was called and at 11am we entered the water for our first experience of swimming 1500m in race conditions.

On the day the lake was still and flat, perfect for an easy introduction into race swimming. The course was a two lap affair swimming clockwise round large yellow markers on each corner of a rectangle. The mass start began in the water – lots of foaming water and glimpses of arms and legs. However, within a few minutes the swimmers had settled down into their rhythm and the field spread out. Not surprisingly Chris soon pulled away from me and I was left leading a small group of swimmers within the middle of the pack. It’s amazing that even with such an expanse of open water swimmers appear magnetically attracted to each other - both Chris and I suffered from this; Chris being punched in the mouth while I got away lightly with only a small amount of cuffing! This swimmers’ ‘engagement’ intensified around the course markers and ‘giving as good as we got’ Chris and I finished the swim section. Chris left the water’s edge on about 22 minutes and pleasingly I was not too far behind him on 27 minutes. We both had to get over the ‘wobbly’ leg syndrome on exiting but on the whole, and as a first, a good experience.

T1s are getting smoother and quicker with more practise, even so, there is still room for improvement, especially around the removal of wetsuits… Consisting of ten laps around the road network within the Parc, riders were confronted with tight slalom turns that required a dramatic reduction in speed to negotiate. These bends were followed by short climbs meaning riders required extra effort in accelerating back up to race pace. An added ‘bonus’ to the route design was the road condition; potholed, bumpy and with a topping of loose gravel in places negotiation of these extra hazards at speed was both mentally and physically taxing. As the event instructions stated, the bike course was not for the feint hearted. You may sense that I was not a fan of the route – and to top it all both Chris and I were required to do 2 extra laps as the official lap counter had mis-counted our circuits; either that or our cycle computers need recalibration! Oh well, life’s rich tapestry and all that – I’m sure some people on the day benefited from our extra efforts.

Chris finished his cycling adventure in 1:20 and with heavy legs I followed him in on 1:30 in a position well down in the field, not that I remember that many people overtaking me on the road. My transition was also extended as I was required to run in socks. If I don’t take this precaution I have the pleasure of finishing a race with blisters. The run course was three times round the lake with a small hilly ‘out and back’ section to make up the distance. As you can imagine without the small hill the course was flat and potentially fast. Regrettably neither Chris nor I did it justice. With no energy to run fast, Chris came over the line in 40 min, as for me I could only struggle across the line in 50 minutes!

Although I managed a reasonable pace on the flat the small hill destroyed my legs. After each climb my quads cramped and whenever I attempted to ease them through stretching my hamstrings did the same in sympathy! The finish line could not come along quick enough. At the time of writing this we have yet to see the official timings (including T1 and T2) but we estimate that our overall times were 2:22 for Chris and 2:50 for me - so all things considered it was not too bad a day.

In summary: the swim is great – if you have the opportunity I would recommend attempting one of the Aquathlon races run at Bryn Bach (next is on the last Thursday of July); the bike section is not so good – don’t take your best machine and make sure you get counted correctly; and finally the run – mainly flat and hence fast (if you have the energy). Certainly the bike section spoilt the day for Chris and me but it’s one to put down to experience and I think unless the route is changed we will be looking elsewhere next year.