Team Hayward was, once again, off to fly the flag for Brecon Multisport. This time the venue was Parc Bryn Bach near Tredegar, just off the heads of the valley road. The event was a standard distance triathlon. As it was somewhat further than the familiar Sprint distance, Lynda declined the opportunity to tick off her first tri of the season and so Team Hayward consisted of just Chris and me. This standard tri was a first on many levels for both of us: for Chris it was his first ever attempt at the distance and for me, not only was it my first ever standard, it was also my first open water race experience, the first time I had run 10km this year and the first time in 6 weeks I had pushed hard for 40km on a bike. It’s a shame, but it seems I have been continually injured since taking up the sport, but as they say – mad dogs and Englishmen… and on the day the sun did shine as our sunburnt shoulders can testify!
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.
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