Eyemouth Triathlon/Series round-up.

Eyemouth hosted the last of the Borders Sport & Leisure Trust triathlon series on sunday and there was a big turn-out for the final event. Each event in the series has had a shorter 'Come & Tri' race running in parallel and it seems there are more and more people eager to have a first go. Book early if you want to participate next year!

As well as the smooth organisation and running of the series this year, for which the organisers deserve a huge 'Thank You,' another noteable feature has been the nearly always great weather. Towards the end of the Peebles and Kelso races there was rain, but any winds have only been light and the majority of the time we've cycled and run in sunshine. I've been lucky to completely avoid getting wet on course other than in the pool. Fantastic! Poor weather, being freezing cold, skidding about on the bike on wet corners etc. were all unfounded worries, this year at least. But I suspect the elements will balance things out eventually if I persist in the triathlon vein!

Mr.S and his amazing tri-mobile transported us and kit to Eyemouth and we went through the usual pre-amble of squeezing into lycra, lining up trainers and towel and the rest. I think it was Sib, at Pam's hen-run last week, who'd mentioned someone turning up for a tri only to realise bike wheels had been forgotten! Therein is the beauty of Mr.S's motor, for it be spacious enough to not have to do any silly cycle dismantling to get the stuff in. I did have to spend some time a-tinkering though 'cos my bike gears weren't shifting smoothly. Bah! The bike route was the hilliest of the series so gears would be getting good use.

Had a natter with some increasingly familiar faces as I got ready but couldn't see Big N anywhere. Eventually he rolled up seeming very relaxed and unhurried even though some of the earlier swim heats were underway and registration closed. He confessed to a heavy night before, and an early start too, and didn't seem to fancy his chances much. He had time to get ready though for he do swim like a shark and was starting in a later heat.

Mr.S was away in the swim heat before me and, from what I saw, seemed to have a similar pool experience to mine in that the lane was frequently crowding in places due to swimmers being at very similar speeds. It's a case of accepting a certain spot in the swimming order or tapping the toes in front to pass if you feel you're held up. I swam quickest in my lane, but there wasn't much in it this time and twice I mistakenly thought I'd been tapped so stopped at the lane end to let someone pass who wasn't there! When I'd eventually done the 30 laps and jumped out of the pool I ran straight into a diving-board ladder in my haste, as I was head-down with misty goggles! Bang! This was probably great comedy to see but I went into transition a bit agitated to say the least!

The dicky bike gears didn't help my frame of mind as the cycle leg progressed either. I'd sort of got the technical hitch fixed but still my feet were jolted from the pedals on two occasions on uphill stretches and all rythmn ruined. Seeing Mr.S hurtling downhill in the opposite direction (out & back bike course) gave me a boost and "what goes up, must come down" eventually brought me to the same point going at about 42mph. Quite exhilerating!

I didn't transit into the run very well in that I felt quite sluggish and not able to get into my stride. The course was uphill from the start for about 500m then along the clifftop path partway toward Coldingham before returning roughly the same way, with a finishing stretch along the beach. Only one chap had passed me on the bike leg, riding the equivalent of a Ferrari, but I reined him in quite quickly on the run. Perhaps knowing that I was leading from those in my swim heat made me ease up a bit too much on the rest of the run as I've done better than being eighth placed runner before. A finish like Big N's would've been the way to see out a season. Mr.S and I had finished and were watching at the line when Big N appeared on the sand. I did a double take. He was a man possessed, trying to catch up with his own eyeballs as he gave it full belt! Hangover? Cured! I'd predicted that he'd be able to match my time for the sprint tri eventually, but didn't think he'd catch me this season. When he turned his watch to reveal he'd knocked about 4mins from his previous 5k time I knew he was close, and the results eventually showed he'd beat me by a neck coming in 1hr 13:26, 11th place to my 12th (3rd Vet), six seconds behind!

We still await placings for the series as a whole. Best four results from 6 to count. Prior to this event I was 7th overall and third Vet. I think I'll have dropped in the overall rankings as stronger athletes who hadn't raced in as many previous events bring their Eyemouth result to the table, but I think I may have held on to the 3rd Vet placing. On the whole I'm quite happy with that for a first season and fired up for next year, keen to add an open-water swim event and, possibly, the half-ironman to the list.

 

 

 

 

Big weekend/Berwick Tri

Don't quite know where to start with this weekend's activity epic. Saturday morning, 5:20am was when the 'on' button was activated and already I knew there was thespian activity in the form of a Belford Players performance coming up, and a funeral service as well as the triathlon. The early start had been necessitated by the added complication of the first decent swell and waves for about a month being forecast for saturday. Would getting up at sparrow-fart and going surfing impact negatively on acting and triathlon abilities? These things can't be pondered on too long...! It's a surfers duty to cast aside all other considerations and get out there if conditions are good. Besides, a dawn patrol is proper now and again, just to make sure the sun is checking in on time.

So, some nice early morning waves at Annstead, just south of Seahouses, were good to kick off the proceedings, before shooting home again and getting props, costumes and kids loaded up to go over to Ford. The Belford Players, of which I'm a member, put on their first performance of 'The Mad Hatters Posh Party' as part of the Berwick Food Festival. This wee play adapts the tea-party scene from Alice In Wonderland as a means to showcase, in song and verse, some of the regions local food producers. There are NO prizes for guessing which of the familiar Alice in Wonderland characters I was called upon to play. This was a warm-up show of sorts. We're due to put on 2 more perfs. in Berwick this coming saturday if anyone is interested. 11:30am on Walls by Gymnasium Gallery, 1:30pm Palace Green, weather permitting.

Home again, home again, jiggety-jig. The afternoon was given over to a funeral service in Belford. That of a friend's mother who, sadly, died unexpectedly last week. R.I.P. Margaret. I'm not big on religion, but the bible has some very moving verses and a reading from 1 Corinthians 13 was indeed that. Alot of folk turned out to pay respects. Belford's churches also saw a wedding and a christening over the weekend. Life's full spectrum of rituals.

The sea beckoned again in the evening. Mobile phone was stacked with messages about the great condtions. I threw caution to the winds and headed down to Bamburgh for more, meeting up with Dan and Rab and 3 guys paying a visit from Scarborough. Pretty classy waves, head high or so on the reef and then the beach when the tide dropped. We pigged-out on it until the sun was slipping. Worth the wait.

Moving swiftly to sunday morning and I woke up a wee bit throbby with tiredness! Porridge and coffee and loads of water to get hydrated. A minor blur of getting kit together and then Super Chauffeur Mr.S was on the scene with the tri-taxi and off to Berwick we did go! There were some differences in the format of this triathlon compared to the ones in the Borders series- which I'd had reservations about. Paper numbers on number belts as opposed to marker-penned on arms and legs and the requirement to count your own lengths in the pool seemed odd. In the end it all went smoothly though, even the crossings of the A1 on the cycle route which must've been a headache for the organisers. Best of all about this tri was being amongst so many familiar faces (see Dolly's post and pics). I hadnt had a close enough look at the entry list to see who was all having a go. Well done to the Alnwick Tri/WRC connection competitors. You know who you are, even if I'm not readily familiar with everyone yet!

I just tried to ignore the surf-lag from the day before and get on with it. Quite hard work at the start of the bike leg with a few generally uphill miles into the wind. My thighs were complaining straight away and I was a bit worried that I'd overdone it until the turn out of the wind when there was chance to get the speed up again. Similar scenario with the run. The first of two laps I found very tough but there were lots of other runners ahead to aim to catch and into lap 2 I was feeling not-too-bad at all and giving it full steam ahead.

Everyone I spoke to seemed to have enjoyed it all but had similar difficulties with the tougher sections of the course. Mr. S seems to have come up a few places in the field in this event and I know Big N is mighty pleased with improvements in his run leg. There was a meal laid on for competitors in The Bonarstead afterwards and some results and prizes materialised quite quickly too. I came in 6th place overall and scooped a prize for  2nd Vet.

All that remained to be done was go and see the latest Harry Potter with Sarah and the kids in the evening! I managed to stay awake for the 2-and-a-half hours! Possibly the best achievement of the weekend, made easier by it being a pretty good Harry Pottering in comparison to some of the others in the series.