Lake Wanaka Half

What can I say - just awesome!! I couldn’t have asked for more from my first “half-iron” distance race. Spectacular scenery, tip-top organization, fantastic support, glorious weather, and a great course - challenging but not killer.

The Challenge Series have run a full distance race in Wanaka for the last 2 years. This year they introduced a half-distance race to run alongside. As I was in New Zealand visiting family, there was no way I was going to miss it.

My race went pretty much to plan. My dream time was 5 hrs 30 mins. I wanted to be on the bike within 45 mins and was almost spot on, completing the swim and T1 in 45:46. The water was cold at 13.6oC but it was crystal clear and I never noticed the temperature. I did however wear a neoprene cap and booties (HTFU!).

My goal for the bike was 3:00 hrs and I made it (+T2) in 3:06:03, which was great considering the route was hillier and windier than I expected. My nutrition plan worked fine and I felt good getting off the bike.

Both my transitions were excellent, not sure what a lot of others were doing to take so long. Maybe that’s the benefit of doing sprints all of last season. I was hoping for a 1:45 half-marathon, so finishing the run in 1:49:02 was not bad considering most of it was on gravel. This gave me an official time of 5:40:51.

Can’t wait for the next race! Bring on the Swashbuckler!

Overall Result: 05:40:51 (78th out of 131)

Swim (1.9k): 42:16 (122nd)

T1: 3:30 (26th)

Bike (90k): 03:04:22 (88th)

T2: 1:41 (19th=)

Run (21k): 01:49:02 (66th)

Today I raced in this season’s second race in the Manchester Area XC League, at Sherdley Park near St Helens. Definitely the hardest ~10k I’ve ever ran, due to the muddy conditions etc. Great fun! Result: 9.3k in 44:27

National Team Relays

Mental! A day of total racing chaos but great fun. Rob started us off with a good swim, followed by Andy, Neil and then me - to provide the sprint finish on the run - haha!

Seaford Classoc

My first Olympic distance race. The sea swim was cut short due to the choppy conditions; I felt pretty sick getting out of the water. The run up the stony beach to T1 hurt like hell. Didn’t enjoy the bike much - 12 laps of an out and back loop, plus it was windy. The results show I didn’t move up the field at all on the bike which is unusual. The run went better.

Overall result: 02:22:35 (60th out of 169)

Swim (750m): 18:13 (71th, +T1)

Bike (40k): 01:18:47 (71th)

Run (10k): 45:35 (32nd, +T2)

Boundary Breeze

Manchester Triathlon Club’s annual race, a sprint tri centered on Boundary Water Park. My A-race for my first season and it went really well. After a good swim, I pushed as hard as poss on the bike. The run hurt but I finished strong. After the race, the heavens opened and everyone got totally soaked! Organization? Perfect, of course! :-)

Overall result: 01:16’:57 (35th out of 153)

Swim (750m): 15:12 (61st)

Bike (23k): 40:45 (30th, +T1)

Run (5k): 20:59 (38th, +T2)