London Triathlon
Date: 5th August 2006
Race Type: Triathlon Olympic Team Relay
Disciplines: 1500m Swim, 40km Cycle, 10km Run
Team: Darren, Keith & Steve
Location: Docklands, London
www.thelondontriathlon.com
Saturday the 5th August was to be a historic day. Three of the greatest athletes from Swimming, Cycling and Running would join forces and ultimately triumph in the 2006 Michelob Ultra London Triathlon Team Olympic Relay.
Meanwhile, Team We Eat had also decided to enter! We had decided to enter the Team Relay event with Darren doing the 1500m swim, Keith doing the 40km Cycle and myself (Steve) doing the 10km run.
Keith managed to make the first mistake while filling in the entry form, entering our team name as "Team A" rather than our legendary "weeatmud"; would this be the first in a catalogue of errors?
Once Darren actually managed to turn up, with the first of our support team - his son James - we proceeded through the logistical nightmare of bike check, registration, setting up transition and race briefing. Before we knew it, our wave - the Olympic Team Relay - was being called to the start area. Unfortunately, Darren didn't even have his wetsuit on. A quick change that would have put Superman to shame soon had Big D in his kit and heading on out to the start.
We had been treading water for 10 minutes, when the starter called us to the start line and we were off. I had decided that i would start near the back and slowly make my way up. I found out very quickly that this was a bad mistake with my head getting hit more times than i can remember. This would be the norm until the 400m buoy. After this, there was a lot less traffic and the weaker swimmers started to fade.
Inside Transition, I quickly found Keith and came skidding to a halt. I bent down to remove the timing chip from my ankle, only to discover it was gone! Keith grunted his usual catch phrase in these scenarios - "you W*****!". Luckily, as I emptied the bag containing my wetsuit, it fell to the floor. I passed it over to Keith and he was off — I had done my bit!
Keith: Cycling, the meat in the triathlon sandwich. Was it to be rare roast beef or wet processed ham? You decide.
Preparation in transition from swim to bike is an art form, and whilst the competitors around us all seemed to be old masters with the grace of a Rubens or Michelangelo we adopted the more chaotic approach and style of Picasso (the dyslexic cubist).
I was determined to keep my heart rate between 148 & 155 but within 30 seconds it was at 160 and stayed there for for the next 40km. I was determined to overtake at least one other cyclist and towards the end of the third lap I had spotted my prey, a lone figure pushing against a head wind on the straight between Beckton & Cyprus roundabouts. My move was timed to perfection, but I was brought straight back down to earth when I realised he was riding a full suspension folder (I overtook loads of people really but thought this incident was quite amusing).
I had to remove the race belt (easy) and the timing chip (bloody impossible) to pass on to Steve. Although the chip was attached with a simple Velcro belt, I decided to try and dismantle the whole thing. After struggling for a good 45 seconds I gave up and Steve had to take it off for me with Darren pissing himself laughing. Well that was it. My section was over, my first competitive road race finished. My only real regret is that I was too knackered to give Steve the abuse he deserved on the running leg, all I could manage was a half hearted "stop walking and start running you W*****!".
The course consisted of four laps out along the dock and back into excel. Having the least technical section of the race, my only real problem was the beating sun. There was one point, just past the spectator area, where water was being sprayed over the course to add some cooling relief. Did they not know there's a hose-pipe ban! At this stage of the race, it was impossible to tell how we were doing - there must of been at least four different waves of racers all sharing the running course.
I soon found the "weeatmud" supporters corner - although Keith's abuse wasn't quite up to his usual (low) standard. the old boy was obviously knackered. Like Keith, I was also monitoring my Heart Rate - I don't think it dropped below 180bpm (95% of my Maximum Heart Rate) all the way round. As I ran up the ramp to Excel for the fourth and final time, I dug deep into my reserves for a final sprint to the finish line in a time of 46 minutes 35 seconds. I was still going full speed when suddenly 3 medals were thrust into my hands! The team was then reunited, and we performed our medal ceremony by the "Girls can run too" stand.
We later learnt that we came 69 out of 314 in a time of 2:32:32 - a result that we were all pleased with. Now next year, if we can lose a minute each...
Swim (Darren)
00:26:24
Transition
00:03:15
Bike (Keith)
Lap 1 00:18:26
Lap 2 00:17:30
Lap 3 00:18:25
Lap 4 00:20:29
Total 01:14:48
Transition
00:01:32
Run (Steve)
Lap 1 00:11:20
Lap 2 00:11:23
Lap 3 00:12:00
Lap 4 00:11:53
Total 00:46:35
Overall Time
02:32:32
