Weekend Round Up 17th 18th Sept – Part One.
Another action packed weekend of Tuff action and as it is impossible to cram everything into one post. This Round Up covers three Triathlons and there is another Round Up to cover the other six events and 5 parkrun locations that our Terrific Tuffs have been taking part in. This report covers Ironman 70.3’s at Cervia and Weymouth and then Brighton & Hove Triathlon – read on:-
IRONMAN 70.3 CERVIA – ITALY
First up we have a report from Mike Barrett from a 70.3 adventure to Cervia, a seaside resort, located in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna:- .
“I vowed to only do my A races abroad as the thought of facing a weather front besieged upon the UK Ironman events was something I never wanted to experience. Equally, I do love an adventure and trudging across a country on their transport systems with a Bike Box in tow makes for a great trip and easy conversations with the locals”.
“Fast forward exiting the train at Cervia station, Italy with all the other athletes and crew to be met by an energetic Brit telling us Ironman was cancelled because of the weather front hitting tomorrow! Bear in mind it is Friday, blue sky and a very nice warm heat. The full Ironman being tomorrow”.
“The evening went by with an eery wind beginning to blow and getting stronger, off to bed with the window shutter down I woke in the morning to an absolute hooley; no wonder Ironman was “postponed” to Sunday”
“Saturday, was my rest day and I managed to use the hotel spa facilities, most enjoyable! Rumour by the locals that the storm would pass by 5pm. And at 5pm I was out walking in sunshine! The advice from a trusted and reliable source was to register and rack the night before so we headed to Ironman village late Saturday night to do just that, the 2km queues had gone and a short while later I was sporting another Ironman bag, stickers and transition bag”.
“With both races on the same day, transition entry was a long way away, finally walked down and back up to the place to rack which was a free for all. Rack where you want was the steer”.
“Lesson Number 501, if you rack the night before make sure it is still where you left it in the morning of the race. A late stop off for more pasta and pizza at midnight arguably, not the greatest thing to have done because, in the morning! No appetite for breakfast. With BLUE sky and the sun already heating us up at 22 degrees by 9am, we headed down to the swim start and you could feel the buzz of Ironman from the moment we left the hotel. Double bubble with both events on the same day this meant double the noise and excitement. With spectators knee deep in water it was such a crazy powerful atmosphere”.
“My goals were: to relax and enjoy the swim, fuel on the bike and run under 2 hours for the half marathon. All achieved, the net result was a 30 minute swim in perfect conditions, I was so relaxed I could’ve been on holiday, a 2hr 33 bike with fuelling* and a run at 1hr 51. (4hr 54mins) BUT! With transition 1 at a massive 13 minutes (I think this beats Adrian’s at Eastbourne), why? My bike had been moved and required marshals to help find it. Transition 2 being 6 minutes simply due to the magnitude of the size of transition all added to bring my overall time up to 5hr 16m.”
“All in all, a great trip with great company and a continued love for Ironman events around the world”.
*Last 30k my paced dropped, sore undercarriage, felt hungry and not eating breakfast might have had something to do with this.
Mike
IRONMAN 70.3 – WEYMOUTH
A venue well known to Tuffs as a previous club champ venue; this year we had two participants. One Nicole Patterson-Lett who has submitted her thoughts below. Nic returned an excellent time and result in her age group. The other was Nathan Bilham. Nathan contacted us prior to Christmas advising he had zero Triathlon experience and had entered Ironman 70.3 in Weymouth. He joined our squad at the end of January, undertaking his first ever Triathlon at Chichester and to ‘get another test run in’ entered a Dorney Lake Triathlon at the end of August, so he has done very well. Nathan states:-
“It was tough but I’m really proud and thrilled to say I have achieved it and looking forward to doing another one soon! I did think I would have a break in the training after completing it…but the sense of achievement has spurred me on and I’m really looking forward to next race season!”
“Next up is the Brighton Marathon in April and an active running season over the winter. Lots to work on and plenty of time to get faster 
“
Nathan
” Oct ’21 CPL signed us both up for the Weymouth 70.3 last weekend, planned as a nice way to end the ‘season’, we could pop down and practice the bike course, we’ve done it before and camping there is very convenient”.
“CPL’s been so unlucky this season, despite training so well, and unfortunately was sick that weekend and had to DNS ☹ “
“I knew I hadn’t done the (bike or run) training for this – I have to be realistic and respect the distance for the longer events – so the goal was to use my pretty road bike that I was comfortable on, and aim for a finish”.
“[So I don’t end on a negative, I’ll pop it in here as more of a warning – for the first time in about 10 years of doing Ironman branded events, lots of kit was stolen by other competitors ☹ Toolpacks (including my new one), race nutrition and Garmins were taken from transition before the start of the race … and afterwards whole run or bike kit bags were taken out of transition, so people lost a lot of expensive and personal kit. Bring addition to your bike down on race morning, and be vigilant … but it’s a sorry state of affairs. CPL not racing, so at least I could borrowed his toolpack!]”
“Swim start saw the men hurtling down the stony beach into the sea, whilst i tiptoed as fast as I could on the edge of the bunch about 50 back. I enjoy the swim, quite a lot of argy-bargy and particularly physical around the buoys, but all in all an exciting and strong start. Known for my lightening transitions (not), about 10mins later – CPL thought I’d got lost! – I was out on the bike. 100’s of TT bikes whizzed past me for what felt like hrs, but I did my best to focus on getting round strong, eating/drinking all my nutrition (for a change), and enjoying the beautiful views on a very undulating bike course. Another not so speedy transition, and onto the ‘run’. I had unrealistic expectation of jogging 13miles, but cramp in my hamstrings in the last 5miles of the bike already rang alarm bells. My wheels came off at about 5miles as cramp set in hamstrings, quads…everywhere! But the crowd was absolutely awesome, some of the competitors so chatty and encouraging, my lovely CPL was still out there cheering despite feeling ropey…so I continued to stretch/walk/jog all the way to the finish. Job done!
It’s a brilliant race and we got a super branded drybag. But maybe I’ll do a bit more run and bike training next time to call it a race rather than an event 😉
Thanks for listening x
Nic PL
BRIGHTON & HOVE TRIATHLON
Now organised by Tribourne events who have an excellent reputation, the weekend covered Swims, Aquathlon’s, Sprint, SuperSprint, & Standard Triathlon distances plus junior races, and a Scootathlon. The swims were off the beach in calm 18 degree water before laps on the closed road of Brighton seafront and promenade run.
Our first Tuff in action was Ollie McDonald. Ollie was racing Sprint and achieved a great result as he reports below:-
“A beautiful morning welcomed us in Brighton. A packed weekend of events and really well organised. Nice to catch up with Simon Thistlewaite pre-race. After a minutes silence and the national anthem to pay our respects, I was off at 9am. An ‘elite’ wave for those going for top10 along with under 30’s, it was a fast start to the swim. Out of the water 6th and onto the flat and fast bike course – although a NW wind slowed things. Hearing the cheers of our Chairman Clive out of T2 pushed me on! The run was a couple of flat out-and-back laps so great for spectators. Nice to see Verity out there! Finish line was very ‘Ironman style’ with your name announced and a board showing results. Initially 5th overall but some faster ‘oldies’ in later waves, pushed me to 13th overall and 2nd in AG, for a little trophy 🙂
3 races and 3 13th place finishes this year…maybe triathlon is trying to tell me something…?
Ollie
9:50am saw the Sprint race start of 750m swim, 20km bike over a 4 lap course, followed by a 5km run. Here we had Vicki Hedger & Ness Green competing and thanks go to Vicki for reporting in:-
“Wow, just wow! I’m still taking it all in but on Sunday 18th Sept I completed my 1st Sprint Triathlon, and what great one to start with – Brighton and Hove (actually). Who would have thought a year ago that little old me would be standing here with a triathlon medal round my neck!”
“I was originally enticed into the idea of Triathlons last year through my training buddy and good friend, Ness. Up until then I had just considered myself a mid-distance ‘runner’. The real turning point came this summer when I joined Tuff’s and started to see the benefit of coached sessions, not to mention the support and advice from other members”
“Anyway, on to the event itself…. I was super nervous on the day (especially the swim) but in the words of Ness and Clive I was encouraged to ‘just go and enjoy myself’. Clive also reminded me that as it was my 1st Tri, I had no previous time to beat! 🙂”
“I knew the sea swim was my weak point (anyone who saw me at The Wave last week would attest to this, lol!). Although I came joint last I was pleased with my time, 25 mins. T1 was straightforward enough (I’ll try the baby oil trick next time) and I was pleased to be on my bike. I soon got into the ‘zone’ and even found myself overtaking fellow riders. The hardest part was trying to remember which lap I was on! 45 mins (ish) later I was heading off on the run. My legs felt like they didn’t belong to me and it took about 1k before I felt like I was running normally! (think Phoebe from Friends 🤣). At this point I think the mental strength kicks in because you know you are nearly at the end but your body is screaming ‘stop’. Thanks to brilliant crowd support and one particular marshal who was amazing and boosted me every time I ran past him, phrases like ‘you’re looking strong Vicki, Victorious Vicki and you’ve got this Vicki’ made me feel really special (our names on our race number was a nice touch).”
“The joy and emotion I felt crossing the finish line welled up inside me and it was wonderful to get a hug from a fellow Tuff, Wendy. Today is Weds and I’m still buzzing (and yes, I’ve finally taken off my medal!). I’m officially hooked and here’s to the next one….!
P.S. For those of you that are interested…my time was 1:44 and I finished overall 348/406, category 8/15 and gender 44/138.
Vicki
At 9:55am Hazel Reilly sprinted into the sea to start the Aquathlon across the 1,500m swim and 10k run course. This was a particularly notable performance as Hazel had been on her feet volunteering at the event on the Saturday in transition before her race the next day.
At 10:30am we had two in the Standard distance Triathlon. Great to see Jon Cassell on the comeback trail and Simon Thistlethwaite who hasn’t appeared to stop all season. Jon produced a cracking swim of 25 minutes and there was just twelve seconds between Jon & Simon on the bike. Strong running from both with Jon a 10k of 41.38 & Simon 42.00 saw them cross the line in 20th & 48th respectively – great results out of 280 who ran down the beach.
It was great to see plenty of Tuff support across the weekend. Verity-Jane Lacey was there to support her daughter Darcie; thanks to them for flagging Tuff Fitty racing for us. Sue Pinky came along to cheer. The call for volunteers saw Hazel Reilly marshal on the Saturday. Vicki Hedger (prior to her Sunday race) and Phil Scales helped on registration on the Saturday and Wendy Kane was on Sunday registration. Claire Moyle is now fully qualified as a Local Technical official and was on duty on the Sunday. Finally Clive Harvey was the Chief Technical Official co-ordinating three Technical Officials and three motorcycle officials across a packed weekend of race action. A few photo in an album below
