Weekend Round Up 15th 16th June
The weekend action continues with another varied collection of multisport activity: all the while our regular training sessions continue to attract strong numbers – read on:-
EASTBOURNE TRIATHLON
The lack of summer has been a talking point but with strong wind, and rain, there was real concern over Eastbourne Triathlon, With an improvement predicted, the organisers stated the event would proceed but with the possibility of halved swim distances. This was the position as competitors were driving over, but a high number had already decided to keep their powder dry for another day and declined, including some Tuffs. Meanwhile the swim safety crew had asked two swimmers expert in that stretch of water to test the route. They both exited to declare ‘that was hard’ leading to the decision to cancel the swim leg completely. Several competitors were already in their wetsuits and loud groans went up, especially amongst the Tuffs who enjoy the swim, although of course, with safety in mind, it was absolutely the correct decision with everyone fully informed.
All Tribourne events are organised to the highest standard, with this one no exception, and awarded event of the year. Standard distance was also a World’s qualifier leading to a high quality field. Both the Standard and Sprint races would now become Duathlons with an extra run leg. Traditionally the ‘extra run’ comes in at half distance; so 5k for standard and 2.5k for the Sprint. The principal aim is to ensure competitors are spread out before they start the bike otherwise a mass cycle start would be manic.
Competitors started their run along the prom straight into the wind, although blue skies lifted the mood with the whole day sunny and warm (out of the wind).
Our leading Tuffs were particularly handy on the run with Mark Walford just edging Alex Webb by one second in 21:55 to claim the fastest Tuff 5k run split. Jon Cassell was just four seconds behind Alex in 22:00
The bike saw riders immediately knuckle down to the climb up to the top of Beachy Head, with welcome respite in the shape of Jon Roper and Mark Sole who had ridden over to cheer and take photos. Motivation eased somewhat as now riders were into the full force of the wind, preventing maximum effort as the wind was buffeting from all directions. The route continuing to Birling Gap, on closed roads, was very scenic, before a tight dead turn to return. Back past Jon and Mark for the sweeping descent to transition. Reaching this point simply required riders to negotiate another dead turn and then repeat the whole thing – 23 miles with 2,624 feet of ascent! It remained close amongst our top three with Mark ahead of Jon and Alex our three quickest riders.
Covering the ‘proper’ run, the 10k saw runners take the slope up a gravel path and then along the Promenade. Despite the wind there were some swift run times with Mark Walford first Tuff home. Jon Cassell was in hot pursuit with his overall finish time just 11 seconds behind. Alex was our third Tuff. Dom Amey was next using his strong bike to finish ahead of Adrian Oliver. It is good to report on Clare Worgan. Clare has had a fantastic year, including her Ironman, but was robbed of club Standard champion at Brighton due to a bike mechanical. There was no error this year as she sprinted to the line to become Tuff ladies Standard champion – excellent. Clive Harvey and Trevor Harvey were next, both coming straight off the back of last week’s Windsor standard triathlon.
There were more courageous performances in the Standard. Mark Dinsdale has been suffering from plantar fasciitis and had wanted to treat the event as an Aquabike primarily and then see how his feet felt. This plan went out window with an extra run to begin with and with his sights set on an IM 70.3 in New York, felt it best to withdraw after transition 2. Janet Shepherd suffered cramp at the tight turn in Birling Gap and she has set out her event below. Unfortunately there was further bad news. Simon Willard had only just started the bike section to find he had gear issues which only compounded themselves on the second lap which concluded with a coasting down to transition. This was particularly galling as Simon had only just taken his bike into a shop to check the gears. Mark, Janet and Simon deserve huge credit across a challenging course and we hope they recover strongly.
Fortunate to receive four reports unprompted our first two are from Alex & Clare:-
Alex, Jon & Nathan
‘This was my objective at the start of the year and whilst there had been a few breaks in training due to work and family commitments, generally training had gone well. The weather forecast for the weekend was dicey and sure enough, after a bit of confusion, it was confirmed that the swim had been cancelled. So a duathlon it was. Usually this would play to my strengths (swimming being my weakest discipline and running my strongest) but swim training had gone pretty well and I was a bit disappointed.’
‘Mark, Jon and I ran the first 5k together and in hindsight it was probably too quick because when I jumped on the bike my heartrate was already quite high. Coupled with that neither my watch nor my bike computer were playing ball so I wasted a couple of minutes trying to get that sorted’.
‘And then the climbing started. I knew it was a tough bike course but I struggled more than I thought I would with the hills and the incessant wind. Jon and Mark were up the road but I was on my limit and had no chance of catching them. I really had to manage my effort on the final run to avoid blowing up completely’.
‘So, overall not my best day in the office but I got it done and lessons will be learnt’.
‘Great to see some other Tuffs there and the event was really well organised and supported, as we have come to expect from Tribourne’.
Cheers
Alex
Clare
‘I treated myself to a new fancy wetsuit in the January sales, Eastbourne was going to be its test race, but the thing with triathlon is that it rarely goes to plan! I love a sea swim so I was gutted that the swim was cancelled, although Dom reminded me how cold the water was and so my tantrum was short lived’.
‘On the start line with the other Tuffs, we talked about how lucky we are to be fit enough to give it a go and off we went. I took it easy on the first run, I quite enjoyed it. I went the wrong way in T1 but a friendly official turned me around and I was out on the bike. The hills weren’t as bad as I feared, but the wind was! It felt quite an achievement to stay upright on the bike, especially on the scary descents. The wind made the second run hard work too, tough but still fun. Nice to have Sheila, Barry and Claire cheering us on in their official kit’.
‘A beautiful course with some lovely Tuffs, overall a good day out, not easy, but that’s triathlon for you!’
Clare
Janet & Adrian
Our next two reports; firstly from Janet and then Adrian:-
Being a Wuss on The Bike = DNF!
‘Having completed the Eastbourne Standard distance race last year I decided to have another go as it was the club standard distance championship race this year’.
‘I was rather disappointed that the swim was cancelled as, despite the sea state, it was the part of the race I’d enjoyed most last time. After a steady 5km I went out on my bike and was pleasantly surprised to find on the climb up to Beachy Head that it was very sheltered from the strong wind’.
‘However, the run down to Birling Gap was in a really unpleasant cross wind and I started to really tense up. By the time I got down to the turnaround point my fingers were so numb I thought I might not be able to work the brakes and gears and I for some reason I decided that it would be wise to release the back of my cleat on one side in case of any problems on the turn’]’.
‘Unfortunately, that resulted in my calf completely cramping up and me doing a semi controlled fall off the bike onto the blue matted area that had been put down to increase the size of the turnaround. Realising that I was in a dangerous position in relation to other cyclists and not able to stand up I did a quick and unceremonious bottom shuffle out of the way whilst a marshal took care of my bike’.
‘After being helped to mobilise my calf I rejoined the race, riding back over Beachy Head and back to start the second lap. By then I’d totally lost confidence in my ability to stay on the bike and decided that it would be safest for me and other riders to retire – my first ever DNF in the 18 years I’ve been doing triathlons. All rather disappointing, particularly as I only needed to complete to get a podium place, with there only being two of us in my age group’.
‘But, I’ve learnt some hard lessons……. don’t be complacent about doing triathlons for ages, get out on my road bike regularly as turbo riding is no preparation for adverse weather and road conditions and be more relaxed and confident in my riding’.
Janet
My first duathlon! Although disappointed that there was no swim, it was the right decision on the day. So, instead of a warmup swim before the bike, it was a “warmup” Parkrun straight into a hilly cycle.
Being the BTF age group qualifier event, we needed our Carey to outshine the sea of athletes sporting their “Team GB” kit!
I was delighted with both my runs and strangely enjoyed the hilly cycle despite the second lap being challenging with the addition of the sprint cyclists and the stronger winds.
As expected, it was a well-organised and slick event, and as always, I appreciated being cheered along by Captain Mark and chief photographer Jon. But my favourite part was seeing Claire, Sheila, and Barry in their various official roles, both professional and encouragingly kind to all of us wanna-be athletes! Thank you!’
Adrian
Starting an hour later, the Sprint swim now became a 2.5k run, 11.5 mile bike and 5k run. here we had two competitors. Nathan Cooper was in strong form across both the first and second runs managing the final 5k in 19:33. This propelled Nathan to fourth in his age group and in the top 15% of those who started. Another one who had raced last weekend at Windsor was Darcie Lacey who crossed the line second in her age group – well done to both of them.
As well as Jon & Mark on the support crew, thanks also to Michelle Cassell and Verity Lacey. With13 Tuffs out in the field of play, 4 supporters and 3 officials that was 20 Tuffs at Eastbourne. Jon and Mark were so dedicated having ridden over, and stayed to cheer all the Tuffs at Beachy Head making a long day as they covered 80 miles by the time they reached home. The photos have been collated in the Flickr album below.
All of us racing will have seen people in grey uniform at events. These are volunteers assigned by British Triathlon to ensure that events are safe, inclusive, and fair ensuring the BTF rules are applied in an even handed manner. It is fantastic news to report that this year we now have four members of Tuff Fitty on the BTF Technical Official (TO) team. Barry Davids is now a Motorcycle TO controlling the cycle section around the tough Eastbourne Course. Not only did he pop up around the course helping to resolve mechanicals and ensure riders rode safely, but he was a great source of encouragement for Team Tuff (albeit a TO is impartial 🙂 ). Shelia Bailey has just started as a Local Technical Official (LTO) completing her one day course and on-line learning but already is close to completion of all the required ‘shadow’ events to become fully accredited. She joins Claire Moyle who is already a fully qualified LTO who has been officiating a lot to see a great trio around the Eastbourne course and in transition dispensing guidance and advice.
Our fourth TO is Clive Harvey who works as a Regional Technical Official (RTO) who for a change was on the other side of the event; competing. This year sees Clive into his 12th year as a Technical Official. It is worth stating that the BTF rules have not changed dramatically for 2024, with one stand out change being that an Aquathlon can now be modified to cover just the run leg which was the case this weekend at Eastbourne. If anyone has any questions regarding BTF rules or are interested in finding out about the Technical Official roles, please ask one of the above.
BHF LONDON TO BRIGHTON BIKE RIDE
The 54 mile route to Brighton seafront includes 3,466ft of ascent. Having been staged for almost 50 years, this year saw both Dan Lawrence and Adam Stringer take up the challenge. Thanks to them both for reporting in:-
Dan (far right)
This year’s London to Brighton bike ride was an enjoyable event that was very well run, well marshalled and well turned out. After keeping an eye on the weather all week with a forecast of rain and then seeing the heavy down pours that we were treated to on Saturday, it was a pleasant surprise to have a relatively dry day and nice riding conditions. I took part with 3 friends, one of whom is a relatively new cyclist that had never gone further than 25 miles, so we were never going to be setting any records but just wanted to enjoy the day at a steady pace. We set off from Clapham at around 6:45am and arrived to a sunny seafront in Brighton around 11:30 after having a few stops along the way. The ride itself was great, I’ve been suffering from a calf strain for the last few weeks which has stopped me from running so it’s been good to put some focus into the bike. Some of the earlier hills are a little bit of a slog but nothing too challenging, but they are a great warm up for the dreaded Ditchling Beacon. I’m glad to say I made it all the way up on the bike even without falling into a bush halfway up (which I may or may not have done in a training ride up there a week earlier). A couple of members of our group did need to walk up which was great as it meant we got a nice extended rest at the top whilst waiting for them. The 7 mile descent back into Brighton is always a nice end that doesn’t expend too much energy. This meant a couple of us had just enough left in our legs to have a sprint finish race across the finish line, just for bragging rights. We then of course enjoyed a couple of well earned pints. All in all, a really great day and I’m now looking forward to the off road event in September.
Dan
Adam
London to Brighton, what an experience. Such a great atmosphere, very well organised and the road closures were most welcome. Not sure the locals appreciated them though. It started with an early start to meet the coach in Brighton, this some how felt like a 10 minute journey up to Clapham Common. I missed my start wave of 8am, but jumped straight into the 8:30 wave with no issues and before I knew it I was off. A bit of a fresh start so the jacket and gloves were needed but these soon came off. The first 5 miles were through completely closed roads which was great. There were some early hills which made for a nice warm up, these were made slightly harder by people’s lack of Lane discipline so had to weave in and out to create room. There were 5 stops along the route but I only used 3, one of which had the Lancing Brass of the Royal British Legion which were incredible to listen to. Before I knew it I was heading up Ditchling Beacon, this was a long slog but kept churning away and after shouting at walkers to move to the left, I finally made it to the top to enjoy the views. The last 7 miles were great fun, head down, high gear and powered to the finish. The cheers along the sea front were outstanding. A real recommendation for the bucket list. Will definitely be doing this one again!
Adam
James
THE HAMPSHIRE HOPPIT
Next we have a great report from James Hodge recommending The Hampshire Hoppit. If inspired the location is at Kingsclere, between Basingstoke and Newbury:-
Free Beer
On Sunday the 16th I took part in the Hampshire Hoppit Marathon. This is a trail marathon that takes place on and around Watership Down in North Hampshire. I had no idea it was an actual real place. I’m not sure if it was the song Bright Eyes that was going round in my head or the amount of hills in the race that was making me misty eyed. Despite a rather heavy unintentional forward roll in the woods I had a thoroughly enjoyable day. What an absolutely fabulous race this is. The organisation, the course, the marshals, fellow competitors. It is easily one of the most enjoyable events I have done with a great friendly atmosphere. There always seemed to be a lot of runners nearby which was fun as sometimes trail races can get a bit spread out and its always reassuring to know not everyone’s finished and gone home.
The Hampshire Hoppit is named after a local ale and there was free beer at the finish as well as a goody bag with crisps, pint glass and other goodies. This meant plenty of people remained at the finish to cheer you in by name as these were on our numbers. There were also lots of toilets so no panic queuing at the start. These things are important.
The views are spectacular and there is a sting in the tail that everyone talks about. I will let you discover that for yourself. There is also a half marathon and 10k option. I would highly recommend. It is hilly but lots of runnable sections as well. I must admit my legs were complaining late in the race and there was a fair bit of marching into the finish. I finished in 5:30:01 in 174 place.
James
Chris Evans
MID SUSSEX TRIATHLON
The Mid Sussex Triathlon is a very well organised triathlon, suitable for all abilities. The 400m pool is in the ‘snake format’ traversing the lanes which enables a quick throughput of swimmers getting them out on the 25km bike course and then the 5km run. For non-runners there is an Aquabike as well as a half distance Sprint for novices. This year we just had a sole Tuff entrant – well done to Chris Evans who had a particularly strong swim split.
PARKRUN ROUND UP
The heavy rain across the south depleted attendance at many parkruns, and we only had runners at one local location:-
Worthing parkrun saw numbers deplete by a third over the previous week because of the weather but we still had some good times recorded. Steve Fryer was our first runner across the line for his 102nd parkrun. Danny Cunnett was our next runner and just 10 seconds later Ed Lay finished to complete his 173rd run. Paul Fielder did well notching up his 40th parkrun Nina Tully completed our Tuff quintet.
Trevor Harvey undertook Maidenhead parkrun ahead of the next morning’s tough Eastbourne Triathlon. However when the stormy weather saw Eastbourne’s swim cancelled and replaced with another run, he began to wish he hadn’t parkrun!
In terms of parkrun tourism you can’t get better than Scotland where Alistair Evans was in attendance at Vogrie parkrun. Held in Gorebridge, Midlothian, Alistair had to navigate two and a bit laps around the Vogrie country park.
Wakehurst Place parkrun is proving a popular destination due to the location being ‘ possibly the most beautiful botanical gardens in the country’ along super-wide, resin and tarmac paths surrounding the Elizabethan mansion. Starting and finishing by a café, what’s not to like – we had another Tuff visitor this week as Steve Feest was present doing rather well.
Big kudos to Karly & Paul Martin who participated in this year’s Race for Life 5k at Worthing. Steyne Gardens saw runners head out for a 2.5k loop along the prom.
PICTURE OF THE WEEK
Those at parkrun, or simply having ventured out will know about the inclement weather on Saturday morning; but hey, you can’t keep Tuffs down and the photo above is from our Saturday runners with the dark skies behind them! Well done for venturing out.
ARDINGLY LAKE SWIMS
We are indebted to Barry Davids who has arranged for us to join Mid Sussex Tri Club at two of their open water swims at Ardingly Reservoir. The first date is Saturday 13th July at 8:15am – 9:45. This date is purely a swim meet up, however the second meet can be turned into a swim run if attendees wish. The second date is Saturday 27th July at the same time.
Both these swims are for Tuff Fitty members to join Mid Sussex; – no exceptions, and as we are joining in with them there is an capacity of 20 swimmers. Significantly each session will cost just £5 per head. Both sessions will need to be booked on Spond (booking fee applies). Clearly safety rules apply and particularly as we have been invited by Mid Sussex Tri, participants will need to be cognisant with the details on the attached link – here The 13th July swim is already ‘open for booking’ and is sure to prove popular.
