Report by Rob Wright
Cleveland
short course, I have heard this referred to as the race which cannot
make its mind up what distance it wants to be, yeah I used to be
indecisive but now I'm not so sure, but what a great setting for a
triathlon. A calm and slightly chilled lake followed by relatively flat
back roads for the bike and a two lap run around the lake. With most of
the 200 entrants turning up and an excellent attendance from Sun City,
it looked like it was going to be a great race, even the weather wasn't
bad, warm but overcast and then turning sunny on the ride.
The
pre-race nerves where still the same though so I promptly joined the
port-a-loo queue, I set up my transition on the numbered bike racking
and stood around waiting for the race brief to take place. I was
talking to some people on their thoughts and experiences of the race
and now with great thanks to Elliot, the Jaws music will be playing in
my head every time I'm in open water, yeah thanks for that.
The
race brief told us the ins and outs of transition, then it was into the
water for a splash around, an announcement brought me back nearly to
the shore. The whistle blew as I turned around to look for the caravan
I had singled out as my sighting point, I saw the competitors spaced
out over about 40m, damn won't make that mistake again I should have
been in the middle.
The
swim start was chaotic as expected, think salmon returning to spawn,
also turn one was a bit of a battle but I was in the right place and I
pretty much stayed with the same swimmers which included my twin
brother until the end. I kicked my legs a lot more than I had been for
the last 50m but T1
was like being drunk so from now on I am only practising T1 on a Friday
night after a skin full. I really should look for video clips on You
Tube of triathletes falling over in T1, I know I was close to giving
people a laugh.
Onto
the bike, I was soon up to speed and had my brother in sight, we had
exited the water together but he beat me out of T1. I know he is a
stronger biker than me, so I was hoping to keep him in sight for as
long as possible, 6 miles and I had lost sight of him, damn my inferior
genetics, that didn't take long. A lot of people passed me on the bike
and I felt like a Sunday driver, it was at this point that I
decided to fit indicators to my bike for the next race and I'm going to
leave the right indicator flashing for the entire race to back you all
up, so there.
Two
sections of the bike route had been covered in stone chippings and as I
entered the second section a large pile of stones nearly took me out. I
know a couple of people suffered punctures on the route, mainly because
I heard one go off and I instantly ducked. I can honestly say I thought
someone was launching fireworks at me, it was that kind of sound, but I
made it unscathed and entered T2 ready for the run. T2 was a fast
change for me as I had sobered up so no wobbles.
The
run was flat on mud paths around the lake with a stile to negotiate, I
was hoping to catch sight of my brother as my running was feeling good
even though I was breathing hard, mouth open. It was at this point I
found that the
entire midge population of Ellington park had come out to watch the
run, needless to say I kept my mouth firmly shut on the second lap. The
finish came into sight and I was greeted by my brother grinning like a
Cheshire cat, he had beaten me by 01:44 which is the biggest margin
between us in a long time but this was our 3rd race of 6 this season and its 2-1 to me bring on Sun City.
Sun City finished as follows
Elliot Gowland
01:43:28
Amanda Cantle 01:52:00
Chris Wright 01:55:44
Stephen Beckinsale 01:57:15
Rob Wright 01:57:28
Gordon Bedford 01:58:25
Simon Tuck 02:02:18
Steve Williams
02:03:14
Andy Bell 02:12:07