Report by Robert Wright
So here I am again travelling with a full car load of kit heading out into the lakes for what promises to be a fantastic weekend. 5 of us had decided to camp the night before to allow for ease of registration and hopefully fight off the tiredness that would have resulted from a 4 o'clock alarm call. A quick call to Andy for some last minute directions and it was all sorted, I even managed a soft drink in a local pub which was a huge test in willpower and resilience, it had some fantastic ales.
Back to that 4 o'clock alarm call, if I could have caught the pheasant which chose that moment to be right outside my tent when dawn came and bring it in with a song, it would have been shaking from some very strong words. Time to get up came all to quickly after that and we each went through our pre-race fuelling routine, packed up and headed for the start line. Soon Sun City had claimed a small patch of transition for itself and went about the business of queuing for the warmest toilet seat in Keswick.
Race briefing came and went and soon a mass of neoprene clad triathletes headed for Derwent water, Andy and Paul where off in wave 2 but Chris, Mark, Nick and myself got to swim in what had been called liquid snow just a few weeks earlier first. The water wasn't to cold, resent weeks of sun had warmed the water to 15 degrees, a quick warm up and back to the dock for the mass start. Julia Bradbury presenter of Wainwright walks among other things got hooter honours and started the race.
A 750m swim with 2 buoys to navigate around, as usual you had to jostle for your place in the water but it soon thinned out. At turn 1 I glance across to see my brother Chris only a stroke behind me, time to drop the hammer, I manage to enter transition 1.15 minutes ahead of him, things where going well. My transitions are not known for there speed, Chris calls them free speed as he usually makes up the time I gained in the swim over both transitions but as I exit T1 I haven't seen him.
The police have to be involved in races, but Keswick showed the rest of the North East forces how it should be done with some excellent traffic control through out the race. I passed the police woman who had kindly brought traffic to a stop for the only right turn in the race and I was straight back into my tri bars. The first ascent was soon upon me and Mark passed me on the first section of the hill, but I managed to overtake him just before the crest, I knew I could go flat out down the hill and proceeded to peddle hard to the left turn which would take me along some twisting minor roads to the A66. This is a fast course with some lovely roads even the A66, which while busy, must have just been resurfaced because it was smooth I was lucky and had a good go at it without much traffic interference.
Once off the A66 you head for Cat bells which takes you along a twisting single track road around Derwent water. A large crowd had gathered on the ascent at Cat bells to cheer competitors on and hopefully didn't see anyone fall at the cattle grid. Normally the bike leg is a solitary affair with only other riders and the odd marshal for company, (the other riders only for as long as it takes to pass or be passed) but with it being Keswick you had a lot of people about for the mountain festival or just for the mountains and they stopped to cheer you along, which meant I gave it all I had on the ascent taking the twisting road wide to avoid the incredibly steep tight corners. The descent at Cat bells is full of blind corners and I took it as fast as I dared but I was soon enjoying it a had a maniac grin on my face at the turn back into Keswick.
At T2 I ran my bike into transition and proceeded to put my socks and fell shoes on, which cost me more time to my brother but I wanted the traction my fell shoes had to offer. The run route was very well marked out which, was handy because I sometimes lost sight of the people in front and I'm not known for my mountain craft I got lost on the run reccie the week earlier and had to turn back. The climb up to Ashness Bridge is hard and I finally gave up trying to run and swapped it for a fast walk. The runner ahead of me gained no time on me so that was ok, once onto the fells I employed the same run/walk as the terrain dictated and was soon at the top of the fell.
A small child informed me of my position in the race at the top and apparently for all of the following runners right up to Andy's “your not last” but we will get to that later. Now for the descent how much speed should I employ and will gravity give me an option, I proceed down at brake neck speed only to be passed by an obvious fell runner going twice as fast as I dared. All the walkers I encountered on the run kindly got out of the way either because they where really nice or the fact I was hurtling towards them at considerable speed with no chance of stopping. Finally the finish was in sight and I cross the line ahead of my brother for the first time in 5 events, he comes in 3.09 mins behind me. Andy had a nightmare bike and we see him pushing his bike into transition, he says don't ask, so we don't only to find out he had to ride the last 8 miles on a flat due to an inner tube nightmare and breaking his tyre levers on the second repair. He shows true determination and heads out to complete the event passing loads of runners in the process and finishing strong.
Sun City finished as follows
31st Rob Wright 2.23.46
53rd Chris Wright 2.26.55
87th Mark Harrison 2.32.52
189th Nick Hughes 2.53.10
212th Paul Bennett 3.00.35
254th Andy Bell 3.29.44