Harlech Triathlon 2004

The weather was mild and at times sunny as we made our way to Harlech Pool.

MY family and I had been staying with an old lady called Mrs. Jones. She lived in a farm house in the middle of no where and was almost bent double with arthritis. She also spoke in the strongest welsh accent i have ever heard, so communication was, at the least, a little difficult.

We arrived at the pool and met up with Simon, Nick and Chris. We all racked our bikes and sorted out our stuff in transition.

The pool swim was staggered with only 3 in a lane at any 1 time.

After the swim, which was quite a short one, being only 400m, you left the pool through the changing rooms and out into T1.

The bike course was on good roads with a bit of a nasty hill to start, but nothing too horrific after that. It consisted of one big loop down to a small seaside town and back. I’m not sure the holiday makers knew what had hit them when hundreds of mad cyclists streamed past them, weaving through cars and pedestrians.

Once the bike was done, which it was in about 1 hour it was onto the run.

The run course took you though the sand dunes and onto Harlech beach. There was a long stretch along the beach and then back into the dunes again. Due to the slight drizzle that had started halfway through the bike the majority of the sand was compact and wet, easier to run on. Coming off the beach there was an area of dry soft, sand churned up by previous competitors. That nearly took my already weary legs away!

Through the dunes again and back onto the road. And there it was... THE hill.

It was a slog let me tell you. They call this triathlon “storm the castle”... yeah right.

After the hill was completed and I had nearly lost the will to live there was a short flat/down hill section before you turned into the castle car park, so you could pick you speed up again for a flourishing finish.

Then there was the usual presentation, but completed in an unusual setting of Harlech castle, with a band playing especially for us.

I won the “Women’s under 18”, the “Novice Women’s” and came second in the “Open Women”.

A successful day and a fun one too. The course was an interesting one but I regretted my full Welsh breakfast, that Mrs. Jones had laid out for me that morning, a little on the run!

Vikki Knott

“Legends Speed Demon Duathlon

I had been hoping that the weather would be like the previous day; mild sunny and still. However, the morning of the race was cool, damp (drizzle/mist/low cloud) and with a southerly breeze.

I got to the venue (Bentley Legends Sports club, adjacent to the factory) in west Crewe nice and early so went for a quick drive around the bike course. This wasn’t quite as pancake flat as the OS map had suggested, but was still pretty flat (typical Cheshire countryside).

Registration was relaxed, friendly and slightly late to start, but the organisers knew what they were about (as soon as the cleaners had tidied up the previous night’s party). The venue was good; quiet with reasonable facilities; more than adequate to cater with the 30 entrants (about 25 male, 5 female).

The race started almost on time. The first run split involved 5 circuits of the sports field (800m per circuit) with the course demarcated by bunting; this was extremely flat

Then followed a turn off into the section of car park, sectioned off for a transition area, which was more than adequate for the numbers; it is possible that with a much larger field of entrants, the transition area would struggle for size, but was ample for this event.

The cycle split started on minor roads, with a right turn onto a main road

After that section of main road, the majority of the cycle split was on quiet country roads of varying quality; some recently resurfaced sections bore a refreshing contrast to other “pot-holed” sections. The last part of the split involved busier roads and a few tricky roundabouts to negotiate (not to mention a very tight left hand turn) but was safely negotiated by your correspondent. Then back to the transition area and the last run split.

The final run split involved 2 more circuits of the club sports field and, in my opinion, wasn’t long enough (I found 1.6km insufficient to get rid of the “wobbly legs” and back up to race pace – or maybe I overdid the cycle split too much).

Anyway, the second and final lap of this split culminated in a turn off past the finish line and completion of the course.

The full race was completed in between about 49 minutes (winner) and 1hour 30 minutes; so after a shower and change, the presentation ceremony followed, with a basic buffet lunch (cheese/egg/ham sandwiches, crisps and pork pies/sausage rolls) for those who had paid the extra £2, and the venue was vacated by about 1:30PM.

All in all, this was a very enjoyable event, albeit somewhat of a “mad dash” (all over in about an hour – ever for a beginner like me). Personally I would have like to see a longer second run split; and with a more interesting run course but given the size of the field I can appreciate why the organisers needed to keep the run section compact.

This was my first duathlon – used as a training session for my first triathlon; as such it was very useful, particularly in training for transitions and for learning about pacing the cycle split. I would certainly recommend the event again.

Ralph Sibley