Banana Triathlon 2022 July 2nd

Eton/Windsor Dorney Lake

 

My husband Stephen and I are entered for the series of triathlon events that Human Race Events so professionally host each year. Each day of events in the series has a race for everybody, whether you are a first timer or have, like Steve and myself, well over thirty years experience in triathlon. Steve first raced in 1989 and my first event was a swim/run early in 1990 that was, as it happens that was also presented by Human Race Events.

 

This visit we were dragging a younger friend along, kicking and screaming to the event. Don’t feel sorry for her though, she is a fit healthy woman serving in the Navy. She can swim, though that is her weakest but adequate discipline, she bikes everywhere and is a quite experienced runner.

 

On this day, you had about nine choices of event so that you could choose the one that suited you best. The course is the same for all but with different distances with number of laps. The venue was the rowing facility for the 2012 Olympic Games. There is a totally traffic free outer lane, around what is a lovely parkland surrounding the long straight Dorney Lake, that is used for the bike laps, also there is a wide lakeside path for the run event. The HRE team of marshal’s cannot be faulted; they are an experienced class act. Everything runs like clockwork and is smooth and safe.

 

On this occasion Stephen and I were in different waves starts entirely; he was in the age group of 40+ men and my wave was simply all women at that sprint distance. We were set off one at a time with a few seconds, enough of a time lapse to enter the water.  My wave left 20 minutes later than Steve’s at 12.30pm

 

I had a most enjoyable race from beginning to end even though it was a bit windy with gusts here and there, yet I found that it was only fully head on for the short section at the far end of the lake before making the turn back to complete each of four laps. What made this event such fun for me was that there were obviously a lot of first timers taking part, which meant that I overtook lots of people on the bike and even a few on the run.

 

To keep my energy up during the event I ate 4 Jelly Baby’s on the first three of the 4 bike laps. I only took a quick swig of water during both transitions. It may sound a little OCD but I am a very disciplined little thing, both in my home life and even more so racing. On the run section, taking into consideration that I am, firstly few weeks off 83 years old and I have Asthma, that is controlled with inhalers and inherited from my Dad I believe.

 

I do a lot of counting as I race, and when I train for that matter. I find at my age, that I cannot run continuously any more. Yet if I pace myself, I can hack on for ever it seems working my plan.

 

My walk pace is fast.

In races, I will start out running but keeping my pace down.

As soon as my lungs tell me to, I break back to brisk walk.

Then I count 60 strikes of my right foot running again.

Then walk thirty strikes of my right foot.

In this 5km two lap run, I held to that until I caught up with my husband who was on his second lap right at the turn point of my first lap. We both stopped, and I bent down and tied his shoe laces as his back was aching a bit.

 

We ran together back to where he peeled off the finish line, I made the turn for the 2nd lap.

At that point I was feeling comfortable and dropped the walk interval down to twenty strides for the whole of my last lap. I was jubilant at crossing the finish line.

 

Tea with our friend Kathy at the nearby garden centre then home. A day well spent.

Steve and I train together most of the time and the results are interesting because of that.

 

Steve

Swim 8.44

T1.    3.45

Bike  47.41

T2.    3.49

Run   40.58

 

Total  1.44.27

 

 

Daphne

Swim 9.27

T1      4.07

Bike   49.43

T2. 2.22

 

Total 1.43.50

Royal Windsor Triathlon 2022

 

Royal Windsor Triathlon 2022

                                    30^th Anniversary Race Presentation

 

It is pretty certain the first time my husband Steve and I competed in the Windsor Olympic distance Triathlon was the first year it appeared which was 1991. It was my second year as a triathlete and my very first event had also been and event presented by Human Race Events then under the directorship of John Lunt.

 

So, to clarify this, my first multi discipline event was the Damp Dash at Kingston-upon Thames which was pool based Swim-Run, 800mtr swim and 10km run. I was fifty.  It was winter, early February, I think.  My husband had been teaching me front crawl so that I could take up the sport that he first enjoyed a year before. A few months before that I was still a breast-stroke, back-stroke swimmer since my childhood. I got on quite quickly with the new stroke mainly due to the fact that breathing into the water was not a problem for me. I had always loved the water.

 

Steve and I did lots of the Human Race events and when Windsor came on the scene, we quickly signed up for it and it became my favourite race from the start.

The only missed one in those thirty years was because I had a broken wrist after falling off my bike.

 

The Windsor triathlon has developed over the years, a little change at a time, until it has grown into the spectacular event it now is.

 

Steve and I had looked forward to it enormously and were happy that the weather would be much better than it was the previous time in 2019 when it rained buckets almost every moment from beginning to end and in all my race photo’s I am wearing my best bright red Gore-text coat.

 

Steve is a serious control freak and so I don’t have to think my way through the preparations, I am happy to be lazy and let him do all the checking as we both register and rack our bikes. Mine first and then his. This is repeated the next morning when he goes over everything again even to making sure I have put my jelly babies in the bike bag and coffee in my drinker.

 

My swim wave was No. 11 at 6.45 a.m. and his was wave 18, 35 minutes after mine. A Lady who had not made it through on her swim the previous time, found me and asked me for advice for this second attempt at the race, having suffered an asthma attack in the swim in 2019 and not completing the swim. I hope my advice helped, I think it did, she seemed to be happier after we had talked, and slipped into the water calmly. I thoroughly enjoyed the swim this year having had a good head-chopper clonk on the back of the head the in the 2019 event. This time was a pleasure and not even cold.

 

At the swim exit I saw the race director who ran off and turned up just ahead of me, dangerously running backwards on the wet path where swimmers had dripped Thames water all over the path from the wetsuits, he trying to take photos on his phone as I ran toward transition. 

 

This was one of the longest transitions I can remember doing.  I think they are fashionable now, it breaks the field up nicely after the swim I suppose, but in fact there was a very long run from the swim exit, a barefoot run at that, on a quite uncomfortable surface covering the entire length of the race venue, the registration and expo area was passed by and then all the way on the full length of Victoria Park , past the huge transition area itself, having to run right to the far end before entering T1 and turning to run all the way back again until you found your bike, helmet, shoes etc, that at least  was grassy.

 

Having made our kit changes there was still 300 metres run holding your bike and wearing bike shoes that made it harder, I banded my leg on a peddle a couple of times. In my case, all told, it was over nine minutes between swim and bike mount and I had run.

 

Showing the sport has grown exponentially in popularity, there was a huge field of triathletes even though there were other races on the same day elsewhere.

 

There were changes on the bike course, so one had to keep one’s eyes peeled, several riders missed turns here and there. It was noticeable that the military services find triathlon useful in physical training and there was quite an aggressive road race going on.

 

Accidents happen and at one point there were possibly a hundred cyclists held up as an ambulance, an official car and several motorbikes loaded to injured man for his journey to hospital. Making no allowance for the fact that there was an accident and a race in progress, a large horsebox, none the less shouldered its way through, in the opposite direction.

 

Apart from the one holdup, surprisingly maybe, I was feeling fine and had a very good bike leg, for an old bird. Toward the end of the bike, there is a long whistle straight descent by Windsor Great Park, returning to Windsor centre.

I frightened myself to death on that section and had to talk my way through it aloud, saying, ‘Don’t brake… don’t brake… stay calm… relax… relax.. it rises again further on the road, and I will slow then’.  

 

The runs section has been marvellously packed tightly into three laps. Mainly the main street around one side of the castle and into the Great Park with a section on The Long Walk, in the park.

 

I had finished my first lap when I found Steve half way round on his first lap. He had a bad back-ache. He suffers a lot with his back unfortunately. He stayed with me until I got to the turn for his last lap, where I went straight on to the finish. He walked back from that point and met me there. 

 

During the run, a light moment occurred when a young man, who it turned out was an Instagram friend, shouted as he and his partner passed. It was confusing for a few seconds as he shouted encouragement, as well as his name, so that I got the message as to how he knew me and how I knew him. Social media has its benefits for sure. I checked up on them both later and notice that they are qualified for GBR team championship races this year and 2023 as am I. Thanks Triathlouu and tilly_tri, nice to meet you guys, see you somewhere else soon I hope, wearing our colours. 

 

 

Windsor tri is a challenging event; with a swim in the river Thames for a start and now the run simply has three laps of long uphill sections and most enjoyable downhills too.

 

We had a great day again and will God Willing, be there for more punishment in 2023.  

                                     Mr. Human Race Events

  

 

  

 

 

 

 

Active Sussex Sports Awards

Sussex County Cricket Club Grounds, in The Long Room 25.11.21

Active Sussex Sports Personality of the Year 2021 

Paralympian Cyclist Katie-George Dunlevy

 

It was a really nice surprise when I was notified that I had been nominated for the Active Sussex Sport awards. I was sent an invitation to attend the awards ceremony then a while later, there was an update to say that I had been selected as a finalist in the Sports Person of the Year category, one of three nominees in that category:

Georgia Adams, who is a very successful well-known Cricketer, the astonishing Paralympian Katie-George Dunlevy, who had been supplied with a table to display her THREE Medals from the recent Tokyo Paralympics, two gold and a silver. She was being photographed and I to managed to squeeze in afterwards to get a photo taken with her too. She charmingly handed me one of the medals to pose with! Such a sweet girl and happy to chatter for a while with us both and even told us about her disability that is that she has very restricted vision. Though she could see us to talk to us, it was like tunnel vision as I understood it. Such a determined talented young woman. 

 

The Active Sussex Awards evening was a very happy occasion, there were lots of smiling faces and a surprising amount of people came and made themselves known to me and congratulated me on all of my achievements. As one of the finalists in my category, neither Steve nor I had expected anything more from the evening for me, and having seen and spoken to Katie it was definitely, no-contest. We met both of her parents, who were nice friendly people and we talked with them for quite a while. We also had a very nice talk with Sadie Mason MBE who still plays the basket ball game that she is famed for and is now Chief Executive of Active Sussex. 

 

I was really thrilled that I had made it as far as being a finalist. I have no idea who nominated me in the first place, but I supposed that it was due to having won my age group in Ironman 70.3 Venice-Jesolo and had qualified for the Worlds Championships to be held In St. George, Utah in October 2022. I had been the oldest person overall in the Venice-Jesolo race and the oldest woman by a long way; at least two age groups. I believe that would make it a record for the event and maybe for European 70.3 Ironman events. That last point has not been looked into though.

 

A week before we left to race in Italy, our race warm up had been the English Aquathlon Championships in Worthing not far from our home.

I believe my age in that event may also be a record because at the presentations, the BTF representative who was presenting the medals told me that I could use the medal that had been presented to me for the photographs but that it was not correct and that I would be sent the right one later. I recall years ago that I was told that I had opened a new age group at the sprint Championships, when I think I might have been in the 70-75 group at the time. So it is altogether possible that and 82 year-old was not medal catered for at the Aquathlon event this year. My husband/coach placed second in his age group at the Aquathlon. 70-74. He was also second in Venice-Jesolo in 70-74 AG men’s and would have had a much better time recorded if it were not for this strange story.

 

There was a rolling start for the swim, where four or five athletes were released into the sea at a time, a few second apart. Stephen had told me to start earlier in the long trail of athletes and he would start later and more than likely catch me up before the end of the 1900 metre sea swim.  By the time I got back to transition, which was a very long jog in bare feet from the beach and taken my wetsuit off and put on my cycle shoes. Steve was also somewhere in transition. He passed me on the bike course and gradually pulled away from my position and I did not see him again until there was a point where the course had a there and back section along one side of a canal and then back down the other side where I was able to shout and wave at him even though he was a long way ahead of me in fact. That is why I was astonished to see him in transition when I got back in because he was a long way ahead, at least 20 minutes in front of me from the bike alone. Adding the swim time difference, he would have been about 40 minutes ahead of me I would have thought.

 

It turned out that another athlete had mistakenly racked his bike on Steve’s number on the racking.  Due to Covid restrictions, there were no changing tents and so all athletes had to place their bike and run kit in bags bedside their bikes. The other athlete whose bike was now where Steve’s bike should be parked had caused a mess. He had not only rifled through Stephen’s bags but had it appeared taken Steve’s fancy new trainers too! Outrageous behaviour. One presumes that they took a similar size and poor Steve had to find an official to try help sort it out. She went and found the other man’s bag at the place where he should have parked his bike. She came back with a bag and told Steve that at that time his only option was to put on the other guy’s trainers which were by the way, a tatty pair of racing flats with no support unlike to pair he had stolen of Stephen’s.

 

 

Meanwhile I had changed into my nice new pair of trainers and Steve was still there complaining to all the officials who did no more than advise him that all he could do was use those wrong shoes. That is how come, we were able to finish that race together and have our best ever finish line photo that has both of us in the really super shot .

 After the race, even though it was still raining torrents, that started during the thunderstorm on our last lap of the run. We complained to every official we could find, who all said that the theft of his new trainers would be reported, in fact it was ignored and the man was not disqualified for unsporting behaviour which should have happened.  It was annoying but apart from the stolen shoe saga it was a most enjoyable and highly successful race for me. The big plus being that both of us had qualified for the World Championships in Utah and there had been an amazing reception at the awards ceremony. We heard nothing more about the missing trainers.

 

Great race otherwise.