The Spirit of Triathlon Yet to Come

For the past four or five years, Stephen and I have concluded our summer race season sometime in the month of September and more often than not, the last race for the year has been, not just one of our favourites but also one of the most convenient, and one of the most fun events. We have so many reasons to be joyful about Brighton and Hove Triathlon. For a start we both love Brighton and in fact I was born there, in the Royal Sussex County Hospital in 1939 just days before World War II broke out. The race director John Lunt, director of the 2012 Olympic distance triathlon in London, is one of the best-known names in British Triathlon. As another fact, my very first multi discipline race was one of his early productions, the Damp Dash about 30 years ago, based in Kingston upon Thames, which is where Stephen was born and brought up.

We live in Littlehampton now, less than twenty miles along the South Coast from Brighton and Hove where by the way, we lived in the centre of Brighton when we were first together, in a small room above the original Body Shop in Gardener St. So, we don’t even have to stay overnight for the race because we are only 20 minutes away. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For our own tastes, what Brighton and Hove Triathlon has going for it is that for a start, it is a sea swim and the current in Brighton is not as strong as it is in L.A.
which is local speak for Littlehampton, since most people drop the H. There are start waves for age groups, all kinds of other sections, beginners, relays etc. There is a wave for everybody. The bike ride is as safe a course as possible since it is on a closed road, travelling back and forth along Hove Kingsway before starting the run route on the famous promenade. Super crowd support all the way. It’s a great race and a perfect first event. The last couple of years I have been used during the promotion of the event since there are not very many people as old as myself, still training and working hard to compete. 

Can you spot me at the race briefing here.

Last year though I was not the oldest person in the race since a friend of ours Geoff Gearing was also racing but in the sprint event. Both of us were interviewed before and after the event if only to give the commentator something interesting today apart from the name of the next person to cross the line at the end.

 

 

 

 

Like every other event that we had entered, Brighton and Hove tri will not be on tomorrow. Just this morning I deferred the last entry for an event next year.  So, most of the races we had so looked forward to in 2020 are now one day earlier on the calendar for 2021. We have eight or nine events already listed and may be a few more, in the fullness of time as they say.