2. Paul Hawkins Planet X 03:47:50
3.Lawrence Fanous 2XU TFN RT 03:49:33
4. Martin Yelling 2XU TFN RT 03:50:02
5. Mark Couldwell 2XU TFN RT 03:51:44
6. Paul Mountford Parker International 03:53:59
7. Darren Treadaway Arctic Shorter Rochford 03:56:48
(I did 4:05:42 in 2006 placing 6th)
345 Finishers
This was to be my last race before the 5 week build up towards Ironman Austria so I was looking for another solid performance and confidence booster before the big one.
If you had asked me before the race if I would have been happy with 7th then my response would have been no way. But I went around 9 minutes quicker than in 2006 despite finishing a place lower down the field. So although I am still not over the moon finishing 7th I will take it! Even the organiser commented that it was the best field ever assembled at Bala in the 6 years its been running. There was one fatal flaw in my race preparation which I think has probably cost me which I will come to later in the report.
Bala is an awesome setting for a race and I was mesmerised by the scenery and terrain the first time I raced here and have been back twice since.
I got off to a good start in the swim and settled into the second pack nicely. The water temperature was fine but would have struggled if it was any colder. First transition was smooth and it was off onto the bike, spirits were lifted by hearing my name over the loud speaker as one of the contenders. Onto the bike and after about 10 minutes or so I spotted Jon and gave him a few words of encouragement and he did the same for me, its good having people you know out on the course especially in these longer races. Paul Mountford (reigning British Champion) caught me about 1 hour into the bike and to be honest I thought he would steam past a lot sooner so I thought either he was having a bad day or I was going well and I think it was the latter. The rest of the bike leg was uneventful, on the closing straight I was caught by Martin Yelling and we entered transition not far apart which was a big lift to know I was in good company, it was now just a case of how much time I could catch on the rest of the field.
Here comes the f*&k up! I was so busy trying to be with Martin out of transition that I forgot my gels! I realised at mile 1 after spotting Martins fuel belt, it dawned on me that my fuel was back in transition. I thought its not the end of the world the event is sponsored by High 5 so there must at least be some energy drink along the course, but it turned out that all they had was water! They were waiting for the High 5 to be delivered and it never arrived in time. So I had to do the whole of the run on water only! Which I think worked against me mentally as well as physically as I tried to run conservatively and just worry about getting to the turn around and see what I had left to get to the finish. I did struggle back and thanks guys for the encouragement when we passed on the course but by that time the legs had gone to jelly, the vision was blurry and all I was worried about was getting to that damn finish line and collapsing!
An enjoyable but tough day out. Good to have support from the club out there and hopefully we can make it a bigger event next year. Well done to all that finished.
Next its into the unknown Ironman!!
