Podium at Bedford at last!!

1st Steve Harrison FVS TRI 01:59:49
2nd Jonathon Hotchkiss Sigma Sport/Orca 02:00:24
3rd Darren Treadaway Arctic Shorter Rochford Road T 02:01:33

315 Finishers

Ive never been so happy to finish 3rd! I have won similar races of this calibre in the past such as Worthing, South Coast Classic, Tidworth and had podium results at Chester and Swanage but Bedford has always seemed to stump me and I have been 4th here 3 times in the past and 7th last year! It was one of the first races I ever took part in and ive watched it change from a nice local event to a National event in its own right with good quality fields reaching 500 athletes over sprint and olympic distance. Maybe the course here doesn't agree with me or maybe ive just been unlucky. I made damn sure that this year things were going to change, Ironman training or not!

Several guys on the performance programme at Loughborough were on the start list so I knew there were going to be some fast swimmers to chase. I got a good start in the swim and settled into a small group behind the leaders. About a quarter of the way in my wetsuit started to let a little more water in than usual and on closer inspection its gone round the collar so looks like todays prize money will be spent on a new one. It didn't hinder me too much, maybe just made my arms a little heavy. I'm yet to have the perfect race with nothing going wrong!

I exited the water in about 12th place and set about riding through the field from the off. I felt great on the bike today as my biking has been really good this year. I didn't know how I would fair time wise as the course this year had changed, it was a nicer course but certainly a lot slower which brought the overall times down by some margin. I clocked the 2nd fastest bike split of the day which is very pleasing and was still nearly 2min down on my time on the old course! So really pleased with the bike as everyone is in the same boat. I was a little worried coming into T2 that I had over cooked it a little and jumped off the bike in about 1:30 down on the leader. My Dad shouted out that I was 4th and I thought there is no way I am settling for 4th again so set about running down the guy in front who was one of the guys from Loughborough, who pulled out shortly after I went past. In the end I hung on for 3rd spot not far down on the two guys in front who are class acts and big names in their own right.

Due to the new course it wasn't a day for fast times and this years swim times also appeared to be a little down on usual. But its still a cracking race and I will certainly be back next year. It goes to show you still can mix it over the shorter distances whilst training for Ironman.

It was god to see tri forcers out flying the flag today and thanks for waiting around for prize giving guys.

So next stop The Big Woody!

Tri Force Duathlon

Darren Treadaway 00:59:50
Jez Cox 01:00:33
Howard Davis 01:11:13
Chris Carradice 01:11:38
Mark Heaney 01:14:10
Tamsyn Allen 01:16:03
Jamie Hamilton 01:20:47
Graham Meager 01:20:59
MarkWoolhouse 01:25:47
Trace Allen 01:28:17
Paul Carter 01:28:26

I wouldnt normally write a race report for what effectively is a training race but this one deserved a special mention.

There was a lot of talk and speculation beforehand about myself, Jez Cox, Mike Jubb and Dan Corner all showing up! Now I by no means would have been the favourite had they all shown as they have all won medals at various European and World Duathlons and I myself am training for Ironman. It arguably would have been one of the best quality duathlons in the country! But I know I am in good shape and was looking forward to bashing some duathletes!

Some were taking it rather seriously and there was talk of using pyro plates and waking at 3:30am to eat breakfast in preparation! But I myself was just looking forward to having fun and a good work out! Unfortunately it wasnt the show down I had hoped for and it turned into a head to head between myself and training partner and good friend Jez Cox.

Now Jez (top British ranked Duathlete 2007) has taught me a lot on the bike over the winter from bike position to maintenance to race nutrition so I owe him a lot and his advice given selflessly to me probably cost him the race today.

I knew to stand a chance of winning I would have to get a sufficient gap on Jez on the first run otherwise he would have used me on the bike. So I went out hard from the gun and managed to get 25 seconds on him into T1. A quick transition and I attacked the bike hard nervously looking over my shoulder to see if he was making ground on me, I still had a good lead. I held on to T2 and further extended my lead on the second run.

So could Duathlon be another string to my bow? I certainly now intend to give a few more a go and look forward to more battles with Jez who i'm sure will be up for revenge next time!

Another DNF at Swanage and hopefully the end of my bad luck!!

I haven't blogged for a while because things have not been going that great. Since Austria ive had to get through a bike crash and food poisoning to get to the start line at Swanage. The crash happened when doing a recce of the course for The Big Woody in September. At the time it didn't seem too serious but it put my knee and shoulder out of whack and has made doing intense sessions difficult but just as I was getting on with it I contracted a bug I think from the local deli as there has been illness creeping up and down the high street where I work and it knocked me for six! I couldn't train properly for a week. So more time on the sidelines.

So onto Swanage. Well my body was working and I was over the food poisoning just, so managed to line up looking forward to one of my favourite races where I have placed 2nd and 3rd in the past and hoping for the win this year.

The swim was the usual fight to get to the first buoy, it seems rather ironic that various people have said lately to me that they have had panic attacks when swimming open water, ive always been extremely confident in water and never had a problem but I got out to the first buoy with the leaders and got hit round the head and my goggles pulled off. I let people swim over me while I re grouped and put my goggles back on but I felt very anxious so I can now appreciate what the others I spoke of have gone through. I got my self together the lead was gone so I carried on as normal but was too far back from the lead group so stuck in no mans land.

Onto dry land and a solid transition and I started to bring the field back on the bike and I think worked my way up to around 3rd place. Going out of Swanage I was confused by a sign making reference to the sprint race that was going on and I took the wrong turning. I wasn't the only person to make that mistake either! Both races were going in the same direction so all they needed was an arrow for all competitors and I wouldn't have even questioned it. My fault though I realise for not making sure I knew the course. I re joined the race and just rolled back into T2 and went for a sausage sarnie by the sea!

I hope my run of bad luck is now over and its back to business.