2nd Jonathon Hotchkiss Sigma Sport/Orca 02:00:24
3rd Darren Treadaway Arctic Shorter Rochford Road T 02:01:33
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!
No comments:
Post a Comment