Odiham Tri

Quick update on RAF Odiham Sprint Tri yesterday. I very nearly didn’t attend this race due to work and trying to focus on some longer training sessions. However, I though that some short lung bursting efforts would be enjoyable. I was quite tired prior to the race and the frustrating ride home from work Tuesday evening did not help. I rode into freshly laid tarmac and got my tyres all glued up. Every stone and piece of grit on the road proceeded to stick to my tyres after that and I had a mare removing it all. Then a bridge on the busway was totally closed. This meant a lengthy detour and 2 hours after leaving work I arrived home at 1900.

Anyway, that’s all my pre-race excuses, I think! The race went ok really and I perked up once the race head was on. My swim was the normal 6:08 but I was happy because it felt good and I was held up a bit by other swimmers in the previous wave. Daz Sharpe, Brad Gogs (minus Speedos) and Paul Fullalove were in my wave so it was always going to be a tight race in my wave. Typically, I was last out of the water, but not by much. Brad was long gone when I hit T1 but Daz was just leaving and I got out onto the road before Paul. I had Daz in my sights and I stayed within shooting distance for a while. Then, somewhere amongst the twists and turns he drifted away and the elastic was broken. He was simply too strong for me. I was expecting Paul to come past me but he had taken a wrong turn on the bike.


Shortly, I saw Brad standing on the side of the road. He had punctured, probably due to the very heavy rain that we had just before the start. There was grit and all sorts of rubbish all over the small side roads that we were riding on. It was game over for Brad. As I came into T2 I saw Daz leaving and I realised that I was not that far behind. The bike had been quite tough and there were some scary moments with traffic and pedestrians, seemingly oblivious of anything on the road that is not a car, just bumbling out in front of me.

I hit the run quite hard and the legs felt good. I am really enjoying running off the bike lately! The out and back course gives good visibility to see how you are doing against other waves. After a while I saw Mal Rose and Jase Walkley battling it out on the run. I figured that I was probably in with a chance of getting revenge on Mal after his great performance at Brize, but it was going to be close! A while longer and I saw Daz returning after the turn point. My spirits lifted because I was actually closer than I though I would be. But there was no way I was going to gain time on him. The return leg of the run is tough and the slight gradient really bites. In the distance I saw Nick Harris thundering along. Boy was he shifting! He is a real find this year and he seems to have no weaknesses and the best swim in RAF Tri by some margin.

I dug deep and finished in 1:05:06, by my watch. This was good enough for 3rd place and first Vet. Mal was only a handful of seconds slower and it looks like we will be up for a great battle at the Dambuster in a couple of weeks. This should be fun, but I can always play my age card if all goes wrong! Unsurprisingly, Nick won, but Daz was only seconds behind in 2nd. This is good for Daz as his training has been focussed on long course this year. The same can be said for Jase Walkly, who finished 6th, behind an army dude. Jase is all long this year and this was his first Tri of the year.

All good stuff and I am pooped today. A 22 mile spin into work was enjoyable this morning but the wetsuit swim in the pool at lunch time was boil in the bag time! Worth it for the constant 75m reps in 58 sec going off 1:20.

A quick mention to Steve Green. Steve bought my Merida Warp 4 bike off me a few weeks ago and yesterday was his first Tri. So well done to Steve; he has great potential so stick with it!