Upton Tri

 A couple of months on from Alcobendas and I've managed another multi sport event...Upton upon Severn Triathlon. Local to me. Way back on 1st of January this year entries opened, with all good new year intentions I entered the standard distance with the intention of nailing my swim from then on. Basically the intention turned into avoidance so basically my improvement in  swimming didn't happen, I tried, but clearly not hard or often enough. I decided to contact the event organisers and switched to the sprint.. This was a weight off my shoulders as I knew I could manage a 750m swim without hyperventilating or drowning. Or crying.

I competed in the sprint distance last year and finished 2nd female overall.  So having relieved myself of the pressure of swimming 1500m I had then put myself under pressure to do at least as well as last year. On top of this my club, Malvern Tri, made the decision to make 'Upton' our club championships as we had over 30 of our members entered in either the sprint or standard. It was to be a big day on my race calendar.. Even though sprint Tri doesn't feature in my long term plans for this year or next... More on that at a later date.

The night before the event a few of us from the club got together to put the club gazebo up at the venue so that we all had a meeting point.

The day dawned and as usual nerves were high before I left the house. 'Oh God I've got to get in that river again. Last year there was no current. Please have a current.' That's all I could think of.
All the 'sprint' ladies were starting in the water together. Here we go with the usual shrieks and and shouts of 'good luck', nervous laughter, all of which stop immediately as the starting horn sounds. Mild panic takes over with frantic splashing...and these lovely angelic friendly women suddenly become competitive devil women from hell. Well, that's me too! However, this year I started further back from the front as I didn't want all the fast swimmers overtaking me making me feel even more inadequate in the water than I already did. I think this helped, I soon settled into a relaxed rhythm and thought 'this is what it is, in 15-20 mins I will be on my bike.' And I was.. In just over 15 mins I was being hauled from the river by a burly man. Where would we be without burly men? (still in the river in my case)

Goggles and hat off, sleeves of wetsuit down leaving goggles and hat inside the sleeve... Anybody would think I'd practiced. 

Like a pro..

A quick T1 hot on the heels of another of our club females... Do you think she was my target at this point?

Evil eye

I had a blistering bike, it felt good, a new set up on my TT bars and I liked it. I nailed the dismount leaving my shoes on my bike and swinging my leg over ready to hit the ground running. Literally.

A member of my club was marshaling dismount and told me I was third female at this point. I'm out of T2 quickly and running strong ... The next Marshal tells me I'm second lady! I'm still running strong and overtaking but are these people on their first or second lap? And did the marsals really know? (The standard participants had to do 2 laps of the course.) I had no idea who I was racing. I overtook Ruth Johnstone who I knew was racing the standard and could then see no other females. At a turnaround point a member from my club said  'there's a woman about 200m behind you!' Oh god RUN!! No wait, that's Ruth who I just past! I'm so confused and blowing hard at this point but still feeling strong.

Winning!

I powered across the finish line.




Here the female Marshall cut off my timing chip and said 'I think you're first lady' 'Am I?' She wasn't sure, she asked a colleague, she wasn't sure either!. I found Ron... 'Ron, I think I won'... 'I think you have!' Will someone please tell me?! Another friend from the club, Jacqui, kindly offered to relieve me of my hysterical confusion and go to the timing tent to get my print out... I won! First female. Yeeeha! I've done it. A win on home ground and also female winner of club championship (female sprint) what a result!!. Four minutes faster than last year, faster in every discipline. Thrilled thrilled thrilled. :)

Club champions, Steve, Neill, Vikki, Lisa.

Our club is fantastic. As everybody came in the first thing they did was wait at the finish line for others from the club to finish and cheer them on. We have true camaraderie and support for each other. We did so well... Memorable moments were Sheila smiling all through the day.. Her first tri, Lisa third female on the standard, Rob.. (An amazing duathlete), fastest novice and fith male in his first Triathlon. Gulab extatic to be 5/6 mins faster than last year! Steve first overall in the sprint. Plus many of our club members marshaling and supporting. What a great day. So many moments.

I recommend Upton triathlon. Its a great day out for all the family. Sprint and standard distance races and children's fun runs. Plenty of marshals. Plenty of signage. Camping and an evening after party! But, get your entries in quick as this is always a sell out event. Entries open 1st January and will be sold out within about 4 weeks.

Thank you Upton, see you next year!