TriFerris womens only sprint triathlon

Swim 750m bike 20km run 5km

OK, so this was it. Time to dip my toe back into the water and race my first Triathlon for 2 years.
The TriFerris womens only sprint triathlon at the Cotwold water park seemed a great triathlon to get me back into my wetsuit and back on the tri scene.
I wasn't let down.
The organisation  from the TriFerris team and their marshals was spot on with friendliness from other competitors, supporters and employees of the water sports centre being second to none today.
The only gripe was the amount of pot holes on the bike route....but this is not the responsibility of the race organisers.

Morning of the race
I'm not a fan of a 5am wake up call but thats what it took for us to leave the house at 6 to arrive at the venue for 7am. Easy access to parking and race set up went smoothly, although I did have to rush to the lake for the briefing which had started earlier than advertised.

Swim 17:03
This was to be the test today. I have been swimming with the club sessions in the pool since just before Christmas. These sessions have been a tremendous help, I'm still slow, but I can honestly say that I look forward to these sessions and feel I have become a born again swimmer ! Who knew? My confidence has built and I no longer think of myself as a non swimmer....I still have a lot to learn, and need to make big improvements, but the will is now there...we just have to find the way.

I started towards the back, letting the faster women go off first and I wanted to keep myself from getting caught up too much in the washing machine effect. This worked well as I actually swam past a few people, and did a bit of draughting too.  I didn't panic, and if I felt myself fighting the water I quickly reminded myself to relax and soon got back into a good breathing pattern.  I thought my sighting went well although I lost my way a bit coming into the finish.

I was 77th out of the water!

T1 1:52
I got a bit dizzy in T1, I managed to whip my wetsuit down to my waist whilst running from the lake to transition. I stopped at my bike and slipped the one leg out easily but then I got giddy !! and had to hold on to the scaffolding for a bit and struggled with the other leg. I'd also caught my timing chip and had to redo the velcro. I ran off with my bike and then realised I had made my mistake of the day, a real school boy error as I'd not put my race belt/number on so had to go back. I lost vital seconds here and had a word with myself about it too.

Bike 33:25

Dry side

Once on the bike I was away. The dizziness had gone and I was up for a race. I dug deep and raced well.....I over took 61 women!  This felt great and I was loving it. The course was flat and fast. As previously mentioned the pot holes were a bit off putting at times and also there was a lot of standing water, but I don't feel this hampered my ride too much and it was the same for everybody.
I had a smooth flying dismount, putting to bed the memory of St Wendel last month when I skidded off the bike at this point. I had gone past a women right at the end of the bike leg and knew she was
following me into transition.

T2 0.41
This was better, smooth, no problems. I was trying my Zoot triathlon running shoes for their first race, they were great, no faffing. Didn't lose any places here.

Guns out

Run 19:58
The woman I over took at the end of the bike leg was hot on my heels but I pulled away and didn't see her again. The run was 2 laps around the lake. The course was flat, multi terrain and Beautiful.
I couldn't see anybody up in front of me so had nobody to chase. However, I ran hard and felt I was giving it everything.









Finish 1:13:01
I crossed the finish line with a smile, I genuinely felt happy with my race.
Unbelievably it was still only 9:15am Sunday morning !! This short stuff is funny!

Overall I came 16th and was 2nd in the 50-54 age group.

I promise that's a smile :)

If only I could swim faster !! I gave away 6 minutes or so to the top athletes in the swim, and some unnecessary silly seconds in T1, but was pleased that my bike and run times were up there with the top few. Not bad for a long distance duathlete :)

It was good to catch up with Sara Northover, who had a great race and for the second year running not only won our age group but was first female overall. Inspirational Sara, congratulations.

So, I've learned from today's race, if not only to try and remember to put my race belt on before heading off on the bike. It has also made me look forward to swimming more and to get to the lake for some open water practice as much as I can, which unfortunately is only once per week. Next up is Upton Triathlon standard distance next month....watch this space.

TriFerris womens only triathlon is a great event that I would highly recommend. As well as the sprint there is a super sprint which has a 400m swim and just one lap on the run and a novice race which has a 200m swim and one lap of the run (I did this back in 2011) All distances do the same bike leg. So, a good place to start your triathlon journey.

As ever thanks to Ron, Neill and Stewart.