Africa Mason Blog: Second place – hard won!
Last weekend I competed in the Gloucester Youth Triathlon. I wasn’t particularly looking forward to this triathlon not only because the swim was in a 18 metre pool and the bike circuit was on grass but because there only appeared to be one other entry in my age group. Although it was a Youth Triathlon I had assumed it was for the less experienced competitors and after last weeks performance in ‘the big league’ at Dorney Lakes it felt like a step down. I was wrong as I found out later, the course and the competition was still very tough! Probably one of the most demanding I have ever done! When I walked and rode the course before my event I discovered just how lumpy the ground was and that the bike course had a very sharp ‘hairpin’ turn in the middle of the bike lap( I had to do eight of them !) Its always a good idea to arrive in plenty of time and check out the course and make sure you are prepared. Racking was very strictly controlled for the event, and despite being well ahead of my race time, I was still pushed to get set up: so much so that I forgot to take any eye protection in with me – then it was too late!
On the day the weather was glorious again: I missed the eye protection but made sure I plastered myself with sun screen: though this didn’t help keep my marker pen number on my arms and legs. The ground around the course was baked quite hard, so slippy grass wasn’t going to be a problem. My worries about damaging my new Focus Cayo 105 and coming off whilst ‘clipped-in’ started to fade. I was glad that I had my Schwalbe Lugano puncture resistant tyres on too and was reminded that maybe I want to swap my ladies specific Selle Italia Diva gel saddle from my trainer onto my race bike: It will also help me spot it in transition!
In my age group – the oldest in the competition there were lots more competitors than I had seen on the entry list: so many in fact that there were two waves for the swim. The swim was 22 lengths of the pool! I was 2nd out of the pool although my old pool swimming goggles steamed up so I couldn’t see the final laps float in the water. This float indicated 2 lengths left, resulting in me doing an extra turn which meant my T1 transition onto the bike had to be fast. It was – my transition was pretty quick onto the bike which brought me back up into 2nd place, then it was on to the killer 8 laps of the bike course, (10k.) Initially I struggled a bit on the tight turns ( I haven’t fully mastered them yet – but following some pre-start coaching from South West Tri Academy coach Will Newton I was getting there on the day!) I think I did okay considering it was my first one on grass using my Focus Cayo 105 – definitely better than using a Mountain Bike. However I don’t know if you have ever tried getting your feet out of your bike shoes on grassy terrain before, it’s not easy! T2 went smoothly as the transition area was pretty clear.
Then onto my strongest part of Triathlon at present , the run which was 3.5km on this one. It was very tough in the heat (but good preparation for my fast approaching Portugal trip though!) It was 5 laps of a shorter grass course – with no shade. On the run I could feel the lactic acid burning in my legs but just kept pushing on, over taking 2 people on the final stretch.
I came away second place overall with a trophy too, content that I didn’t win a spot prize in the lucky draw give away afterward! Thanks to all the folks at Glos Tri Club who organised it, it was a terrific event, sorry if I didnt appreciate it before hand. I’ll be back!