The Morning After…

So Nottingham went well; British AG sprint champion etc. etc, but there was no time to bask in any glory as I had to get to Chester for the Deva Olympic distance triathlon the next day. I had entered five of the six qualifying events for the sprint and OD ITU champs in London. This was basically because I was out working in Australia last November when I found out that the Dambuster qualifier had already sold out. I went straight on line and saw there were only about 20 places for Deva left so I registered there and then. The next day I looked at the other qualifiers and saw they were also just about sold out so in a fit of panic I registered also for Nottingham, Bristol and Llandudno. The 3^rd OD qualifier had yet to be announced so I thought best to get into the Sprints to at least give myself a chance. Also Bristol is just about a local tri and I’ve lived many years in Llandudno so that also would be like a home tri. The outshot of all this internet activity from down under was that I didn’t realise that Nottingham and Chester were on consecutive days. Oh well, I just thought I would see how well I could do at Notts and treat the Deva tri as a block session! I managed to get a good post-race massage in Nottingham.

I went straight to register for Deva on the Saturday afternoon and then went to stay with a friend in North Wales. I’d arranged another massage there with John Clayton who came highly recommended in North Wales. He was excellent and not only gave me the massage I needed, also offered heaps of good physio advice for my various ailments. After Notts a bit of a celebration was called for so out we went for an Italian and carbo loading, some beers and a nice bottle(s) of red. I was in the final wave on the Sunday so luckily no need for too earlier a start. However, as always; I was awake early, so set off for Chester so I could see some of the earlier waves start. My Cardiff Tri buddy, Sam Webster, has already written a far better descriptive blog of his race at Chester (here) http://www.dontbeasalmon.net/archives/2013/06/deva-triathlon.html.

Based right in the centre of a city, on the river, space was always going to be tight. So getting from the car parks to transition and then onto the swim start was a bit convoluted but I have to say the organisation, marshalling and assistance was excellent throughout the event in what I could see was quite a difficult location (Chester Sunday tourists all over the place).

I guess due to focusing of Notts for the first time in a triathlon I hadn’t even looked at the cycle and run courses. I obviously knew the 1500m swim was in the river but that was about it. I racked my bike, worked out the in’s and out’s of transition and went down to the swim finish to see how that worked. As the swim course went first up river around the bend and then back down stream, with no footpath on this side of the river what was around the bend was a bit of a mystery.

Start time came. By now I’d worked out my race strategy. I’d already qualified for London and raced the previous day so just go nice and easy and see how it pans out. Although as my best event is swimming and our last wave was only males my age and older I thought I would see if I could do a good swim. Well I did. The actually time for the 1500m (actually over 1700m by all Garmin gps accounts) on such a upstream/downstream river swim is irrelevant but I managed to draft just about the whole way. At the swim start three of us went clear very quickly I just tucked in behind the third and away we went. The first guy was a bit ahead and in retrospect a good sighter and perhaps I should have tried to get on his heels. The guy I was following was zig sagging a bit but I think was slightly faster than me and so was pulling me along nicely. I haven’t checked specifically but I think we ended up about 3 or so minutes ahead of the pack. I managed to overtake the 2^nd guy before getting to T1 and then the first guy before the exit on the bike (later he past me on the run). So once again I was in the lead on the bike in my age group and thinking this tri lark was easy. That was to about the 20k marker when someone in my wave past me. I don’t know whether it was being passed or if I had just reached my limit but that’s where I bonked. I had no energy left. I was also cramping in my arms and elbows in the aero position. I was passed a few more times before T2. I think I was in survival mode on the run and just really jogging around. Lots in my age group with red numbers passed and my aim was just to finish. I had no motivation whatsoever to give myself pain. Although I realised there were two guys coming up behind me as I went over the bridge towards the finish I really could do nothing about it. That was it. The cold fact was that in the end I finished 15^th in my Age Group.

It’s taken me a few days to recover but thinking about things I’m now pretty happy with the race. There is no way I could expect to perform well on two consecutive days. I think I had the best swim leg I’ve ever had and practised my swim drafting to perfection. Although I bonked on the bike and then had someone take over 13 minutes off me on the run I know I can do better. In the end it was a good training race for me.

The one gripe I have about Deva – It took me days to scrub off the tattooed race numbers and lettering from my arm and leg! After trying every industrial solvent (from work) I have to no effect it was just hard scrubbing that got them off and left me a bit raw. I guess not the worst triathlon complaint you could have.

British Age Group Sprint Triathlon Champion

Well. I wasn’t expecting that!  On Saturday, 1^st June 2013 I became the Male 55-59 British sprint triathlon champion at Nottingham. It has certainly mixed things up for me in respect as what I’m now going to do, what are my targets, how I’m going to train, work/family priorities etc.  Oh god, there is just so much to taking in.

I’d looked at the start lists for Nottingham and with my vastly improved performance at Llanelli two weeks ago I’d realised that for the first time in triathlon I would really be in with a shot in my age group. However, as just about anyone who was at Nottingham will tell you, it was very competitive with just about everyone attempting to qualify for the London world champs in September. In fact of the over 1000 or so entries I think there were very few there just for the fun of it.

So how did the day go for me?  Well first I made a good decision the day before. I was planning to travel up on my own very early (3am!) on the morning of the race. In the end I decided that was a bit much, especially having entered the Deva tri in Chester the following day. So instead I bought a cheap but good small tent (our family tent is massive and takes hours to put up) and camped the Friday night. The campsite next to the Nottingham National Water Sports Centre is great and the weather was perfect. So I had an enjoyable evening planning things, doing a course recce, getting well fed (and a few beers) and a good night’s sleep.

The race was split into 5 waves with 2hrs 15 between waves so it lasted the whole day with the last wave off at 4.30pm. I was in the 2^nd wave starting at 9.45 so I got there early to see the start of the first wave and pick some tips up. It was the first time I’ve raced where there was a split T1 & T2 transitions, but it was quite straight forward. I met up with some Cardiff tri who had done it before and got a few more tips. Luckily I’m a strong and confident swimmer (it was the water polo) as us oldies (55-59) were lumped in the same wave with the testosterone of males 20 to 34 and the swim start was as brutal as I can remember. I’ve got a good sprint so cleared out pretty quickly and then largely had clear water to settle into my rhythm. A few passed but I don’t think I touched anyone all around the course.

Getting out of the wetsuit (All photos courtesy of David Gunthorpe, Cardiff Tri)

Good in T1. I had decided again not to do a flying start but put my bike shoes on in T1. So my T1 time (69secs, 317/893) looks worse than it probably should, however once I was on the bike I passed many in the first 200m going slow still trying to get their feet in the shoes on the bike whilst I was already in aero. I guess if you can get your feet in quickly and go, it’s faster.

Bike was 4 times around the outside of the rowing course anticlockwise. The course is essentially a rectangle with the ends slightly rounded. I was already warned by one of the guys that the second corner curves more and comes back on you and that he went on the grass in wave 1. So what did I do on the first lap? The same! I only just made it inside the post of the gate. Apart from that I flew around. The new Trek Concept TT bike is magic.  Being a single track road around the lake the course was narrow. I could see many groups bunching up. I guess it is so difficult not to draft in these situations. Luckily (or unluckily if you look at it that way) I was just about always on my own so no problems. I see in the whole event they only busted a few drafters. But as I said, it’s difficult on that type of course. I had the fastest bike time in my AG.

On the bike exiting transition and looking good

T2 was also OK. I had thought of getting out of my bike shoes on the bike but with the final two corners coming quickly and tight I decided to err on the side of caution. I managed to get my run shoes on without the hint of cramp which normally occurs when I do this in races. The run was back the other way clockwise around the cycle course with a couple of diversions. Apart from the first 500m is was flat. Due to managing my Achilles issues I’ve not really done proper run training in the last couple of months but it felt alright and as I was going so well I decided I might as well push it for all my worth. It was a flat course after all! My run ended up at 21.58 which I’m pretty happy with although there were six or so in my AG with around 20mins or under run times.

So coming into the last 400m to the finish I knew that I would qualify in the top 7 for the worlds but I also thought I was probably 1^st or 2^nd so I gave it all. One guy sprinted past me but he was just a kid! Coming over the line I could hear the announcer say “here’s the first 55-59” and then my name and club and then some very complimentary things. It actually took me a little while to realise that I had, provisionally anyway, won my age group. I waited to see who would come in and it turns out 2^nd & 3^rd had a huge sprint finish. One second difference and some guts left on the finish line. That’s how good the racing was. Although I was  2 minutes ahead of them. My time for the 750m/20k/5k was 1.05.41

It was still a provisional result so I went back to the camp site, showered and had some food. When I came back I went to the computer to get a print out of my result. It said 1^st in age group. I happened to ask the official if I got anything for it and he said the presentations were already going on outside. I quickly walked outside just as my age group presentation was about to start. Thirty seconds  later I was up getting my trophy and medal, standing on the podium with the 2^nd and 3^rd and getting our photos done. So that was it – confirmed British age group sprint triathlon champion!

A good day out as they say.

I didn’t hang around as I had to drive to Chester to register for the Deva Olympic distance triathlon the next day, which stupidly, but due to circumstances at the time, I had also entered. That wasn’t as good day and I’ll tell why in the next blog.

So here I am qualified for the first home World Triathlon Championships in London in September and qualified as British AG champion. No pressure then!  Oh and I already qualified for the World Aquathlon Championships earlier in that week in September. The good thing is that on reviewing both my races this weekend I don’t think I’ve yet reached my full potential. I know I can go faster in the swim. I’m only just learning how to get the best on the TT bike (I still couldn’t hold the aero position for the whole race) and, if my Achilles allows me full training, I think I can run a bit faster.
Next up, next week, is the ETU European Championships in Alanya, Turkey. This is becoming fun!

I raced a race! - Llanelli Sprint Tri Race Report

Last Sunday was my first triathlon of the 2013 season. It was a sprint tri in Llanelli, the town where I grew up. I’m very pleased with the way it went. I managed 2^nd in the Super Vet’s category and, more importantly, smashed my PB for the course and that’s with the swim course being about 1min longer this year. So it looks like all my training since I got serious is starting to pay off.

The swim finish (Photo: courtesy of Owen Evans wife of Cardiff Triathlon club)

I guess since I started racing triathlons (properly in Australia in the late 80’s) I’ve never been a contender for winning anything and consequently I’ve only ever really competed to do as best as I can. My objective has always been a PB rather than winning anything or beating anyone specific so I’ve paced races to finish as fast as I can. I can’t remember a time where I have actually gone for a sprint finish to try and be one or two places up the finishing list. However now with this plan of training, trying a bit harder and competing on the international age group stage I actually thought through what I would be like if it did come to some sort of sprint finish against one of my fellow age groupers trying to qualify. My observation was that I probably wouldn’t be very good. I normally don’t hold anything back in the swim or cycle and I’ve never been good or comfortable in the run, always seeming to be in pain from the start of the run to finish. My aim on the run is to get it over with without over straining myself. I’ve also never previously been concerned with who I’m racing, in my age group or others. This season, again with my targets in mind, I thought I should take things a bit more seriously. So before Llanelli I had a look at the start list. As for just about all tri’s this year there were a lot more entrants. In fact, 310 recorded finishers against 236 for last year. I had noted that I’d finished last year (in a PB) 6^th out of 20 Super Vets (50 -60 year olds), 11 mins & 28 secs behind the winner from Celtic Tri Club. He had again entered this year. I noted that last year I was second out of the water, 3 secs behind him. So I hatched a simple plan. As my swim is a bit faster this year I will try and get out in front on the swim and then just see when he passes me on the bike and see how close I can keep him. So the night before I even tried to remember his race number. Things in the swim went to plan. I was in the second of three waves with all but one of the +50 males and most of the +40 male vets.

The Melee of the swim start (Photo: courtesy of Owen Evans wife of Cardiff Triathlon club)

 I got a good start and led the 2^nd wave swim from start to finish. The first wave was all the females plus a few men and I’d already caught quite a few on the swim. On the bike I was slowly picking athletes off on the way out to Kidwelly. I was quite surprised that the first person that passed me did so quite late on in the cycle and it was a +40 man with a low number. But last year’s winner caught me just before T2. This, together with an abysmal T2 for me trying to get my run shoes on without getting cramp in my feet meant he was way in the distance when we got on the waterfront.

 Start of the run for me (Photo: courtesy of Owen Evans wife of Cardiff Triathlon club)

 

This is the bit about racing. I was slowly starting to catch him and in fact got to about 10m behind him at the 2.5km turn. So now what? I was slowing down and thinking I should just follow him till the finish and save everything for a sprint. But I don’t have a sprint finish! Eventually I thought, what the hell, this isn’t a qualifying race and I will probably do a slower time if I don’t run as fast as I can now so after the only little rise on the run I went passed him, as fast as I could trying to give an air of this was easy! Of course he then speeded up and followed me. Oh what pain. I just ran as fast as I could and went hell for leather for the last 400m. I beat him by 9 seconds. I was a bit of an embarrassment at the finish dry retching as they were trying to hand me my t-shirt, goodie bag etc. I have no idea how I didn’t actually throw up. For a little while I obviously though I had won my age group. But it was not to be. The one guy in my age group who started in the last wave was a couple of minutes faster. He was a “younger” guy who had just moved into the age group. This year I was 2^nd in AG out of 26. Overall I was 34^th out of 310 finishers; compared with last year where I was 71^st out of 236.

So all’s well that ends well. A second place AG trophy and a £20 voucher for a tri shop. I guess that now makes me a professional after all these years! 

It wasn’t all good though. Once again I got my specific problem at every triathlon of cramps in top of the foot when putting on both my bike and run shoes. It probably set me back about 30 – 45 secs in total in the transitions.  I’m now accepting this and put it down to getting older and some arthritis. Although I used to do it a few years ago, I won’t be now doing a flying start again with my bike shoes attached to the bike. The risk of getting cramp when inserting the feet when on the bike is too great for me. The other problem I had was that I couldn’t stay in the aero position for the whole bike leg -probably only about half. It’s the first time I’ve raced my new Trek Concept tri bike in anger (see previous post). I found that being in such a different position when compared to the aero’s on my training bike i.e. further forward; I was starting to get cramp in my forearms and had to drop down quite often. I’m hoping that with some specific exercises and more time on the tri bike this won’t happen again.

Going home to race triathlon

This weekend is the Llanelli sprint triathlon. I’ve done it for the last few years and assuming my list of ailments doesn’t get any worse (groin strain now added to the list!) I look forward to racing it again. Llanelli is where I was brought up and my dad still lives on the hill overlooking Stradey Park. Having gone to school on the cycle course, spent summers playing on the run course and learning to swim in North Dock – the swim venue - I can now already picture every metre of what’s waiting for me on Sunday. Far better than I can remember the Box End aquathlon course I did only two weeks ago!  Llanelli was a lot different in those growing up days. The docks, although already decayed, were still working docks. But the biggest change is where the run course is, through Sandy Water Park. If you didn’t know you would never believe that for over 70 years up to 1981 this was the site of Llanelli Steel Works. I can only now compare it to something like Isengard in Lord of the Rings; with steam and gas belching out 24hrs a day, the roar of the steel being poured and the constant clanking of rail trucks being shunted.

 

These are the sights and sounds I became accustomed to for the first 18 years of my life and took as normal. In fact I remember when we went on holiday I couldn’t sleep at first for the quiet! I qualified as a Metallurgical Engineer and after University emigrated to South Africa to get a job at the time of the demise of British industry under the hand of Margaret Thatcher. Even today on reflection it still irritates me the commercial and social damage done by these political motivated closures. Whilst countries in Europe – Germany, France etc., going through the same economic difficulties as the UK, supported their industries (including car manufacturing) and the associated communities for the long term benefits we can see in those countries today. By coincidence the (newly refurbished at the time) steel furnaces in Llanelli were dismantled and sold to a South African company. They are still in operation today on the outskirts of Johannesburg and it is a strange feeling driving past them knowing where they came from. On a historical note some of Margaret Thatcher’s letters have recently been released including this one about the closure of the Llanelli steel works in 1981.

 

Llanelli was an amazing place to “play” as a kid. In those days we were allowed out all day and wandered far and wide. As a parent now I shudder at what we got up to; sneaking right into the works, riding the shunted rail cars, catching eels in the chemical filled waterways and even walking & swimming across the tidal mud flats of the Loughor estuary to the Gower. I have to say what a fantastic job has been done with the water park and coastal path to try and return things to something like it was pre industry.

A view from our road over the Scarlets old Stradey Park ground, the Steel Works and the Gower taken in the 1970's

Sandy water park today. The site of the old steel works. Dad's house is on the hill on the right

 

Talking about the Loughor estuary I believe I’m still the proud holder of the record for the fastest swim between Burry Port harbour and Llanelli Beach. I did it back on the 25^th June 1977 as part of a race to raise funds for the Queen’s silver jubilee. Previous to that it was last raced in 1935. I don’t know about recently but I found out the race was held a few times in the 80’s but no one managed to beat my time of 70mins for the approximately 5km (as the crow flies) swim. I know it’s 5km thanks to the help of google maps and this recent photo which I’ve anointed.

 

 

Loughor estuary has one of the biggest tidal ranges in the UK and although the tide was almost in I was definitely “tide assisted”. I’ve always been pretty good at sighting and swimming straight during open water swims and I think I must have been even then for my first real long distance swim. I remember at the start I sighted on a chimney from the old Machynys works and fixed on that the whole race so swam straight across the bay. Whilst I think my competitors from Llanelli swimming club probably more followed the coast around. I say that because at the time I specialised at Breastroke and I know there were at least three guys who were faster than me at frontcrawl. Or maybe I was just better at the longer distance. Anyway I kept a few local newspaper clippings of the event and the trophy is still on the shelf. I personally think the Llanelli triathlon should be a sea swim rather than a lap around the old North Dock!

 

Another hurdle cleared: Swim – Run; Serpentine & Hyde Park

I’ve just checked the British Triathlon age group website and I have a Q1 next to my name, meaning that I have officially qualified for the ITU Aquathlon world championships in Hyde Park in September. So at least I will be racing on the Wednesday, 11 September in London.

 

The long term outcome of the London marathon was a very sore right Achilles tendon and, consequently, a painful right calf. I only had two weeks before the qualifying race, the Box End Aquathlon in Bedford so it was no running, physio appointments, massage and strengthening exercises to try and get it ok for the Aquathlon. It seemed to work as I managed to get around the 5km run course without it hindering me. Although I haven’t actually done any running for about 5 weeks (obviously excluding the 42.2km of the VLM) so I found the run hard. I think I’m now quite a bit off my 5km PB set in February this year. However it was a great day for the Box End race with it being warm and the sun shining. Water temp was barely 14C which made getting in the water not the most pleasant of experiences, especially putting the face in open water for the first time of the year.  But with a wet suit on it soon felt ok and I was quite happy with my swim. In fact when the results were out I was happy with all my splits and I actually did one of the fastest transitions. My times were an improvement on last year and I narrowed the gap to the AG’s who beat me last year and extended it from those behind me.

When I checked the British Tri website and saw the Q1 against my name I was a bit surprised that only three of us had Q against their name (me and the two guys who were in front of me) as I think there were at least 10 in the AG who had registered for the world champs and there were seven qualifying spots available. Then I realised that the others hadn’t made the 115% of the AG winners cut off time. I’d forgotten about this qualifying criteria for the world champs. I calculated I was about 106% of the AG 1^st place but shows the quality of our AG winner, who actually was a previous Aquathlon world champs gold medallist. I had a slightly faster swim time than him so it shows that I have to keep concentrating on my running.

I had entered a hilly triathlon race this Sunday but have pulled out to try and give my Achilles another weeks rest. I can see this being a constant battle through the summer. So my next race is 19^th May Llanelli sprint tri where I was brought up. It’s a great feeling to know every inch of the course. Even the swim is in the old North Dock, where I used to spend hours messing around, jumping off the dock gates and getting up to no good. Happy times!

 

London Marathon 2013 – 3 hours 50 minutes & 36 seconds

 

That was hard – very hard. And I’m not doing that again!  In the cold light of day I guess my time was ok. I beat my only previous other marathon time (London again from 9 years ago) by 24 minutes so I have to be happy with that but the second half of the race was just all pain for me.

The background of this is that I got a place through the ballot last year before deciding to concentrate on the triathlon targets for 2013. Consequently, although I’d upped my running distance quite a bit for the last four months or so, I was underdone on the long runs (+20 miles) coming into this. The one long pre race I entered, the San Dominico 20 miler, was cancelled due to the bad weather. Two Saturday’s ago I ran 34kms which was basically three times from home around Roath and the lake in Cardiff. That was fine but on the following Monday, trying to do some intervals, I felt my Achilles tighten. Since then it’s been no running and ice the Achilles twice a day. So I started the race with some trepidation. You don’t get the opportunity do the VLM often so I was going to do it and try and do it as fast as I could.

Here they come to the start at Blackheath. I must have walked a bit quicker!

 

Pre race I applied a non steroidal anti-inflammatory (NSAIDs) gel on the Achillies and had a strip of Ibuprofen tablets with me. Interestingly on the radio on Saturday they were warning runners NOT to take any NSAIDs as a study of the Bonn marathon had shown issues with kidney and stomach problems. As anyone who  has run the VLM will know it takes ages to get going so I wasn’t worried about going out too fast and putting strain on the Achilles but even before I crossed the start line I could feel the aching irritation of it. 1km first drinks station and I’d popped my first tablet. The pain eased a bit and I tried to concentrate on an even pace but this is not easy at the VLM. I started in one of the middle pens. I’d thought I’d put down a reasonably fast target time on my application but obviously not as fast as a lot of others. It was a little bit irritating how many slow runners started near the front and I mean slow, not someone pacing correctly. The course is actually quite narrow (for 38k runners) and the spectator crowds so huge they tended to encroach off pavements etc. So it was slow/fast for about the first 15km. When a gap opened you really had to accelerate through it before it closed for another few minutes. There were so many runners running around on pavements, jumping on and running on central reservations. This is obviously not good for an evenly paced marathon effort.

I was happy getting to the half marathon marker in 1.44 but then, even after my 3^rd painkiller, the heel pain was increasing and I could feel myself sort of limping. This, together with what I can acknowledge now was tiredness, made me slow down. I was carrying my High5 gels and they seemed to go down ok, but it was getting quite warm. From about 25km it became a battle. I really was thinking of stopping but you realised the crowds just wouldn’t let you. They gave you “encouragement” even if you stopped to walk. I kept going mainly with the thought that my family and friends were at the 35km mark and that’s where I would stop. However by then, and I have to admit with a further tablet, my Achilles had eased a bit so I thought I could finish. As it turns out I got a very little bit of a second wind in the last 5kms and actually felt quite comfortable. Though not comfortable enough to think about a sprint finish at the end!  My splits are below and they are all over the place. Afterwards I made sure I took on plenty of water and it seems like I don’t have any issues with my pill popping. I certainly went way over any recommended limit and I’m not going to do that again but I think it allowed me to finish the marathon. A day later my Achilies doesn’t feel as bad as I thought it would (but only time will tell when I try and run next). Compare this with my quads – aaah!  I wonder how many days I will be walking down stairs backwards.

Split	Time Of Day	Time	Diff	min/km	km/h
5K	10:27:25	00:25:12	25:12:00	05:03	11.91
10K	10:51:25	00:49:12	24:00:00	04:48	12.5
15K	11:15:54	01:13:41	24:29:00	04:54	12.25
20K	11:41:04	01:38:51	25:10:00	05:03	11.92
HALF	11:46:34	01:44:21	05:30	05:01	11.99
25K	12:07:26	02:05:13	20:52	05:21	11.22
30K	12:36:56	02:34:43	29:30:00	05:54	10.17
35K	13:09:00	03:06:47	32:04:00	06:25	9.36
40K	13:39:49	03:37:36	30:49:00	06:10	9.73
Finish time	13:52:49	03:50:36	13:00	05:55	10.14

The First Welsh Triathlon Champion?

 

Sitting on the shelf in our front room, a little bit neglected, is a silver trophy. As always the trophy needs cleaning but if you look closely at the engraving it says;

TRIATHLON
CHAMPIONSHIPS
MENS
WELSH CHAMPION
1978
M. J. G. BATTERSBY

 The event was held in Haverfordwest on Sunday, 19^th March 1978. That’s over 35 years ago. It’s interesting to note that the first ever Ironman Triathlon in Hawaii took place on 18^th February, 1978, only 29 days earlier.

However this was not exactly a triathlon as we know today. These first Welsh Triathlon Championships were arranged and held under the auspices of the Modern Pentathlon Association of Great Britain. The three events were swimming, running and.... pistol shooting!  We had heard mumblings about these triathlons (with cycling) as they had started a couple of years earlier in the USA. I guess the MPAGB wanted to get on the bandwagon.

At the time I was studying for my A-levels and was asked to participate by my local swim club. I’d “retired” from swimming, well the training bit of it anyway, a few years earlier (girls, pubs – you know how it goes) but I was still fairly fit. I also had done some cross country running at school so I thought I would give it a go. I remember learning how to shoot a pistol accurately at the Territorial Army target range in the Drill Hall in Llanelli. The event consisted of a 500m pool swim, a 5km cross country run and 0.177 target pistol shooting. There were breaks in between events, so not continuous like today’s triathlon. It was a cold and wet day (much like most of this Spring 2013) and the XC was run through a bog. Afterwards I was asked to represent Wales at the forthcoming British Triathlon Championships at Crystal Palace but unfortunately it clashed with my A-Level exams.

There can’t be many people on this planet who can say they’ve raced triathlons in five different decades.

So if those pesky cyclists hadn’t got their hands on the sport I could have been a contender!

Here are some old local press clippings.

The pic is mostly the Llanelli swim team. I’m on the far right with the “easy rider” glasses on (it was a stage I was going through!)