Richard H's target event - 20th May

May 20th was a date that had been firmly fixed in my mind for the last seven months. I had thought about it on all my long rides, runs and swims in the depth of winter and on the tough early chain gang strength building rides with the St Neots club. The Nicetri sprint triathlon on this date last year was the catalyst for my return to cycling and competition, as it gave me a fresh challenge and became my target race. I find that by setting a goal, no matter what that goal is, your training takes on a whole new meaning and is therefore easier to complete. Life seems to whizz by at the best of times the older you get and before I knew it Sunday the 20th was here. Good job I didn't slack off too much over winter.

Up at 5am for breakfast and for once I only had to walk my bike 500 yards to the start. I live just across the road. As has been usual this year, the weather looked less than inviting and the Ouse river even less so - ha ha. I couldn't help but hear the spectators comments of "bugger that" and "they must be mad!" - oh dear...

Oh well, in we got, and all the recent open water training I'd been doing paid off and it didn't feel that cold to me. Keith from Nicetri shouted "ready!" and the horn blared. Off we go again! A lot of elbows and kicking legs but I gave as good as I got and fought for position. I got into a good rhythm and soon reached the furthest buoy and turned for home, and though it was tough got out of the 750 meter swim in
15.30, which I was dead pleased with as my hoped for time was 16.30 - so a minute up!

Into transistion and despite running past my bike, I managed to get the wetsuit off, helmet on and run the bike out in 1 minute. Off on the bike and knowing these roads inside out really helped. I passed a fair few people and was soon coming down the Bushmead road back into St Neots. I completed the bike leg in 37.01 which was 2 seconds outside the course record and the fastest bike time of the day, so I was well pleased with that - Thursday TTs paying off.

Into transistion again and bike racked, helmet off and trainers on in 51 seconds and away on the 5km run. I've been putting some good run sessions together and training hard and therefore kept a good pace from the start. One lap past and encouragement from friends and family and the last hard push on lap 2. As the finish gantry loomed up I passed a couple of guys and had a sprint finish to the line with another which I won, finishing the 5km run in a PB of 19.30.

Result wise I came 3rd in 1 hour 14 mins in the vets category and 7th overall out of 142 finishers. I was very pleased, as top 3 in the vets was a big target for me. Incidentally, my time would have also put me 3rd in the senior men. I've found triathlon to be a great challenge for everyone, to master new skills is good fun and you still get to cycle. In October I couldn't complete one swim length and I hadn't done much running since school, but seven months later I've got a top 3 position. Maybe you should consider giving a triathlon a go? Why not - it's good fun.