TL;DR
| Swim 1500m | T1 | Bike 45km | T2 | Run 10km | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 00:42:36 | 00:02:17 | 01:22:30 | 00:00:59 | 00:50:01 | 02:58:25 |
Pre Race
Good bowl of porridge for breakfast, packed the wife and kid into the car, then the hour and a quarter drive to Maldon.
The venue was really good for families, with the water play parks and activity playgrounds. Definitely good for keeping the support crew entertained.
Swim
I hadn’t really considered it before the event, that being an estuary the water would be salty, and it was. Really, really salty. This is Maldon of course.
The course was two laps round the buoys, and the longest single section was against the current. I really struggled here being a weak swimmer. However the stretch back to finish flew by.
Transition 1
Reasonable transition, just over 2 mins, got my wetsuit drawstring wrapped round my foot which cost an extra bit of time, but other than that okay.
Bike
Almost last man out of T2, further complicated by a dropped chain as I mounted, right in front of Darren. Caught sight of another RG team member just on the main road, turned out a cleat failure denied him anymore racing.
Apart from that I was pretty much solo and couldn’t see any company. Got onto the main course and adopted my TT position and had at it.
About 10mins into the ride, I was consistently keeping my speed up to 30kph or more and started to pick off some competitors. It took me about 20-25mins before I heard a shout from Alan as I overtook him.
The course was supposed to have only one real hill, but TBH I completely failed to spot it, however there was a substantial downhill section.
Then it was head down and TTing all the way back into transition.
Transition 2
Nice quick transition of 59 seconds. This included picking up my water belt which I had filled with ice cubes and left in a cool bag in transition. This turned out to be a “Very Good Idea™”
Run
I hadn’t really noticed on the bike, but once on the run it was hard not to notice it was a pretty warm day. Some might say even summery.
I’ve heard some people have disparaging remarks for Maldon’s run course, saying there are too many members of the pubic on it.
If you have family or friends supporting you, I actually think this is a a really good course. Four laps means it’s only about 15mins between them spotting you, and if they fancy a little walk, they can spot you twice per lap.
By the second lap I was already having to take to the shadows wherever possible, and that iced water bottle was coming into its own. A little squirt on a couple of the hottest sections was bliss.
On the last lap, as I saw my support crew I told Lindsey to grab Alex and get to the finishing chute. Then as I ran down the chute I reached over the barriers and picked up Alex and carried him over the line with me.
Overall and hot and salty day. Happy with my bike and run performance. Still need to brush up on my swim and T1.