On Sunday 29
th September I lined up on the start
line for the Brigg Sprint Triathlon.
The course was flat and suited my inability to climb on the
bike.
I was slightly apprehensive before the event. Because of my
estimated swim time of 06:20 I was placed later on in the field with the really
quick triathletes. Great, as soon as the swim was over I would be left for dead.
I was due to start at 10:02 and the final wave was scheduled for 10:04. I knew
in my heart that I would be the last finisher after being overtaken on the bike
or run by the potential 9 other athletes who would leave the pool after me.
On race day I arrived at the Ancholme Sports Centre at 07:25
to register for the event with my Dad who had come along to spectate. The
goodie bag was immense for the £42 entry fee. You got a Tshirt, bike
bottle, flapjack, Haribo and bananas.
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| Confused before the start |
After registration I made my way down to transition which
was on an all weather pitch to rack my bike. In transition I bumped into my
coach from GI Tri. He was one of the aforementioned quick triathletes who would
be starting the race before me. Since raising my saddle by 40mm I have found
that racking my bike is more difficult because of the low A-frames and this
again proved to be the case at Brigg. After racking my bike and laying out my
towel and bike shoes I went to chill out in the car as I wasn’t racing for
another 2 hours. I read 220 Triathlon to kill the time.
 |
| Transition all set up |
Before my wave was scheduled to be poolside I re-entered
transition to drop off my trainers (I had forgotten to bring a second pair).
Everything was still as it should be in transition. I had decided to complete
this event sockless. Given the trouble I have had with blisters this was a real
gamble. Not one that would result in a DNF but one that could result in pain.
It was only when I removed my trainers that I noticed the all weather pitch was
covered in sand. This had me stressing out because as we all know I have
sensitive feet and the sand may exacerbate any potential blisters. I would just
have to be careful.
Swim
After taking off my joggers and hoodie I made my way
poolside. We were then given our timing chips and it really hit me hard at this
point how out of my depth I was. Here I was surrounded by all these lithe
athletes weighing a maximum of 12 stones in their GB trisuits and I felt like a
fraud. Yes I can swim and bike a bit but this was ridiculous. The aim was now
not to embarrass myself. We entered the pool where there were already people
swimming and waited for the 3, 2, 1 GO!
We were off and I was doing my best not to embarrass myself.
In the wave before me was Dean Kirkham (
@triathlondeano) who finished 9
th
at Outlaw and he was a good target for me to aim for. He was at the end of his
fifth length when we started swimming, which meant he was at the other end of
the pool. My target was to get as close to him as I could before he finished. I
had 11 lengths to try and reel him in and claw back the length deficit. I
ignored the other swimmers in my wave and concentrated on Dean. I am glad I
chose to do this as the other swimmers in my wave were rapid. By the end of the
10
th length I reckon I had pulled back the 25m lead to around 4m
which when you consider the calibre of athlete that Dean is, is a massive
achievement. Dean left the pool then and I was back to concentrating on the
other swimmers in my wave. They were all significantly ahead of me. Ignore the
demons. I will freely admit to being a little disheartened at being last out of
the pool. This was the first time this has happened. In my last pool triathlon
I exited the pool first and had lapped the swimmer behind me. I had also been
fifth out the water at Leeds Triathlon and first out the water at my last
aquathlon so this was a shock to the system. I left the pool after 6:25 which is
a respectable time and I posted the 28
th quickest swim time of the
day out of a possible 231 athletes. My official swim time was 7:36 but this
includes the walk / run into transition.
T1
In T1 I briefly saw someone from my wave as they were
leaving transition so I wasn’t that far behind. I dried my feet as best as I
could to remove as much sand as possible before putting on my bike shoes. I then
put on my number belt, sunglasses and helmet before removing my bike exiting T1
1:11 after entering it. Lauren York the GB age grouper overtook me as I was
leaving T1.
Bike
I have ridden the course before on a reconnaissance before
the Lincsquad TT so knew what to expect. I knew the time we did the ride in as
a group so my main aim was to beat it. As a group myself and two colleagues had
ridden the course in 38:10 so this was my aim. I had also ridden the TT route
in 27:17. I knew the course was mostly flat with the occasional incline and
that I could work hard as there were no real climbs. With this in mind I set off
pedalling. The plan was to keep my HR around 160. I think I managed this but as
my watch was on my wrist I have no idea if this was the case. According to the
data this looks to be the case.
After about 4km the last of the three competitors who started
behind me had passed me. I tried to put the hammer down but there was no way I
was catching these people. I saw my coach on the return leg on his bike and he
was chasing down Dean. About ninety seconds before I reached the turn point I
noticed another rider who I had not seen before and painted a target on her
back. I like to have something to try and chase down as it brings out my
competitive side. Just after this I noticed Lauren York again so she had put
about a minute into me on the outward leg. At the turn point I joked to the marshals that they could go home for Sunday roast as I was last.
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| Making progress in last |
As I turned the roundabout the wind hit me, I had been
expecting it as I had felt a sidewind on the way out but still the force of it
surprised me. This was going to be a long trip back. My first 10km was
completed in 18:38. I was pleased with this. I now had a five mile slog until
the next turn point. Time to crack on. As we turned into Brigg the sidewind
became a headwind and this hurt. I didn’t lose faith but did lose about 6mph. Just
before the second turn point I saw the rider who I had targeted before. I
hadn’t managed to catch her but I had pulled back the 3 minute lead to less
than one. I turned the final roundabout and made my way back to the Sports
Centre. I took my feet out of the bike shoes before the dismount line and ran
with my bike into transition completing the bike leg in 37:30 and finishing 102nd
out of 231 athletes. Top 50%. I really am making progress.
T2
I racked my bike with a little help from the official as the
racks were bedlam, removed my helmet, wiped the sand off my feet and slipped on
my Skechers Go Run 2 trainers complete with Xtenex laces and was frantically
looking for something. What a disaster my stuff was strewn everywhere in T2. I could
not find my Huub visor anywhere. I like to race in a visor as it helps block
out my surroundings. After about 20 seconds I found my visor picked up my free
plastic Iconiq container of water for the run as I hadn’t hydrated very well on
the bike leg and set off.
Run
I much prefer running off the bike to running normally and
find I can maintain a more consistent pace off the bike. After about 100m I
tripped up did a ninja roll and managed to squash the container of water and
splash it all over myself. There were a few gasps from spectators until they
realised I was fine as I was back running. I imagine it looked like one fluid
movement but it was more likely that I resembled Dumbo on ice.
The run route took you round the sports centre and up a
short but steep hill before you joined the pavements and then consisted of an
out and back for 1.5 miles each way . I knew I was last and I was fine with this. I just needed to
do my best on the run. After about half a mile I saw my coach from GI Tri who
was again just behind Dean and he mumbled something at me. I am sure it was
encouragement but it was unintelligible as he was in another place. I passed
through Brigg and was really enjoying the crowds and marshals who were very
encouraging. I glanced down at my watch after it beeped marking one mile and was pleased with the pace. The time said 08:45 for the first mile. I normally
overcook the first mile but this pace was pleasing. I am sure this was because
I had no one to race. With about 400m to go until the turn I saw two competitors
and noted that one was limping. The other was the competitor from earlier on in
the bike who I had targeted. I tried to cheer up the limper but he looked in a
lot of pain. I reached the turn point and told the marshals to go home as their
job was done. By this point I was joined by a bike marshal who was riding with
the last placed person. After a bit of banter he commented on how relaxed I
looked on the run. I was feeling anything but relaxed. I was maintaining a pace
quicker than usual after thrashing myself on the swim and bike and was starting
to struggle because of poor hydration but my run was its usual “pretty” self.
How my run can be described as looking relaxed or pretty
baffles me. It really does.
I powered through my second mile in 08:46. How is that for
consistency? After a distance of 2.22 miles I caught up with the limping
competitor. The lad was about 20 and looked to be in severe pain. I stopped to
talk to him. He said he didn’t think he could finish. Now I know I have a bit
of a history when it comes to helping competitors having helped people at
London in 2012 and Outlaw in 2013 but how could I not attempt to help someone
else.
I started a conversation and he said his pain was at about
80% and he couldn’t bend his knee properly. I said I would run with him if he
wanted. I really dropped the pace and together we slowly made progress to the
finishing line. I knew that with each passing step we were closer to the
finish. I tried to keep the banter level high so he would ignore the pain.
As we made our way through the town centre I made sure I thanked
each and every marshal. My limping friend stuck on my shoulder and we made our
way back to the sports centre. I asked him if he had a sprint finish in him and
he said he thought so. About 15m away from the line he sprinted away and
dropped me when I wasn’t paying attention. I was a little annoyed with this as
I had sacrificed my own PB aims to help him back and he dropped me on the line
as he “didn’t want to finish last”. I could have been like everyone else and
run past him and I do doubt whether he would have finished as he was not in a
good place when I caught him but I haven’t been raised to do things like that.
 |
| Crossing the line |
My final run time was 30:25, which I believe was 3:30 longer
than it needed to be as I was consistently running at 08:45 pace. In total my
finish time was 1:17:54 and this put my 125th but if I hadn’t
sacrificed my time it would have been 1:14:24 and I would have finished 102nd.
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| Times from the day |
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| Data analysis |
After I finished I hung around for the awards ceremony, as I
wanted to see how my coach and Dean had done. My coach finished 2nd
overall and Dean finished 3rd.
Unbeknown to me there was an award for Spirit of the Race.
My selfless act had been unanimously voted to win Spirit of the Race. The race
director said some very kind words about this act and recommended that everyone
read my blog. I was absolutely amazed by this and struggled to hold myself
together. I went to collect my trophy and afterwards rang my wife and the tears,
which I had just managed to hold in finally escaped. I was overwhelmed.
 |
| Receiving may trophy |
My Dad even said he shed a tear when my name was announced.
Now for anyone that knows my Dad they will know how much this meant to me as I
have never ever known my Dad cry in the 32 years of my life. This touched me
more than anything else.
After I got my trophy I felt bad for being annoyed about the
lad sprinting away from me. I’ll blame it on the exuberance of youth but still
think it lacked some etiquette.
 |
| My spirit of the race award |
The Brigg Sprint Triathlon is without doubt the best
triathlon I have ever competed in. Everything from the route to the marshals
was superb. The goodie bag was useful and the best bit is the photos were free
and on the Internet that night.
I would recommend this triathlon to everyone. My Dad is even
aiming to do it next year.
Will I be back? Definitely. I can’t wait.
The morale of this tale is that helping others can be nice
and be unexpectedly rewarded. It’s kind of like the film Pay it Forward. I just
hope my action is remembered by the receiver and he “pays it forward” one day.
Thanks for reading,
Michael
