British Sprint Tri Championships

The British age group sprint triathlon championships were held at Eton Dorney (the Olympic rowing venue) on Saturday (17th May) and saw a gathering of elite age-groupers from all corners of Great Britain bidding for national medals.

British Triathlon competition rules mean that in events such as this you only race against other competitors in your own 5-year age band so, for example, should you happen to be a  sprightly 33 year old, you would race in the 30-34 year age bracket.

Steve W isn't 33, but did race, or at least raced the bike and run sections. The swim - 750m in the open water of the rowing lake - was to prove something of an undoing with the lead swimmer leaving the water some 3 minutes ahead of the Go Veggie contingent. Steve was able to pull some time back on the 21.6K bike leg and indeed recorded the quickest bike performance of the race; he also went on to hold his own in the 5K run leg which ultimately saw a close-run battle for podium positions.

At the end of the piece Steve came out of it with a credible 5th position and an ongoing bewilderment with people that can swim 750m in under 10 minutes.

Askern 10K

The Askern 10K event run on Wednesday 21st May was well attended by Go Veggie members, a couple of whom had half an eye on PBs. Unfortunately the event was something of a suffer-fest with a high temperatures and a thick oppressive humidity making for very heavy going - in spite of the 7.00pm start. Of the almost 700 starters, few seemed pleased with their times on this otherwise fairly fast course. Most seemed about two minutes behind their usual 10K pace.

Mick W, Emma S, Rosie Wigg and Steve W all gave it a go and times ranged between high thirties and low fifties. Emma ran well against locally known competition and thankfully Rose seemed to get round unscathed following an enforced four weeks out with an Achilles injury.

Emma podiums again...

Emma S was a visitor to the podium again this weekend when she took a 3/50 in her age group in Sunday's Driffield Sprint Triathlon (S400m / B18K / R5K).

Emma put in a particularly good bike leg and held onto her recent good running form - in spite of soaring temperatures - to keep the vast majority of the women's field at bay. Her performance was good enough for a 22/118 finish in the female field overall.

Here's hoping the form, concentration face, and podium visits, continue.

Parkrun in the Sun

Saturday saw the first seriously warm parkruns of the year forcing something of a radical re-acclimatisation. Mick W and Jenna G were in action, Jenna at Bradford, and Mick at Pontefract.

The energy-sapping conditions didn't slow either down too much with Jenna - on her parkrun debut - managing a 2nd in age category, only 30 seconds or so adrift of the age category winner, and 25/167 in the female field overall. Jenna's performance didn't go unnoticed with one of the local clubs trying to poach her, even before she was back to being able to breath properly. Hands off matey!

Mick, meanwhile, managed a new Pontefract venue PB in 20:14 - a serious 30 seconds + faster than his previous best on the course. The time was also good enough for an 18/271 overall.

Seriously impressive stuff from both.

Thigh deep in River Don

The sunny skies over the latest Trunce (12th May) belie the fact it's been pretty miserable of late.

Conditions underfoot were more reliable indicators with plenty of mud slides and foot tangling vegetation to keep amusement factors high. A better indicator still was the level of the river, where, on each of the three obligatory crossings, full dunkings were a common sight.

Emma S, Jenna G, and Mick W all got stuck in and all performed solidly. Emma was 33/103 females and Mick sneaked an event PB. A particular cap-doffing to Jenna though, this isn't the kind of race that should mark a return to competitive running, yet a top 2/3rds of the female field finish in this company show that Roller Derby breeds them tough.

All allegedly enjoyed themselves but no polygraphs were to hand.

Weekend Round-up

Mick W and Emma S turned out for Saturday's Pontefract parkrun and both had an eye on carrying good recent form into a new venue PB. Unfortunately weather conditions thwarted both with a swirling breeze constantly hampering swift progress. Mick was in the 20 minute slot again, but missed his venue PB by an irritating 2 seconds. Emma was a little further adrift but still managed an age group win and was 7/83 overall in the female field. Both are hoping to carry current form into their next Trunce appearance.

On Sunday (10th May) Steve W was again battling it out in the Grantham Sprint Triathlon (S400m / B18K / R5K), not only against 150 or so other athletes, but also against the treacherous weather. This race seems besieged by poor weather, the 2012 edition was notorious and still ranks as one of the coldest ever run with temperatures as low as a wind-chilled 3 degrees C and foul torrential rain. Sunday's race wasn't quite in this league but still saw extremely tricky bike conditions with lots of standing water, sideways rain, and a strong westerly wind.

In spite of the cold, wind and rain, most entrants took to the startline and just plain got on with it. Steve took an age group win, was 8th overall, and reports it only took a couple of hours in the woolly hat and winter jacket to get warm again.

Emma on Form

Emma S and Steve W were on GO VEGGIE triathlon duty last Sunday (4th May) at Epworth, in the ever-so-slightly-arcane Isle of Axholme.

Distances were S400m / B20K / R5K over a course that was quite tricky and needed careful attention in order to pick quick (and safe) lines. The bike section in particular featured some very narrow lanes that had roller-coaster type undulations where the carriageway had sunk under the weight of the frequent (and huge) agricultural traffic. Even the run got in on the act with much of it being on grassy / hard-packed-mud type farm tracks which were subject to the same never-quite-able-to-find-a-flat-bit kind of sensation.

Emma did ever so well. She put good time into almost all the female field on the bike and backed this up with a good strong run to finish on the podium in her age group (3/14) and a very creditable 6/43 in the female race overall.

Steve meanwhile did a sub one hour time which saw him secure an age group win and finish 5/145 overall.

Self Flagellation

Steve C and Mick W can hurt themselves. Steve recently completed the utterly bonkers Evesham Ultra 45 miler and though characteristically tough on himself in terms of performance clearly gave it everything. The proof? - he still had to have assistance in putting on shoes and socks a full four days after the event.

Meanwhile, Mick returned to the Temple Newsam parkrun specifically to hit the red-zone in the event's notorious uphill finish (pictured).

Why? - who knows...

Mick did well with a 2nd in age group and 17/180 overall and Steve is now well on the way to being able to dress himself unassisted.