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Friday July 30 2010
 

Sundridge Triathlon - Race Report

Printer friendly version Posted on: Sunday August 16 04:31:16 PM
In retrospect, I could have 'handled' the sprint distance. But I think doing the short version insured it was it a really enjoyable intro to tri's.

Decided Saturday I wanted to give it a shot. Don't currently own a bike! Drove to Huntsville, 40 minutes away to rent one. Now I own a $100 decent Norco mountain bike which was fine for this short event that included gravel roads for the bike portion. They gave me a loaner helmet since I do already own one although I like the one they loaned me better. I did not return it on time so will call them and pony up with my cc#.

Race day

Hadn't yet decided on Try a Tri or Sprint. The swim portion finally made me opt for the Try. I went register only to be told there was no race day registration. Apparently their idea of registration is 'race kit pickup', not sign up. Their excuse was that the info was already sent to the timing company. So I walked over to the timing truck, asked them to add me, they did, gave me a bib number and sent me back to registration. Good thing I didn't give up hope after my $100 investment. Thankfully we had already signed Sarah and Cam up. Anita sat out as she volunteered to watch Cam while we raced.

40 athletes, majority female (one of them being Sarah who threatened to whoop my ass)

We had fun racking our bikes for the first time, laying out our ride/run stuff. We then waded out to the start line.

350m swim.
Deep water start. I got kicked right away. 'Welcome to Tri's!". Quite wavy, out to buoy #one, settled down, over to buoy #two mostly breast stroke and crawl all the way, slow and sure, a few gulps of water when bigger waves hit me. The water got shallow and we were then allowed to run. Sarah and almost 20 others were ahead of me at this point. Onto shore and the the transition zone a new term for us. Sarah was a bit ahead still and got out of the transition area first. I didn't rush but managed to get through the change pretty smoothly.

10km ride.
I felt good right off the bat and started to make up lost ground passing a couple of people in the first km. Then I passed Sarah at about the 2km point. I passed a couple more by the time we got to 4k, and then had to do nearly 1k climb up a dirt road. I was gaining on one more person and then broke down. The quick release rear wheel slipped and I finally figured it out after a once over. I pulled the wheel back and tightened it, got back on and it slipped right away. 3 people one being Sarah passed me. I hopped off did a more thorough job of loosening, pulling the wheel back and tightened it harder this time. It seemed to work. The turn around was at the top and we got to fly back down the hill. This was the most fun...Garmin pace read 1:20 / km at one point - that's about 45km/hr on a gravel road, a bit hairy for a minute or so!  I was thankful here to be on an off road bike. Back on the flat road I got past Sarah again and the 2 others and passed a few more by the time we got to the transition zone. I think I was about 12th by now. I parked the bike and ran with my helmet still on...back to the bike hung up my helmet, then went the wrong way out of the zone and turned back heading over the proper timing mat this time and headed out to the road on legs that felt like rubber (I haven't biked since a teenager other than occasional bouts on the exercise bike at the gym - very rare)

2.5km run
I felt like I was going really slow but my Garmin pace read 4:45 / km and I managed to maintain that pace or close to it for the run, passing 4 more people doing the run portion in 12:19 and felt good coming in, right at 50 minutes, 8th overall. Sarah did the run in 11:40 and almost caught me! She finished 9th overall and 3rd female.

Fun, we were pretty stoked and happy we'd finally given it a 'tri'. Yes, we're looking forward to a next, and longer triathlon.

Cams mini-tri
The swim was 50m and in shallow enough water that the 20 8-9 year olds could touch down if needed. Cam didn't ralize this and fell to dfl before finally run-swimming to catch up. He got out of the water 10th and did great in the transition zone and on his way on the 3k bike portion. By the time he came back he was 3rd. He. Did great transitioning again and ran well enough to catch 2nd but ran out of time to get 1st who was still about 10 seconds ahead at the finish. He came out with his medal and crashed on the grass, tired and elated. I think he really enjoyed it.

And so, be it small, short, and not well attended with talent, we still did well and are now officially triathletes! Next time Anita will join in.
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 Posted by Dave on: Sunday August 16 04:31:16 PM

Comments:

comment bubble Julie
 
Me too! Me too! That sounded like loads of fun. And I'm not being sarcastic either.
I was getting all anxious and nervous just reading about it. Must have been quite the "rush"
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Posted on: Monday August 17 09:38 AM
comment bubble Julie
 
Oh....and Congratulations! Job well done to the 3 Emilio's.
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Posted on: Monday August 17 09:42 AM
www link icon  comment bubble Dave
 
Ya, it was a rush. I know it is a pretty long report for such a short race, but it really was a great introduction to the sport. There are many of these events nearby our cottage, within an hour drive at most. So next year we will get a group into it.
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Posted on: Monday August 17 09:45 AM
comment bubble Ian
 
Was this the Standhope Tri?  I ask because that is where our cottage is.  We we up this weekend but had to go to Peterborough for the day.  I had wanted to bring out the lawn chair and cheer everyone on.

cheers,
Ian
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Posted on: Monday August 17 11:04 AM
www link icon  comment bubble Dave
 
Our cottage is in Sundridge, 30 minutes nth of Huntsville. It was the first tiem for the event and it went very well. Looking forward to the longer distance next year.
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Posted on: Monday August 17 11:29 AM
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