We were graced with a cold foggy Sunday morning to drive out of London with a 9-seater mini bus stacked full of bikes and triathletes. Spirits were high but there were a few nerves about. Three of us runners had done a duathlon before and the other three were complete newbies. We arrived in good time to register, check the bikes over and put them in the transition zone.
The girls’ race was first at 2pm and we cheered Christiane off the start before getting warmed up for ours at 2.45. At the starting line Sam, Richard and I wrestled for a place near the front. They certainly didn’t hang about at the start. As everyone charged off a break neck speed the runner in me said they’re either bloody good or they’ve gone off too fast. Fortunately they had gone off too fast and the three of us spent the second mile picking them off.
We finished the run within 20m of each other and I managed to overtake Sam and Richard at the start of the bike. Richard soon flew past me at a speed I knew I couldn’t maintain. It was a gruelling 5 laps with a motorbike referee checking there was no drafting going on. I couldn’t see Richard when I got into transition and I ran straight past my trainers much to the amusement of Stephen, the injured captain, who got it all on film! Despite this I couldn’t see Sam behind me as I started the 2 mile run, but I knew he’d be running me down so I tried to focus on catching Richard.
Meanwhile the tall Lithuanian Lukas came off his bike in a crash on the second lap, which cost him the skin on his leg, 2 minutes on that lap and a his very expensive carbon fibre bike. He still carried on in spite of his broken frame. I didn’t catch Richard but just managed to hold off Sam, who only finished 12 seconds behind me! Lukas came in a few minutes later, following by Luke who had a battle of a sprint finish.
They had instant personalised results that you could print off like little receipts, giving you a full break-down of each section of the race including bike lap times! Our top three results were 19th, 27th and 31st which put us in contention for the team competition. Everyone enjoyed the race. The return journey consisted of stuffing our faces and talk of the next race.
Reuben Bogg
Hello and Welcome to TriIC!!!
We had a lot of fun today at the fresher’s fair and a lot of you have subscribed to our mailing list.
First things first I want to welcome you to the club and encourage you to come along this Friday 7.30 am to our first swimming session at Ethos.
We are usually meeting inside the pool all ready to go.
The swimming sessions are open to all levels, so please don’t feel intimidated if you think you are a weak swimmer, we are here to help!
Also, feel free to come and check the sessions out before you buy the club membership, but do keep in mind that there will be a lottery for a triathlon bag for all those who payed the membership before end of October.
In other news, there will be a social event to get to meet each other coming Tuesday Evening, further details will follow, but do save the date already.
Unfortunately, some of the email addresses on the signup sheet where a little illegible. So if you do know of any people that did subscribe but didn’t get an email yet, please invite them to subscribe on the website.
And finally, congratulations to Emily and Joseph who won our 1/4 mile challenge on the bike in 52 and 28.4 seconds respectively. Well done!
You can come and pick up your prize at the social event next Tuesday.
That’s it for now. We are looking forward to a great term and to see lots of new faces in the pool on Friday. If, you have any questions, please to not hesitate to contact us.
All the best
Pit
(TriIC Treasurer)
TriIC has a stall at Freshers Fair so come find us just outside the Library! We have goodies! 
If you saw us today and signed up then welcome to TriIC! Looking forward to seeing you either on Friday morning at 7:30am in the pool or next Tuesday in Beit Quad from 17:00.
Its going to be a great term and I can’t wait!
Hi everyone!
Its been a very long summer but term is fast approaching which means TriIC is getting ready to kick off another year of training, racing and a bit more socialising this year! I hope you all have had some great races this summer and looking forward to bettering them next year.
We are really excited about the next year as with our first full year under our belt we have learnt lots and shaken things up to hopefully make TriIC a great club to be part of. These are the things to note:
- Membership fee is now only £15!
- Swim sessions will be £25 a term. That’s just £2.50/h with a L2 swim coach. Bargain!
- Bi-termly club swim, bike, run time trials to help you measure your improvement and get a bit of internal competition going on.
- More socials then last year!
Everything kicks off for the club at Fresher’s fair and we have got one of the best spots going! We really want to make the most of this and encourage lots and lots of enthusiastic freshers to sign up. Our plan is to have a little competition with a bike on a turbo trainer and show off our kit and other goodies that we have got. If you want to get involved with the stall and can help out, for even an hour, at some point during the day (10:00-16:00) please let me know cause it will be lots of fun!
Our first session will be bright and early at 7:30am on Friday 8th Oct in Ethos pool!
Then on Tuesday 11th TriIC will have its first SOCIAL for the year! Plan is some fun and games in Beit Quad from 17:00 before heading over to High Street Ken to take advantage of some 2-for-1 deal. Get the date in your diaries now!
Hope to see you all soon! And remember if you want a piece of fresher action then let me know!
Stephen
TriIC Chair
Hi everyone!
I thought I would share my thoughts on what was my first ever triathlon.
After only joining TriIC in January this year to prepare for a triathlon that I couldn’t attend in the end, I got hooked. Now I will be the treasurer for the coming year and felt that before the season is over I should have done at least one race, so I can be a good representative for the club.
The race took place on 25th September at the Eton College Rowing Center where parts of the 2012 Olympics will take place as well. It is quite easy to get there by train, but since the race started at 8.30 am I had to catch the first train from London to Slough at 6.45 and the time was quite tight. Also the 35 additional kilometers overall commute on the bike was maybe not ideal, especially the half after the race. It hurt! : )
The race was small (198 competitors for olympic, although there were some more for sprint and super sprint races) but well organized. The transition area and the registration are all within close range, so even being a bit late I found my way around quite easily.
The swim was 2 laps in the rowing lake, well marked with buoys and it was not to hard to keep straight given that there are distance markers in the water for the rowing. However it was really cold even with a wetsuit! This, combined with the excitement of the mass start, and very limited open water practice, led to me heading out way too fast and hyperventilating a bit. I had to stop, do breast stroke and get my mind together again. I eventually managed to get into a comfortable front crawl pace again and finish the swim. Overall the lake is actually nice, it is way less murky than the Hyde Park Lido and the spread out floating start meant that there was not too much kicking going on.
Since I struggled in the swim I got out of the water and into transition quite dizzy, I found my bike right away, but fell over when I tried to get my wetsuit off. That must have looked quite funny for people watching, haha. Other than that, transition went fine, I didn’t forget anything and was not too slow.
The bike was pretty uneventful. Apparently the place is known for its strong headwinds which, sure enough, hit me on the way back on each of the 8 laps. I am however quite satisfied with my time here and had only one scary moment, when I hit a chestnut with my rear wheel in a corner and started slipping a bit. I caught the bike again and went on just fine.
T2 was really good. I was only two seconds slower in transition than the overall winner.
The run was a simple out and back straight line with 4 laps. My legs where aching a bit and I feel like I could have gone faster, at least I was able to put the hammer down on the last lap. All in all the course was very dull though and there is nothing to distract you. Some may like that, I would have enjoyed a few bends.
Here are the times: Swim: 0:35:53, T1: 00:02:14, Bike: 1:13:34, T2:00:00:56, Run: 46:50, Total: 2:39:28 (89 out of 198)
Overall I was hoping to get below 2:30:00, but I think the bad swim had a bit of a mental effect that slowed me down a little. However, for my first race I am pretty satisfied. The bike and transitions were very good, and the run OK. It was a nice experience and there will be many more to come.
In terms of the race, I think it is well organized, easy enough to get to, reasonably priced. The location and the course in laps means that you can get back to the start easily if you run into trouble, e.g. with the bike (I saw quite a few breaking down). It is however a race for enthusiasts, which one could see in the field of competitors. The course is not the most interesting but can make for a good time since it is absolutely flat, the head winds might spoil that though.
Well, hope to see you all next week at fresher’s fair!
Pit
Nick raced the Vitruvian half iron distance triathlon on 3rd September 2011 and here is what he had to say:
Hi all,
On Saturday morning I raced the “Vitruvian” middle / 70.3 / “Half-Ironman” distance event. The event has won several awards and sells out in a matter of days each year, although the course is actually a bit short for middle distance at 1.9k / 85k / 21k.
The race is held in and around Rutland Water, which is about two hours North of London along the A1. Given my race start time in the first wave of the day at 6:20 I drove up on Friday and spent a night in a B&B (though I didn’t get to enjoy the 2nd “B” and didn’t get too much of the first, either, due to 4am alarm time).
My swim went reasonably well. I managed to pick a start point (and be lucky) such that I did not get knocked about during the mass start, but there were still enough people around to be able to attempt to draft, which I did, intermittently. The lake was fine to swim in, not particularly cold and whilst murky, not dirty. Sighting was easy enough, the course consisting of two triangular laps marked out by big buoys. As such the swim was pretty enjoable. One peculiarity of the course though is that between the two laps you leave the water at the swim exit, only to re-enter at the swim start point a few meters along the lake’s banks.
T1 was uneventful, though I struggled a bit more than usual getting into my shoes on the bike whilst moving (doing the “rubber-band-trick”, which I have in past events mastered without incident).
The cycle was fun. The course was well sign-posted, with plenty of arm-waving volunteers about, and not too much traffic – though that didn’t stop the odd lorry overtaking annoyingly. The route also takes in a number of ripples in the landscape, making for some decent climbs and fast descents – though I did find this to be an important factor to consider in the timing of energy bar / gel consumption: chewing whilst working up a hill or fiddling with a wrapper whilst clinging on to the bars, nailing it down a hill at 35mph doesn’t work for me. Being in the first wave, there was limited scope for overtaking, at least for the first of the two-lap route – but that didn’t stop others overtaking me… The weather unfortunately wasn’t quite as predicted or hoped, and it remained overcast for the morning, and at one point started spitting – though I wouldn’t go so far as to call it a drizzle, with some noticeable, somewhat gusty, wind.
T2 was uneventful, too, though I was pleased to see how few bikes were in transition when I arrived.
The run, a two-lap there-and-back affair following the banks of the lake, went better than expected, even though it was the weakest of my race sections. I took 4 mins off my time from the middle distance championships back in July (for which I failed to send out a race report) and I felt a lot stronger this time than then, managing a decent sprint for the finish for example. Admittedly, that may largely be down to the shorter cycle, especially as the cycle on the last race was actually long (at 92k).
Anyway, my times were:
00:35:08 – swim
00:02:02 – T1
02:32:12 – cycle
00:01:18 – T2
01:41:54 – run
04:52:34 – total
I came 13th out of 43 starters in mens’ 25-29 category, and 137th out of ~800 starters overall.
I was pleased to achieve a sub-5 time (and a comfortable PB, though on a somewhat short course). My rankings, across all the race sections, also show consistency with my last race – so I can’t complain too much! However, the winning time of the day was in fact almost exactly an hour faster than my time… GB pro athlete…
In terms of comments on the event, I would happily recommend it – I enjoyed taking part, and the organisation was pretty good, with plenty of water / nutrition stations on the run for example. The course is also quite scenic. Additionally there were a good number of “freebies” to be had, making the cost of competing more bearable: event cycling singlet, finisher T-shirt, finisher medal, HIGH5 race nutrition pack (worth £9.99) and HIGH5 water bottle(s)! I would however say that I’m not a fan of having to exit the water between swim laps and in fact the swim entry point could be better (e.g. I’d prefer jumping off a pontoon to wading through shallow water walking on silt). Also, I would rather the cycle course was not a bit shorter than it should be for a middle distance event.
As this was the last race of my season, I am likely to have a few weeks of more relaxed training (and “non-training”, as I’m going away for a few weeks in October) before I get stuck into training for the 2012 season!
See you around soon,
Nick
Mule bar have very kindly given us some samples of there new KICKS energy gels to try. There are three flavours, “Lemon zinger”, “Cherry Bomb” and “Apple Strudel”. I must say having tried one on my ride this weekend I was impressed, it wasn’t disgusting as I find gels normally are, it was more like thin honey, and quite tasty. Anyway, I have some samples to give out, feedback would be much appreciated on the bottom of this page. Oh and also If anyone wants to buy some they can get them at the MuleBar website where you can get a 30% discount with this code TRI456 (until the 30th of may), I have ordered a box.
Last weekend, 1st of May, saw TriIC attended the 2011 BUCS sprint triathlon with an army of 8 athletes! There had been some unfortunate absences, due to the close proximity of exams which is understandable. But still we managed to field some strong performances and have a lot of fun.
Adam and Reuben chew the fat
The day started as usual, early at queens tower. We found our selves with an extra hour to get there as Sharanjit had succumb to revision stress 
, unfortunately this extra time evaporated as we had to rescue Mike from the depths of Hammersmith, suffering mechanical difficulties.
Some of the action near the pool
The race consisted, the same as last year, of a 750m pool swim, 25km bike and 5km run. Sophie Will and Richard were off first as they had the slowest times in the pool, in the 15 minute category. Unfortunately for Will and Ric, one of the men in their lane had overestimated his swim time, completing his swim two and a half minuets faster then them, but not before doing the “Bird” drill as he passed them, how rude! Sophie on the other hand pulled out an excellent swim, keeping here out of the trouble. Michael was last in for the swim after putting down some ridiculous time on the start sheet, I think it was sub 10, he and Reuben had the joint fastest swim for the team in 12:41.
| Pos | Bib | Name | Gender | Swim | T1 | Bike | T2 | Run | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 46 | 167 | Reuben Bogg | male | 00:12:41 | 00:01:00 | 00:44:55 | 00:00:50 | 00:18:09 | 01:17:35 |
| 85 | 166 | Nicholas Brierley | male | 00:13:01 | 00:00:48 | 00:46:47 | 00:00:47 | 00:20:45 | 01:22:08 |
| 89 | 82 | Richard Mathie | male | 00:16:01 | 00:01:23 | 00:44:42 | 00:00:51 | 00:19:36 | 01:22:33 |
| 103 | 83 | William Palmer | male | 00:15:44 | 00:01:15 | 00:45:07 | 00:00:46 | 00:20:59 | 01:23:52 |
| 137 | 156 | Stephen Cooper | male | 00:13:11 | 00:01:20 | 00:47:43 | 00:00:35 | 00:23:53 | 01:26:42 |
| 186 | 258 | Michael Kaye | male | 00:12:41 | 00:00:53 | 00:53:44 | 00:00:48 | 00:24:10 | 01:32:16 |
| 229 | 136 | Adam Neidle | male | 00:13:47 | 00:01:10 | 00:55:08 | 00:02:24 | 00:28:03 | 01:40:32 |
| 262 | 84 | Sophie Pageon | female | 00:14:25 | 00:01:43 | 01:08:47 | 00:00:46 | 00:29:02 | 01:54:44 |
Stephen Showing off the new kit
The it was windy out for the bike course, but luckily it was only a head wind on the way out. Reuben put in a fantastic time on his new bike, Nick and Rich did all right considering they did the BUCS 25mTT the day before. Rich had a bit of fun catching Will somewhere at the half way point, only to be (briefly) retaken at Hillmarton, “where did he come back from?”. Unfortunately Sophie had to struggle round the bike course with a slow puncture to her rear tire, She still managed to put in a good bike time, but was no doubt worn down by the extra resistance.
Reuben topped of his excellent performance with a fantastically strong run, 14th fastest of the day, to finish 43rd man, really well done! (everyone got chicked at least once). I would like to congratulate Adam our virgin TriICathleat, this was the first time he has competed for us, who put it a really good effort. Also A massive well done to the team taking part and racing, I am looking forward to getting a full team out to Dearn Valley Triathlon on the 24th of July.
You can see more pictures from the day here.
Bonus a Video!
