Perranporth Triathlon 2008   Sunday 21st September 2008

Full results here

A relatively calm sea awaited the trio of Tri-Logic triathletes (say that when you've had a few).  In fact from our vantage point on top of the cliff it looked like the planned swim distance of 800m had been extended again to compensate for the lack of surf.  The 35km bike course is a killer, taking in a giant slog up the long and steep St Georges Hill out to St Agnes before looping back down in to Perranporth centre  -and of course they have to do it twice.  The 7.5km run isn't much more forgiving - out along the sand, over the cliff, down onto the sand again and back along the entire length of Perran Sands beach.

So a big well done to Mike Penberthy, Mark King and Stuart Mc Leish who all made it through this tough course.

Ironman UK 2008[2.4 mile open water swim; 111.7 mile bike; 26.2 mile run]

Sherborne, Somerset -  Sunday 7th September 2008

Full results here

The bike leg saw Tony Rowell catch Denise and eventually Steve. Windy conditions made the cycle hard work, with the 112 mile route taking Tony just over seven hours. This led to the final marathon run, with the route taking three laps of a mixture of off-road and round Sherborne's streets. Tony held off Denise's challenge in the run to finish in 13.59.32, Denise in 14.02.38. Next home was Steve in 14.55.03, closely followed by his wife Sue in 14.55.59. Jan Watson finished the event in 15.32.00, a remarkable achievement considering a serious operation on her calf a few months before the event. Sue Taylor won her age group with Jan in second place which entitled them both to a place at the world championships in Hawaii.

Tony

Thanks for that Tony.  Well done to all our members that took part in this gruelling event: Sue Taylor, Steve Taylor, Jan Watson, Tony Rowell, Denise Cardew.   Especially well done to Sue and Jan, 1st and 2nd in their categories respectively, and both still recovering from injuries - amazing!

Jan's take on the event was as follows:

"It was the most grueling thing ever because I hadn't trained and less than 4 months after Achilles tendon surgery! But quite "enjoyable" and a major achievement.

I had a good swim and bike and then saw that I had 7 and a half hours to walk the marathon before the cut off time of 17 hours. So I did a power walk/slow jog and finished in 15.31. The support was amazing from the crowd - they made arches and chanted as you ran through the town. They floodlit the castle grounds since we started at 6.30am and finished at 10pm.

Thanks Jan. Bring your trophy to the next social!

St Agnes Tri

Sunday 31st August 2008

Results out Wednesday 3rd Sept

Taking on The Beacon

Phil was the sole member representing Tri-Logic Cornwall at this year's Aggie Tri.  Possibly the thought of running (huh!) up the Beacon after the hilly bike leg was enough to put everyone off (I know it was enough for me).  Conditions were pretty good though, flattish sea and the weather stayed dry.  Out of T2, the run starts immediately uphill, and get steeper as it turns the first corner, with many competitors walking up.  However, what goes up must come down, which allowed some fast sprint finishes.  Phil was heard to say "That was 'king hard" after the event, and to be honest I'm happy to take his word for it.  And for Rugby fans, Josh Lucy was hanging out (no, not like that) sporting some bright blue crocs. Nice.

AT

Hayle Sprint Triathlon 2008

Sunday 3rd August 2008

Results here..

MY FIRST TRIATHLON –AHHHHHH! by Lucy Kean 

After a nice early breakfast it was off to Hayle for the 8 o’clock start, thankfully I’d registered the night before so all I had to do was get me and my junk to the start line!  I’d stuffed all kinds of rubbish into my new fair-trade canvas goody bag.  A lot of the contents of the goody bag had disappeared as it seemed to have a chocolate theme – ideal! and to go with it the T-shirt actually fitted me rather than being more like a dress!

Thankfully once in the water and at the start my nerves subsided.  Then we were off. I successfully kept out of the scrum start but still managed to get smacked in the face 100m in.  The swim itself was straight forward in calm water which enabled me to settle into the race nice and quickly.  Once out of the water and onto the bike it was off out of Hayle and into the surrounding country lanes and roads – so only a few shocked motorists and horses at 160 odd bikes flying around!

A pretty flat course with plenty of signs and supportive marshals, even I couldn’t get lost on this course!  Things were going ok I was still on the bike, not quite at the back and just over half way so I was happy - but then all of a sudden I have a puncture just as Tony goes past – coincidence I wonder? It wasn’t a slow puncture it was a totally flat tyre but with no spare I just had to keep pedalling and hope I got round the rest of the course.  By the time I reached Hayle the noise coming from the back wheel was turning the heads of people on the pavements – but it got me back-just!

 Once I’d left the bomb site of my transition area it was through Hayle for a nice flat run out towards Upton and back.  Only suffering from that ‘wonderful’ ‘jelly leg’ feeling for a couple of minutes (it’s improving).  I set my focus on someone 3 people ahead and decided that was who I was finishing ahead of!  For once my plan came off although I almost left it too late and only overtook the third person with two strides to go until the finish line!

So at the end of my first triathlon I was still alive, still standing and had only suffered from a puncture – well that was what I thought until I woke up the next morning only to look in the mirror and discover I had a black eye from the swim!  But I enjoyed the race, everyone was really supportive and friendly and I’ve already put my entry form in for my next race later this yeat – not bad for someone who wasn’t even going to try a race until next!

LK

Thanks for that Lucy, and well done. Fantastic TLC turn-out - 9 in total Tony Rowell, Mike Penberthy, Mark King, Jeremy Stephens, Phil Bristow, Nathan Jenkin, Nathan Jolly, Charlotte Hurst and first-timer Lucy Kean.  I conceded my place to Phil due to lack of training in the last month so opted for marshalling instead. 

Conditions were more favourable than originally anticipated and apparently the pool water was a lot warmer than it had been for the Standard (Brrr!!).  From my station at Philps 'Pasty corner' (it was shut, dammit) I could see Nathan Jolly was third out on the 22.5k slightly undulating cycle route, but was first back in - nice one.  

The 5km run proved no barrier to Nathan increasing his lead to finally come in at 1:02:32 - nearly 3 minutes faster than Alan Ward in second place.  Charlotte, Mike, Mark and Nathan jolly all won prizes in their categories.  Phil had a storming race, taking 5 minutes off his 2007 time and taking 6th in his age group, 30th overall. he also achieved (for the first time) that no girls beat him (yes he'll kill me for putting that).  So a big 'Well done' to all the Tri-Logicals taking part.

Angie

Mylor Sprint Distance Triathlon

Sunday 13 July 2008

Hayle Standard Distance Triathlon

Sunday 6th July 2008

Results here

This year’s standard didn’t see a good start for the Tri-Logic Team with only four or so members entered but dropping to three on the day. Unfortunately one poor soul, no names, had to drop out on the morning of the race due to the sniffles or maybe even man flu, holding back the team a little, there’s no I in team Tony……….. but with Ironman in his focus and volunteering to marshal enough said.

What with a downpour all night and early part of the morning the race looked as if it might be a bit of a washout but as start time got closer the weather started to brighten up. 0800 came and went with a new predicted start time of 0810. Race brief and then into water, with the hope the pond might be fuller this year and we might get to swim the whole distance rather than wading it. Fortunately this year saw a change to the swim route avoiding any possible problems with water levels. However this didn’t avoid problems with the water temperature, colder than expected. 

As the crowds entered the water there seemed to be a very good field for the day’s race. Looking round I didn’t recognise many faces from the local scene, but then goggles and swim caps donned that’s to be expected. After the normal floating around for a while, the hooter went and we were off, two laps this year keeping us away from the shallows. No problems with sighting this year as some good forward planning provided us with different coloured caps from the marker boys, so out of the swim without any hiccups.

New carpet for the transition, lovely on the feet. On with the bump hat, glasses, shoes and all the other gubbins, as I hear the announcement on the PA system Mike has just left transition. So off I trot out of T1 to catch him up, a short hop, skip and a jump through Hayle and its out onto the open road. With a wind that seemed to be gusting around us it felt like it was harder work than it need to be fortunately this is a pretty fast course and the miles flew by. With Leedstown behind us and only a few miles till we re-entered Hayle I noticed I was making on Mike and a few un-knowns. This gave me a second wind and with some new legs in place I was off to chase them down. One down, two down then Mike with a little banter as we pass and into the long down hill stretch to Hayle, avoiding the massive holes around the drain covers. A little game of cat and mouse with Mike all the way back to the transition area, with Mike entering and leaving T2 ahead of me.

Out of T2 and into the run, by this time the weather had changed dramatically from this morning and the sun was now out, not what I really wanted. With Mike only a few meters ahead it didn’t take long to catch him up and after another bit of banter he graciously let me get ahead of him. Once out of Hayle town it was uphill to Connor Downs and the turn around point, with a few of the faster competitors now coming towards us on there final leg. Once round the turn around point, after nearly being sick from taking a huge gulp of what I expected to be water, I headed down the long, welcomed final leg back. Mixed feelings as I pass the other competitors struggling up the hill, with encouragement to those I am familiar with. Now into the home straight, round the pond with the finish in sight and the sound of cheers in the distance. A glance at the HR monitor and its time to push a little harder, now with the HR increasing the last few meters are falling away and the finish line and distant cheers are getting closer. And I am home 2:36:35, later to find out 52^nd, another event under the belt and behind me.

A quick look round and a chat to some not so familiar faces before packing up, it turns out to be an international event with one guy from Kuwait and a handful of Eastern European competitors, well they definitely weren’t Cornish.

Well done to all the 121 who took part, and especially the Tri-Logic crew. Mike Penberthy, who completed in 2:36:01 and was 56^th, Jeremy Stephens in 2:30:07 and was 26^th, Angie Tiller 3:11:32 and was 107^th.

Phil

Bude Triathlon – same Triathlon, different year.

Sunday 29th June 2008

Results here  

Well, the last year seems to have flown by, and in no time back to Bude for the annual triathlon. The weather again was great, apart from a minor downpour, which caused me to rush back to the transition area and cover up the shoes. Didn’t really want the squelch sound for 3miles.

As always the transition area was crowded. And the range of bikes indicate that more and more people are spending on the sport that they enjoy. A 3pm start time at least gives the chance for a steady but tedious drive to the event. Looking at the sea conditions didn’t really seem appealing, and with the onshore winds the chop was evident.

I was a little anxious before this event. Not to sound too negative but the event last year gave me Blood Poisoning. Which pretty much wiped out the remainder of the Triathlon season. Like having the flu for four months. And getting knocked off the bike recently has really stunted the season.

The swim starts in the river and was again short. Probably 400metres. With such a large number of persons starting en mass, and having to swim around boats. Chaos ensued. The run upto the transition is all uphill, on sand. Very hard. A slowish transition, spent too much time looking at the eye candy within the crowd.

The bike begins with a 100m long hill which sucks the energy. This is before the Highway Code is typically broken. Riding through the town is simply dangerous. People are just not aware of the cyclist until the last second. Cars leaving no room to squeeze by on the left, then no room to overtake on the right. Roundabouts blocked. People not knowing where to go, signalling left, then right, then stopping and day dreaming.

Glad to get out of the town and onto the undulating bike course. There seemed to be a head wind the whole way. I soon found myself in first. Which continued until the swing left back into the town of Bude. I was overtaken waiting for some traffic. This guy was taking chances. My scar tissue was saying no no no. Easy tiger. By the time I was entering the transition, I could see this person running out. It is a little annoying to have a race performance compromised by something out of ones control.

The transition went smoothly, and straight into the 100m uphill climb. Lungs a burning and then descend back into the town. Again, people everywhere. Those in a daze just not aware that a race is underway, dogs, bikes on pavements etc. The run was slightly extended this year to counteract maintenance works. The next mile is flat before another tough uphill effort. Then a smooth descent back into the town. Still in second and unable to see anyone behind. Eased slightly, and just grateful to be running. As I could barely walk about three weeks ago. The crowds lining the road into the final straight really raise the efforts. And the effort today secured 2^nd place.

This was followed by a dive into the ocean to cool down. Very hot racing out there today. A trophy for the efforts but no material prizes. Even a free entry for next years events could I’m sure be managed. Or some goodies from one of the sponsors. Not to worry. No goodie bag as such, just a t-shirt displaying one of the sponsor’s logos on the front. Like wearing a billboard. So that’ll be used for rags. And a saffron bun, which was somewhat lacking any saffron essence. This event is great for an introduction and the standard keeps going up. However, for the distance I don’t think it is worth the entry. And £4.50 for the car park the cost soon rises. We have developed a great bond with the North Devon Triathletes and were invited back to ‘theirs’ for a bbq. So great atmosphere.

Take care out there.

NJ