Midlothian Tri 2011

Hi Gang

 

I promised a race report for the Midlothian Tri last weekend and had been holding off because although the results have been published, disappointingly my times seem to have been omitted!  I was there, honest!  I have the witnesses and photos to prove it.  ERC Tri have now stopped answering my emails so I will post a report now as I think it unlikely they are going to update the results.

 

It was a small but cheerful team that had signed up for this race, which I think is a new one on our race calendar.  Andy and I were the first to arrive with Heather and Steve arriving soon after and Gwen (who had cleverly registered on the Saturday) coming in at a leisurely 11am!  The conditions couldn’t have been more perfect with blue skies and sunshine and a keen breeze.  It is a busy race with 11 Heats in all with the sprints going off first.  Steve was first up in the pool swiftly followed by Heather and Andy.  Gwen and I were kicking our heels nervously for what seemed like forever waiting for our Novice heat to kick off.

 

There is quite a long run between the pool and Transition 1 and then onto the bike and out of the school campus and straight into a ‘kick ass’ hill – before your legs really get a chance to warm up!  A small respite then another sharp climb over a bridge.  The rest of the route however was pretty quick either being flat or downhill.  A couple of roundabouts, some traffic lights (coned off for competitors) and a pedestrian crossing to negotiate (with a marshall to take your number and deduct time if you had to stop).  Unfortunately, the sprinters had two laps of the course which meant tackling the hill again but us lucky novices didn’t have this ‘pleasure’!  By the time most of the competitors hit the cycle path for the out and back run it was pretty warm with no breeze to talk off along the track as it was sheltered on both sides.  It was a public path too so dodging dog walkers, leisure cyclists and other members of the public made for an interesting run!

 

Steve and Heather finished the course within minutes of each other.   Heather came in at 1:23.05, 18th/30 in her category and 154th overall.  Steve coming in at 1:32.36, just short of his target of 1:30, 205 out of 234 overall finishers and 59th in his category.  Andy, as ever had a pretty storming event, 1:11.03 and 16th/62 in his age category and 54th overall!

 

Gwen and I both put in excellent performances too.  Gwen came in at 57.53, 4th in her age category and 13th overall – well beating her previous time at Bishopbriggs last year by more than 5 mins!  Going by the computer in the sports hall at the end of the event I felt I finished in around 53 mins and was 1st in my age category (there were only two of us mind!) and I think I came in 12th overall but until I am added to the results who knows!  There were (or should have been) 19 finishers in the Novice event.

 

It was a pretty well organised event although transition was a tad confusing and could have done with a few more marshalls in this area and there was a disappointing lack of water (none) considering the warm conditions – not even at the end of the run.  We were given a beanie as a memento which will come in very handy for the Scottish summer events!  And a nice touch was a medal for all novice finishers although personally I would have forgone this just to get my splits.  Can you tell I am annoyed – lol!

The was the most enormous spread of cakes, tea and coffee at the end which could have fed twice as many people and was very welcome!

 

So, a good event overall I think and worth keeping in our race calendar for next year!

 

Photos on Facebook if you want to see the team in action.

 

Tina