Stirling Triathlon Race Report 2011
I was out with the guys again last Sunday! Yep, me, Andy, Alex, Alan, Alasdair and James were up at very silly o’clock on Sunday morning just so we could take part in the Stirling Triathlon. And overall I think we are all pleased we made the effort.
Parking was up a hill and it was quite a hike to the registration hall so bike under one arm and kit under another to save the old legs. Well that was the plan for all except Alex who made several trips back and forward to his car to fetch forgotten helmet, race belt etc! I guess he was well warmed up before his heat!
It was a grey and chilly morning and bikes had to be in transition by 07.30. Stirling Tri club had thoughtfully put on some early morning entertainment in the shape of The Clan – a bike stunt team who were doing death defying things with bikes up on platforms and jumping over high bars etc! We were soon race briefed and then making our way pool side. Most of us were sporting the brand new club tri suits which look terrific!
Andy, Alex, Alan and Alasdair (have you noticed we have a lot of guys with names that start with the letter A?) were all taking part in the Sprint while James and I were in the Novice event (mostly because we left it too late to get into the Sprint!).
Andy and Alex were up first with Alan and Alasdair following hot on their heels. James and I had a good couple of hours to kill before our heats started.
The whole event runs like clockwork which is no mean feat considering the amount of competitors and the use of two pools. By the time I started my heat Andy and Alex were already back from their event!
I think we were all familiar with the cycle and run route having either taken part in the same event last year or in the duathlon earlier this year. The cycle is reasonably flat and fast and the run has a very nasty sharp hill very early on with the Sprint guys having to tackle it twice!
Andy had a terrific race as usual and was our highest placed competitor. He came in 31st overall (out of 232 competitors) and 11th in his category with a time of 1:14:36. Alan was next in 84th place (30th in category) in 1:21:48 – a shiny PB with both his swim and cycle times being the quickest he has done before! Obviously his shiny red new bike was inspirational!
Alex (the legend!) was hot on Alan’s heels posting a time of 1:23:19 and in 100th place (35th in category) – still recovering from his collar bone break but getting stronger all the time.
This was only the second Sprint that Alasdair has done and the first with a pool swim and what a swim! His swim time was 14:56 a PB by some two minutes. He was only 27 places behind Alex and 42nd in his category posting a time of 1:26:43 – a PB by nearly 9 minutes on his Strathclyde time. A huge well done to him!
In the Novice event James put in a fabulous performance – 8th overall (116 competitors) and 7th male out of 35 male finishers posting an event PB of 52.:57! I was bringing up the rear (in team terms) but had a great race overall. I came in 44th and 22nd female out of 81 female finishers in a time of 1:00:51. I really should have pushed that run harder to have got under the hour! The cycle in the Novice event is longer than usual at 14K rather than 10K so it is difficult to compare this result with my last two.
So a terrific result for Team GRC again!
Tina