The problem with sequels is that, invariably, they do not
live up to the expectation of the original.
As a rule, I generally avoid
returning to the same triathlon or duathlon events, for several reasons.
Firstly, there are just so many different ones out there to try and they are
often so far away and so costly to compete in, that Matt and I try to make a
mini-break out of them, so it’s always nice to try new events in new places to
give us a reason to visit parts of the UK we might not otherwise see. Secondly,
it’s nice to not have to compare your performances: I got very caught up with
chasing PBs on flat tarmac road races as a runner and that often led to
disappointment, not to mention injury. Thirdly, and perhaps most significantly,
if I had a super time at an event, it holds special memories for me, and I am
worried that by going back and having not such a super time, those positive
memories might get undermined by fresh, less positive ones! For this reason, I
was extremely wary when choosing to return to Clumber Park as my performance there last year, in the
2016 sprint race, far exceeded my own expectations. I went there hoping for the
outside chance of sneaking into the top four in my age group in order to secure
one of the four GB team qualification spots for the European Duathlon Championships.
I did not expect to place 6th female overall and to win my age group
and was staggered when my name was announced at prize giving (this was the only
time I have ever cried and got emotional at any sporting performance, as it was
just so unexpected; I kept thinking they’d made a mistake!). Fast-forward to
this year and now, because of last year’s result and because of me being me, my
expectations had gone through the roof. Gone was the ‘I’ll be satisfied
just to qualify’ goal: my expectation was to qualify and to win my age group
again; satisfaction would be placing in the top three females overall. A big
ask, but it was what I secretly went there aiming for.
I had not had as good a build up as I had the previous year.
Aside from the 8 week long cold-cough combo I picked up at Christmas that
turned into a chest infection and sinusitis, eventually, needing antibiotics to
clear, I had also struggled with that familiar left achillies problem for all
of summer and most of autumn into winter. It was only 4 weeks out from the race
that I managed to get my weekly running mileage up into the twenties and I
managed to complete just one intervals session: a pathetic 3 x 800m at 6m/m
pace. Not quite the sessions many of my rivals would have been hitting in their
preparation. At Clumber last year, I posted the fastest first run split in my
wave…. that was not looking very likely this year. However, I had tried to keep
up the cycling a bit more this winter: not easy when the weather is rubbish and
you are ill for weeks on end, but I did manage a few 20 – 30 mile outings on
Cannondale in addition to 2 – 3 spin classes a week, which kept me ticking
over.
So, why did I return to Clumber? Well, it’s the
only qualifying race for next year’s Euros to take place in the spring (the
others are autumn events), so I wanted to get qualification out of the way
early. Also, I haven’t raced multisport since Dartington Du last October,
so I didn’t want the European Championships in Soria to be my very first race
of the year; Clumber made for a good dress rehearsal. Then, finally, familiarity
with the course at least means less stress in terms of worrying about what the transition layout is like, where the turnaround point on
the run is, what the bike route is like etc. Also, Clumber is the hilliest of the 3 qualification events on
offer, and me love me a good hill!
A week before the event, I had Cannondale serviced with Tony
at Tribe Cycles (he also did my bike fits on both Cannondale and my Black Ninja
Shiv TT bike). In hindsight, I should probably have allowed more time between
getting the service and leaving for the event, as what I expected to just be a
few tweaks on the gears and brake cables turned out to be a replacement
of both the top and bottom brackets as the bearings had totally gone. It was
quite a tight time scale for Tony to order the parts and to get it sorted, so
thanks to him for going that extra mile and even visiting my house the night
before we left for the race to make sure that Cannondale was race ready.
Off we went, on Friday, in good time to cover the 250 miles
with a couple of stops and arrive at the hotel with enough time to relax and
use the spa facilities before dinner. This year we stayed at the official race
hotel, the Clumber Park Hotel and Spa. It was right on the bike route course
and just a 10 minute drive from the event HQ. It was also a big hotel set up
for dealing with 100+ duathletes wanting to take their beloved bikes into their
rooms with them (you’d be surprised how many hotels we’ve stayed in have balked
at the suggestion!), and they put on a special early breakfast on race morning.
Oh, and the spa, the outdoor jacuzzi hot tubs overlooking the forest, the 15m
swimming pool and the gym all added to the experience!
Home for the 3 nights: Clumber Park Hotel and Spa.
Race morning and I was feeling surprisingly relaxed: this
was evidenced by me only needing three pre-race portaloo visits as opposed to
the double-figures I hit last year! Maybe I was a bit too relaxed as I didn’t
really feel fired up and, when the starting horn went, I was thinking, ‘Oh
well, the quicker I get this done the quicker I can get back to the hotel
and get in the hot tub’! In hindsight, I may have been a little over-tired come race day; as I had lost so much training time in January and February through
illness, the three weeks in March leading up to race day had been high in
volume and intensity in a last-minute bid to sharpen up.
I was in the very first wave to go off: female sprint race
athletes aged 18-39. The vet 40 females + started 2 minutes after us, then came the
senior men, then the vet men, followed by the standard distance duathletes after
that. The problem with starting women first is that by the time we all get back
to T1 after the run leg, the fast men are beginning to catch us; they then have
to work their way through the field of females on the bike leg, often cutting
it tight to overtake you, sometimes four abreast, making for some rather hairy
moments on a bike course that is partly on a fast 60mph ‘A’ road that isn’t
closed to traffic… I would far rather they let the guys go first and get them
out of our way!
I arrived back from the first run as the third fastest in my
wave, but only 10 seconds down on the leader, and just a second or two behind
the second girl. My 5k run split was 19:20, so only 10 seconds down on last year: an encouraging start. I managed to overtake both girls in transition and so I headed
out onto the bike as the first athlete of anyone out on the course….. This
accolade was short lived as zoom, zoom, zoom, one by one, the speedy men on
their fancy racing machines began to pick me off. It was a couple of miles into
the course before any women came past me. Two flew past quite swiftly on TT
bikes, but another girl overtook but didn’t pull away, so I decided to work off
her to keep me focused. We then played cat and mouse for the whole 20k course,
eventually pulling into T2 together, recording the same bike split. Emerging
from T2, the announcer on the tannoy said I was third female overall in the
sprint race… Buoyed by the thought that my goal of a top three finish overall
might be within my grasp, I charged out of T2 thinking, ‘Just dig deep, only 10
minutes of running left, you can do this’. The second run was complete chaos,
as slower standard distance athletes from later waves were on their second 5k
lap of their first run, and men and women from the sprint distance were on
their second 2.5k run. This meant different athletes were aiming for different
turn around points, the marshalls didn’t seem to know who was in which race in
order to direct us, and this is where I was mighty glad that I had done the
race before and so knew the course. The girl I had been cycling with was hot on
my tails; at the turn around I saw I had a 10 second or so gap on her. If I
could avoid getting a stitch like last year, I think this could be in the bag.
Approaching the finish, final check over my shoulder, the gap’s the same and I
think I am good for a podium finish. Cross the line and momentary elation swiftly
gives way to deflation as I see three other females have already finished ahead
of me…. The guy on the tannoy had miscounted and I was in fact fourth out of T2
and fourth across the line. The first female finished 90 seconds ahead of me
and 2nd and 3rd less than half a minute. My time this
year was 17 seconds slower than last year; at first this disappointed me as I
wanted to improve, but when I considered how windy it was on the bike,
particularly the really strong headwind in the last 4-5 miles, I think this
year was a slightly better performance. Also, as the overall winning times were
well down on last year and as I finished further up the overall rankings, this would
suggest that I did have a better race. No podium, but a definite improvement,
so I have to take encouragement from that.
Somewhere out on the 20km bike leg.
Approaching the finish, thinking if I just managed to stay ahead of the girl behind me, I have secured 3rd place overall.... not quite so...
I wasn’t sure if I’d won my category or not; Matt thought I
had a good chance as one female in front of me was in Nottingham University kit
and looked a young 20-something, but the other two ladies could have been
anywhere from 25 – 45, it’s hard to tell without blatantly strolling up and
asking ‘Excuse me, how old are you?’! (Even I have limits!) So, like last year,
we thought to wait for the presentation to find out…. only this year there wasn’t
one. Standing around waiting for it for over an hour and finally the tannoy man
– him again – comes on and says that the timing equipment failed mid-race so
there’ll be no presentation today and no online results until later that
weekend. A somewhat anti-climatic end to the day, but what can you do? A check
of the salvaged results from their restored back-up timing the following day revealed
that I had won my category and so prizes are being posted out…. haven’t had it
yet, and will be interesting to see if they post the large 24 pack of Erdinger
that the sponsor provides to all the winners, but we’ll see!
In fact, as organisers go, I’m not overly convinced by OSB
races. You pay through the nose to enter (just shy of £50), and all you get for
completing is this:
So, I think this means that, sadly, there will be no Clumber
Park #3. Time for a change next year and maybe tackle a new course and,
ideally, one that doesn’t take the best part of 8 hours driving to get to as
you sit for an hour each way in traffic on the M42 trying to get around Birmingham.
I now have 4 weeks to get fit for Soria. Unfortunately my
right calf (yes, that’s my “good” leg, the one I can usually rely on not to
give me stick) did not come away from the weekend in the best shape. It’s on
the mend but has meant 10 days without running to make sure the niggle didn’t
develop, so that’s lost running training that I can’t really afford to
lose as I'm already down on where I should be (ah.... t'was ever thus...) But I am really looking forward to the Europeans now, to getting out there and
seeing what I can do against a top quality field. And next year? Well, there is
a very strong rumour going around that the 2018 Europeans will be held in Ibiza…
that thought makes my heart sing.
Thanks to:
Tony Arnell at Tribe Cycles for getting Cannondale race ready
Olivia Higginson at Body Masterplan for getting my body race ready
To my buddies at N1 Tri Club for their support, friendship and motivation to keep training over the winter
To my family who support what I do and take an interest in what I do (or at least pretend to)
And to Matt, my long suffering husband, for standing by me, supporting me, driving me here there and everywhere across the country to races... and for funding it all!
Thanks to:
Tony Arnell at Tribe Cycles for getting Cannondale race ready
Olivia Higginson at Body Masterplan for getting my body race ready
To my buddies at N1 Tri Club for their support, friendship and motivation to keep training over the winter
To my family who support what I do and take an interest in what I do (or at least pretend to)
And to Matt, my long suffering husband, for standing by me, supporting me, driving me here there and everywhere across the country to races... and for funding it all!
