Beaver Triathlon
28th May 2011

 

Official Results

 

1.2 mile swim

T1

46.5 mile bike

T2

13.1 mile run

Overall

Simon Fisher

00:39:35

00:03:05

02:32:56

00:01:44

01:41:43

04:59:06

Tony Parello

00:38:32

00:04:43

02:37:43

00:01:38

01:42:22

05:07:01

Steve Daniels 

00:43:57

00:04:36

02:39:57

00:02:52

01:40:20

05:11:46

Steve Rice

00:40:39

00:02:58

02:46:15

00:02:22

01:52:03

05:24:20

Malcolm McEwen

01:08:41

00:04:10

03:33:16

00:02:28

03:06:53

07:55:31

 

 

Race Report:

 

I have wanted to do the Beaver triathlon for a few years, now I never want to do it again!!  Whilst the organisation and marshals’ were superb, the swim has completely put me off of wanting to go into that lake again.

 

The swim consisted of 3 waves

8am: All the ladies

8.10am: Men under 40

8.20am: Men 40+

 

The start of the swim was a deep start (probably about 6 or 7 feet, so not that deep) but at only 14 degrees and hearing grown men scream as they got into the water and didn’t fill you with confidence.  Then comes the horrible bit where you have to put your face in!  It was the first time I have done a swim in zero visibility.  You put your face in and it was pitch black.  As the swim went on, at best it was a lighter brown but you couldn’t see anything still.  In places the swim was incredibly shallow (bashing your hand on the floor).  The race brief said, if you get in to trouble, stand up and walk to the edge!!

 

It was a bit of a strange swim route as the first lap consisted of swimming around the edge of the lake and then a big v shape in the middle and then around the edge again for the 2nd lap.  When you are in the middle of the v and you look up, there were swimmers absolutely everywhere and coming at you from all directions.

 

My swim was pretty bad, I had a bit of a panic attack at the start and ended up attempting breast stroke for the first 100 meters or so.  The problem being, I can’t do breast stroke and that took me about 10 minutes to do.  By which time the men 40+ were about to start so I knew I was about to get swum over.  I would have preferred to start completely at the back and just swim at my own pace but that wasn’t going to happen.  Anyway, after the little panic attack, I eventually managed to start swimming normally, then got caught and swum over, then the ladies on their next lap swam over me and then eventually I was at the back and could swim normally again.  With about 200 meters to go and thinking despite everything, I could still get under the hour on the swim, I then got cramp.  One leg I could live with but it was in both calves and my right hamstring.  So, I figured as I was in the part where I could stand up, I would and have a bit of a stretch.  What I didn’t realise is how silty the bottom of the floor was, so although there was only about 2 feet of water underneath me, there was another foot or so of silt under that so I was still up to my waist but then it was difficult to move.

 

Eventually the cramp went and I could start swimming again.  I got out of the swim on 63 minutes and then it took another 5 minutes to get to the chip mat which was up near the bikes (about 600 meters away from the lake).  The marshals’ pulling you out of the water were excellent as were the canoeists who paddle next to you (when you are last).  The one thing I would say about canoeists is they make a lot of waves.  If they had stayed behind me instead of at the side, they could have pushed me along a bit with some of those waves.

 

So, into transition (which is probably one area where I wasn’t the slowest)!  It was easy to find my bike as there was only 7 left (6 people finished the swim and then pulled out).  At this point I realised I had cut my foot in a few places which I assume was from the bottom of the lake.  Luckily it didn’t hurt too much, just a bit of stinging.  Lots of encouragement from the marshals’ again as I was getting ready to go out.  3 laps of the bike to go of 15.5 miles per lap (46.5 miles total) although my speedo read 48.5 miles at the end.  As I started the bike, the lead women were coming round having already completed one bike lap.  In general the bike route was fairly flat apart from a couple of bumps, well until you get to about 10 miles in to each lap and then there was quite a large hill which my legs didn’t want to go up (so yes, I admit I got off and walked up).  As I was on my 2nd lap (walking up the hill), Simon Fisher came past me on his final lap.  I was then waiting for Tony and the Steve’s to pass me.  I was a couple of hundred yards from the end of my 2nd lap and thought maybe they won’t catch me and then I felt a big whack on my backside.  I am sure a lot of you are familiar with that whack, it was Tony going past!!

 

So on to my last lap of the bike, by which time there was no one around.  It was quite a nice pleasant cycle ride and was nice not being overtaken!  I saw a few people on the side of the road who had pulled out and were awaiting the recovery van to pick them up.  A further 19 people finished the bike but did not start the run.  I finally finished the bike in 3 hours 33 minutes which I was quite happy with.  Again, my transition wasn’t bad, it’s just the swim, bike, run I struggle with!

 

Onto the run.  At this point most people were at least half way through their half marathon.  It was a 4 lap course out and back with a little loop near the finish area.  The course had 1 long up hill which on the positive side means you have a long down hill also.  I saw Simon, Tony and Stevie D on the run who all offered encouragement.  Each lap had less and less people on the course and as I started my 3rd lap there was only about 5 other people on the course still.  They all finished before I started my final lap and again the encouragement from the marshals’ was superb.  I did feel sorry for them but kept saying they didn’t have to wait as I knew the route, however they stayed and offered encouragement at each stage of the run.  Normally when I finish a race you get a few people clapping but I think being last in a triathlon you seem to get special treatment and about a dozen marshals’ made a human arch for me to run under as I crossed the finish line.  I just wish some of the marshals were a bit taller as trying to bend down that far wasn’t easy but it was a lovely touch.  The amount of marshals’ that came up at the end to shake my hand and say what an achievement it was made me feel better.  A further 3 people pulled out during the run so although I was the last finisher, at least I can say I did better than the 28 people who didn’t finish!!

 

I can’t say I am looking forward to Wimbleball now in 3 weeks time which is the same distance swim and run but another 10 miles on the bike and hillier.  If it wasn’t for cut off times at Wimbleball I would be ok!

 

So, I would happily do another justracinguk.com event but not the Beaver as I don’t want to do that swim ever again.  A superb day though.

 

Malcolm

 

 

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