Bedford Priory Middle Triathlon
24th May
2015

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Official Results

  1.9k Swim 90k Cycle 21k Run Total  
Melissa Burrell 36.32 3.01.20 1.51.25 5.31.34 2nd Lady, 1st AG, first half distance triathlon
Eva Kovacs 46.32 3.27.09 2.29.45 6.50.50 1st AG

Bedford Priory Middle Triathlon - First triathlon of the season and apparently an age group win (guess how many finished in my age group? ;-)). But not much went well... The 1.9 mile swim in the Priory Lake was pleasant despite the low temperature (I heard between 13 and 15C), though not fast. I got entangled in one of the buoys and couldn't see the swim exit (the problem of a slow swimmer, no caps to follow...). The run from the swim exit to transition was long and not kind on the feet. Once in transition I decided that I would not suffer cold on the bike today, so jacket with long sleeves on, and go! The bike was supposed to be the discipline where I would push today, but already in the first loop I got lost. I didn't know for sure at that time but my Garmin showed a higher mileage than it was supposed after one loop (and 99 km instead of 90 km at the end). It looks like I wasn't the only one getting lost though. Apparently, we followed the signs that BRCC put out for their TT instead of staying on our route. This also didn't really help chasing other athletes, and only after 50 min I saw and passed my first 'carrot'. It would take another 1 h 30 min before I would see and pass another two 'carrots'. And that was it... Nevertheless, my pace was pretty good (3 h 06 min after 90 km according to my Garmin, which is faster than last year), but that won't show in the results :-(. By the end of the bike I started to get thirsty and hungry (there were no feed stations on the course) and was looking forward to the energy bar that I left in transition (I was also going to take a few gels with me for the run, as sometimes all you get in races in the UK is water). To my surprise, I couldn't find my energy bar and gels where I left them, but saw that a crow had taken them. The bar was eaten and the gels had holes in their package (not ideal to carry around). So I started the run with the hope to find sports drinks at the feed stations. First station: water. Second station: water. Third station (or at least where I expected there would be a station based on last year): no station. Fourth station (I was getting lightheaded): finally, sports drink (thumbs up for sugar). Fifth station: sports drink that I ordered to have ready while I was at the fourth station. Sixth station: water that I made the volunteer run for. It was only 1.5 km to go to the finish but I was extremely thirsty. Overall in the run, I was able to keep up a (for me) decent pace (with exception between second station and fourth station: 7.5 km without a drink was a big ask), and no walking! If I could repeat this in a full distance, I would be very happy. Finally I reached the end (22 km on my Garmin) with only a few athletes finishing after me. There was not much left at the end, just a few people, a few bikes, some water, and some bananas. Hence, my award ceremony was very quiet: but I got an award and that doesn't happen very often!

Congratulations to Melly for a great achievement on her first half distance triathlon! I only saw her on the run, and she looked really strong.

 Eva