Graham was experiencing the life on an international triathlete.

 We arrived back from Turkey in the early hours of Thursday morning & travelled up to Rutland Water Friday afternoon for a race on Saturday morning.  This was going to be a tough day in the office for me as not only was the National Championships, it was also a qualifier for the Worlds in London (which is my aim) plus a qualifier for next year’s European Championships in Austria.

 

Race day morning dawned having had heavy rain overnight & strong winds.  We arrived at transition wrapped up as though we were going to the Antarctic (bit of a shock to the system compared to Turkey!!). 

Due to the strong wind conditions they shortened the swim by a 100mtrs.  We had noticed with the swim start that a lot of competitors were running down the side by the bank & getting a lead of approx 100mtrs so that is what I did.  Anything to make my life easier.   I enjoyed the swim because it was a bit lumpy due to the wind. 

On to the bike ride, which was a one lap 42K ride, which included the famous Rutland Ripple.  It was a tough ride because of the wind.  Back into transition to put the run shoes on for a one lap 10K run.  Again, this was tough because of the wind as it is so open across the dam.  I go through a bad spell between 7 & 9K but rallied for the finish.  I hoped that I had done enough for my spot in London.

 

Overall time – 2:19:08

 

Swim – 22:44

T1 – 1:39

Bike – 1:12:12

T2 – 0:57

Run – 41:35

 

Position 172, 25th in my age group (no chance of a London slot with that performance).