St Neots Triathlon 2017

With the World Championships only 2 weeks away, things are looking good.

​Sunday was my final race before the Championships in Holland, so it was a real good tester to see how well I am doing. I was meant to be racing in the standard distance, but I took the recommendation of my coach to drop down to the sprint distance so my injured shoulder wouldn't be worked so hard before the big race - so not my preferred distance.  However, NiceTri, the event organisers, were very nice and helped me change my race on the day (no pun intended!)

​As expected, the swim wasn't my best swim ever, partly due to my shoulder and also the fact that it was in a river, so although we had the benefit of swimming down stream one way, it meant we had to swim against the current the other way!  Its funny because I couldn't feel the current behind me when I was swimming with it, but I could feel the difference when swimming against it probably because of the lack of strength in my left arm.  Thank god for my new HUUB wetsuit kindly donated by Chalkwell Redcaps as it helps with floatation.

​One of my favourite thing about this race is the bike course, and is also the main reason why I have raced there every year.  It is set in the beautiful country roads of Cambridge.  The first part of the course is flat and fast on a straight, quiet road, meaning you can pick up speed easily and just cycle without worrying about turns, bends, roundabouts or cars.  The next section is quite hilly and windy, so being aerodynamic is essential here, however, trying to be aerodynamic at 5'9" and on a roadie, is quite hard!  Then the final section of the course is a technical section with windy roads and pot holes, which makes it very interesting (its OK Richardsons Cycles - your wheels are intact!)

​The final part, the run, is set in the park (via some grass and some track) running alongside the river, so it was easy to see the rest of the competitors, and also as my mum always says, makes it very easy and enjoyable for spectators to see the race.   An overall placing of 6th female, 3rd in my Age Group isn't bad, but surprisingly even with the slower swim I was only a few seconds slower than last year.  .

​However having some team mates there to cheer you on and support you makes all the difference at a race, so I am happy to have made the decision to join Whittys Tri Team.  Thanks Claire and Anna. 

​Overall, I really enjoyed this race, and although its not my best performance ever it was after all just a training race and I woudnt want to be peeking I am feeling good going into the next couple of weeks leading up to the Worlds.... and looking forward to my preferred longer distance..


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