Its been a while since I've updated here, as I have been non stop racing since my last update, so here goes...
It all kicked off with a warm weather camp in Portugal with the LTPC squad. Lots of sunny miles, and seas swims getting some final work in before the season kicked off.

 From there I had a week to recover, before my first real challenge of the season, at my first 70.3, Challenge Gran Canaria. It was a step into the unknown, and after a solid swim, I blew my doors off on the bike, and from there it was about reaching the finish. Not what I was looking for but definitely a distance that I can see myself having a lot of success in the future.

Once again, recovery was the name of the game, and all to soon, it was into a big block of racing.
First up, the Monster racing Olympic distance race in Peterborough. I treated this as a training race, as I was still feeling the effects of the 70.3, so I pushed the swim and bike, and had a comfortable lead going into the run so backed it off ready for another day.

Onto my first Castle series race of the year, at Lough Cutra castle, and I knew there was going to be some stiff competition. A solid swim set me up for a good race, and onto the bike, I exchanged positions with Sam Wade. I knew Sam was a strong runner, so I tried to break away a few times but it wasn't to be, and onto the run, and he gradually pulled away. Overall I was pleased to take second, considering I had to run the 10k with a Garmin cable in the bottom of my trainer. (not mine I hasten to add...)

Blenheim was a big goal this season, and going into it I was feeling in good shape. However from the first stroke I could tell something wasn't quite right, and after a very below par swim, I pushed on the bike and run, but still couldn't hit the sort of speeds I was looking for. I crossed the line in what ultimately was a disappointing 21st.

From there, it was time to head out to France for my first race with Besancon triathlon, and my first time in the French Grand Prix racing format. It was the latest race start I had experienced, but after spending the day checking out the course and chilling out, the race came round quick enough. Being third on the pontoon, meant that I was soon out of trouble on the swim, and out solidly onto the bike, A dodgy mount meant I missed the front group, however it all came back together pretty quickly. From there it was a running race, and poor positioning coming into T2 put me on the back foot, but I was pleased to be able to run through to 31st.

Mentally I struggled the week after Blenheim, as I had put a lot of pressure on myself to have a good race, but fortunately, I didn't have ling to wait, as the next weekend I was returning to Windsor triathlon. A race where I had a great result last year, so was keen to try to replicate that.

I knew on the day that Mark Threlfall was going to be my main competition, and so it proved, as he was on my feet out of the swim, and through T1. Onto the bike and we were exchanging the lead, up until about 25k, where I decided to push on, and fortunately I managed to open up a bit of gap going into T2. The run, being a different course to previous years, I wasn't sure what to expect, and up the hill past the castle, I pushed hard as I wasn't sure the gap I had back to Mark. Halfway round the first lap, and I hit the first turnaround, I counted the gap back, and it got up to a minute, and I still hadn't seen Mark, so from there on I knew that as long as I could deal with the heat, and finish, the win was in the bag.

FInally, in my never ending block of racing, was Cardiff triathlon. Another draft legal sprint, and I was feeling good going into the race. However it wasn't to be as another shocking swim made it a hard day out, however onto the bike and luckily I got myself into a group of 4 off the front of the chase pack and we quickly bridged up to the lead pack. from there it was a case of trying to get something back into the legs for a quick run, where I eventually finished 10th. Not quite the best race, but sometimes its not about how you get there but getting there that is important.

So whats next? This weekend im heading down to Eton Dorney to compete in the SuperTri, a good chance to have a solid hit out, and then im doing the run leg for RaceHub at the Outlaw Holkham half. From there its time for some training, before racing gets going again mid July.

Its been a while since I've updated. Primarily that because there hasn't been much of interest to report. Knocking out the winter miles, putting the work in in the lead up to the new season. I did however race a Duathlon at Eton Dorney to keep me sane over winter without Triathlons to break up the tedium of cold sessions, and it turned out to be a good hit out, and its always  nice to take the win, even if it did mean racing in long sleeves and leggings.

Christmas was a little different this year compared to the last couple, as we didn't go out to Fuerteventura for our normal warm weather camp with the Loughborough Tri squad, so instead It made a nice change to put some solid weeks back at home, even if the warmer weather was distinctly lacking.

Now the real reason for writing this is because my race schedule is starting to come together. I'm looking to target European cups this year with the aim of getting a late season world cup start, but alongside these, I will also be keeping my hand in with the non drafting format or racing. Another exciting development is the fact that I will also be racing for Besancscon in the FGP D2 this year

It all starts with a warm weather camp in Portugal with the LTPC squad, and from there I'm racing Challenge Gran Canaria, before then heading back to BUCS sprint, before a couple of races to sharpen up in May, and then a busy few months through June, July and August.

Its been a long time coming but races are just round the corner now and I've made some changes to training this year, and I cant wait to see how this translates into races.

Once again I would just like to say that none of this would be possible without my sponsors - Anchura Partners, Loughborough triathlon and Kitbrix and I'm looking forward to racing for Racehub and their sponsors this year - Huub design, Cep Compression, High 5, Giant, Vittoria tyres, Lake cycling shoes, Stewarts coffee, Snow software, Endurance Conspiracy and Sketchers performance.

Following on from the high from Bala, next up was Sussex Triathlon. A race I was using as training, I knew it was going to be a tough course, as I competed this a couple of years ago and it didn’t disappoint.

Coming out of the swim, I had about 3 minutes in hand, I had planned to push hard on the bike, and eventually headed onto the run with about 13 minute lead. Due to that  I ran conservatively, and crossed the line with 15 minutes in hand. Not a race where I was pushing flat out, but a solid hit out in preparation for my next big race of the season – the Stoke on Trent elite triathlon – part of the European city of sport celebration.

I knew I was going to have a hard race, as there were some strong competitors on the start line, including training partner James Teagle, and also top elite athletes Tom Bishop, Stuart Hayes and also Luke pollard who had shown his prowess in the non-drafting format of racing.

The swim was uneventful, coming out of the water in second, along with Tom and James, with a reasonable gap to some very strong bikers. After a 600m run to T1, Tom and I headed out onto the bike, and worked well together for the first 20k, but then I hit a rough patch and Tom opened up a small gap, however I managed to hold this at about a minute once he had ridden away, and I came into T2 alongside Stu.

I was hopeful that I would be able to run myself onto the podium from that place, and as such, I went hard on the first lap, and managed to open up a small gap over Stu, which then steadily grew throughout the run, meaning I crossed the line in a very pleasing 2nd place.

You can catch the highlights of this race on TV on Sunday 9th October on Channel 4 - 6:15am and Channel 4+1 7:15

With one race to go, Just a little 70.3 end of season ‘fun’ out at Challenge Peguera, I’m so pleased with how this season has gone, it has been better than I could have possibly hoped and I look forward to the last race and some much needed down time after.

On a different note, I got some great news with some new sponsors lined up for the next season – but more on that next time.

Moving on from London, I was hoping for another solid performance at Liverpool, However an illness in the lead up meant that I had a very flat race. A below par swim meant that I was in the chase pack, and lack of work meant we lost considerable time to the lead group. Another issue was that my seat post punctured my bike frame, and was rubbing on my rear wheel, meaning that I had to ride sensibly to stay in the pack. Come the run, and everything added up to give a below par performance.

Anyway, a couple of weeks of solid training, and then it was onto the club relays for Red Venom. It was a weekend that I had heard good things about, and was looking forward to being part of a team as something a bit different.
On the Saturday, it was a format of Swim, swim, swim, swim, bike, bike etc, and I was second member of the team. It was chaos, but great fun, and the team did really well and we came away with second place.

Onto the Sunday, and with an 'elite' style relay in the morning to qualify for the afternoons finals, (we had to achieve a top 10 to qualify), it was a controlled effort to save as much as possible for the afternoon, and we qualified in 5th. Onto the afternoon, and we decided tactics, as the key was not individual speed, but getting the team round as quick as possible.
Coming out of the swim, we were all together, so onto the bike, and as I had been cruising on the swim I was feeling strong, so spent a lot of the first lap on the front, to try to let the others recover for the run. The second lap we rotated through as a team, and came into T2. There was a slight issue in T2, as we were tight on space in the racking, but luckily, our slower runner managed to get out without problems, closely followed by me, but then a bit of a gap to our last two members. I made the decision to go hard and bridge up to Sean, currently first for our team, and help him out as much as possible, but pushing him up the hills and when I could. Gradually Phil and Richard caught us, and the second lap we were all together. That meant we shared the workload of getting Sean round, and coming into the Finish line, we were aware it was close, so gave everything for the final sprint. Frustratingly, we finished in 4th.
Despite being slightly disappointed with the final result, I had a great weekend with the Red Venom team, and really enjoyed my first experience of the 'organised chaos' that was the relays.

The following weekend it was back to the standard format, at the Bala triathlon, North Wales. I was hoping for a good result leading into the race, but I knew there were some strong athletes competing,  and a couple of unknown athletes, who I had been told were ones to watch.
Onto the swim, and the lake was extremely choppy. However, I got out well, and lead from the start to end of the swim, although it didn't go exactly to plan. Going away from the shore, I was struggling to move close to the buoys, after starting on the far side of the course, due to the strong current. after  the turnaround, there was a different problem... I couldn't see any of the buoys that I was meant to be swimming at, and in the end I just headed towards the big inflatable on shore, not sure quite what it was actually for (it turned out it was the finishing chute...)
Coming into T1, I slipped on the grass going round the first corner, after coming out of the water with Iestyn on my feet, and a sizeable gap to the next athletes.

A poor T1 meant that I lost 20 seconds or so to him onto the bike, but once I caught, I continued to work at a controlled but solid pace, looked round and found I had lost him. With his pre race words of 'don't go out too hard' ringing in my ears I reached the turnaround. Fortunately this point gave me a chance to see what lead I had, and was worried to see that super strong cyclist Oliver Simon had ridden his way into second, so I knew he was closing quickly. Luckily, the return leg was downhill, so I pushed as hard as I could, constantly looking behind to see if he was there. I made it into T2 still in first, and just as I was exiting transition I saw Oliver coming in. The race was on.

Onto the run, and really laid it down on the first km, and then settled down to a solid pace. At the 5K turn, I was still in first, but as I got to see Iestyn pass Oliver and in second again, I knew I had to run well to hold him off. I pushed on and as the km's ticked along, I realised that I had the race!!

A great feeling, and good confidence builder leading into the last couple of races of the season.

London. A race that I had great hopes for coming into, as I have had some solid results recently, and coming off of the back of a good training block I was feeling strong, but a race I was nervous about as I had a poor run last year.

The good thing about London is due to the fact it is a long way to first buoy, the start isn’t quite as important, however I was lucky in that I managed to follow a set of feet all the way to the front of the race, after starting on the left hand side of the start. From there it was a case of settling into my rhythm, and getting dragged along. Surprisingly no one came past, meaning I exited the water in second. Then came my first big mistake… I ran past all the volunteers holding out bags to put the wetsuits in, so had to then try to fight against the traffic, to finally locate a bag and head into transition.

Coming out of T1 I was just off the back of the lead pack, and frustratingly, I couldn’t quite catch back on, hence I had to ride the next 10k or so on my own before the chase pack caught. I sat in to get my legs back for a couple of kilo meters, and then started working. It was nice to see a lot of the group coming to the front for a change, and as such we closed the gap slightly to the leaders, meaning coming into T2 they had about 30 seconds.

Cue my next mistake, and coming into T2, I was near the front, but hadn’t got my feet out the shoes quick enough, so it was a bit if a messy dismount, and in the panic, for reasons unknown, I decided to undo my helmet as I was running into the Excel. Quickly realising my mistake I stopped and did it back up before anyone noticed, but I had lost precious time in doing so.

After last years debacle on the run, where I nearly collapsed due to the heat, and, due to the fact it was very hot again, I decided to set out a little conservatively on the run. Soon I found myself picking off several of the guys from my bike pack and even a couple from the leaders. Last lap I was feeling strong, and coming into the finish, I noticed good friend and rival Luke Pollard up the road, so gave it everything trying to catch, and on the line I just got him to 7^th overall, and 4^th in the Standard Distance British Championships. On crossing the line, I could see that Luke was in a bad way suffering from the heat, so it was good to hear that he was OK a few hours later.

A race where I was pleased with the result, but not so much how I got there. Luckily I’ve got another chance to put those mistakes right this weekend against a very strong field in the British Sprint Championships in Liverpool.

Thanks once again for the support from Anchura Partners, Red Venom and HUUB design, without none of this would be possible.

So, Tartu European cup. I went into this race with little expectations, and looking forward to another race, after my rather average result in Holten. So a course reccie showed that the race would be very interesting. It would start with an upstream swim in the river, against a current where it was difficult to make any headway, and then onto a technical bike course before a simple run.

Race morning came around, and the weather looked perfect for racing, fairly cool, but dry. However, during the women’s race, the weather started to take a turn for the worse, and by the time we were lining up on the start line, there was a thunderstorm, flooded roads, and a bunch of very soggy spectators. Before we set of, the race organizers told us to take it steady out on the bike!!! That was ambitious…

I was ranked about halfway down the start list, and hence started halfway along the pontoon. Starting the swim, and I slipped on the blue carpet, meaning I ended up behind before I started. Fortunately I kept my calm, and swam right over to the right hand side, as this was furthest out of the current in the river. Fortunately after the first lap I emerged out of the water much further forward than I was hoping. Throughout the second lap I worked my way forward and came out of the water in a good position.

Through transition I just missed the first group, hence rode hard until a small chase group caught me. I sat in for a lap, and then the second time up the hill I tried to jump across to the lead group, however I didn’t quite have the legs, but as I was doing all the work on the front of the chasers anyway, I worked hard and rode the remainder of the race on my own.

By the time the run came along, several parts of the course were flooded, but a solid 15:55 run on an accurate course saw me into 11^th place, and my best result to date in a European cup.

Once again it was then onto rest and recovery – as I had the Jenson Button triathlon the next weekend. An exciting format of heats and then finals meant I was looking forward to this one.

A good heat for me meant I felt good going into the final, and so I proved, as I led out the swim, and into t1 first. Throughout the bike, I made a few tactical errors which nearly cost me a place near the front, however I managed to pull myself back into contention a couple of times, and came into transition with 4 others. Onto the run, and I knew there were some strong runners around me, and as I lost my bottle on the bike, I knew I wasn’t going to be able to stay with the pace that was set early, so I immediately settled into my own pace, and finally crossed the line in 4^th, a great result, but more so, I was pleased with how it had felt.

A great end to a solid block of racing, now into a couple of weeks of hard training leading into London, and the final parts of the season.

Windsor Triathlon.  A race I had heard great things about, but hadn’t yet had a chance to compete at and it definitely didn’t disappoint.

Racking on the Saturday, I was impressed with how organized the whole event appeared, and after a quick reccie of the course for the Sunday it was off for the customary pre-race pizza, and all too soon race morning had arrived.

I was feeling good as I started loosening up for the race and floating in the river; waiting for the start it was clear it would be a fast swim with the current making it difficult even to hold your position behind the start line. A great start meant I was up the front, and once I had got going, I started looking for pre-race favorite Stuart Hayes. I saw a swimmer heading off to my left, which is where I knew he was starting, so I made a bee line for his hips. Once we reached the turnaround, I saw that we had opened up a large gap of about 50m or so over the rest of the field. Coming out of the water, I was surprised to see that the swimmer who I had been following was not Stuart Hayes, and as such I knew I was in a great position to capitalize on the small gap I had managed to open on him.

A swift transition and I was out on the bike in first, and I started pushing from the word go. After about 10k, Hayes caught me and I tried to hang on for as long as possible, however he gradually opened up the gap, and being non drafting I couldn’t quite hang on. I made the decision to then hold my own pace, until at around 25km, the third placed athlete caught me, and we worked well, taking it in turns to do some work on the front, while maintaining a legal distance gap between us.

Coming into T2 and I knew I had to go out hard. Not only to drop the athlete I had been riding with, but if I was to stand any chance of closing the gap that Stu had now opened. I managed to close the gap on the run from around 1:30 coming into T2, to just 45 seconds at the end of the run, but didn’t quite have the legs to catch him, to cross the line in second.

I was ecstatic with my first major podium, and on the day he was the stronger athlete, so couldn’t complain. Let’s hope this is the first of many times I may find myself on a podium at this level, and in general I’m really pleased with how this season seems to be coming on, and if the second half is anything like the races I have had, it will be a pretty successful one, for just my second season in Triathlon.

So then it was onto Leeds Castle triathlon, my first break through race two years ago, so i was happy that I was able to return once again. It is such a pretty setting for a race, especially for the swim where you get the unique experience of swimming in the castle lake. I had a great swim with a lead of about 3 minutes, and out onto the rolling bike I course I felt I was flying. Once I hit the turnaround however I realized that had been due to a strong tailwind, so it was a hard 20k back to the castle. Coming into the castle grounds, I was feeling good, and set out into the run at a conservative pace, as this was the start of a hard month of racing for me. After the first lap I realized I had a comfortable lead, so I eased the run back to save myself for the upcoming races, and crossed the line in first place. Once again a superb race and definitely one I would recommend.

Recovery was top priority after, as it was a very short turnaround until I headed out to Holten for my first European cup of the year. From what I had heard it would be a great race, and an even better after party (although I was flying home straight after the race so would unfortunately miss out on that.)  the days before the race I was feeling good, but nervous, as after seeing the bike, it was clear there were several rather tricky sections, and rain the night before did nothing to calm my nerves. But anyhow, all too soon race morning arrived, and after dropping trainers in town, it was time to head down to the lake, and from then on it was business as normal, registering and racking the bike, getting wetsuits on and warming up.

My plan going into the race was to really push from the start of the swim to ensure I made the front pack and to then try to stay out of trouble on the bike. It all started out perfectly, with a nice start on the swim, not too much battling round the first buoy, and emerging out of the water in the top 10 or so. Into transition and I was happy as I came out of T1 in the front group. It was there where my race would effectively be over, as a couple of moments lack of concentration sorting my shoes out let a gap open up a few wheels ahead of me, and by the time I had noticed, despite trying  to catch back on the damage was done. For the rest of the bike I pulled a few turns, kept myself near the front of the group just incase any mistakes were made, but we made it to transition without drama. Finally we hit the run, and I was feeling a bit off from where I had been in previous races, and finally crossed the line in 33^rd.  Not the race I wanted but a marked improvement on what I had last season. Thanks once again to Red Venom and  Anchura Partners who make these results possible, and hopefully I can improve on that as I head out to my next European cup this weekend in Tartu, Estonia. Hopefully I can build on last week to get a top result this weekend…