Coming in to the min part of the season, race results are flying in now and I thought I would update you quickly on what have I been up to.

So after the disaster of BUCS sprint, the first event of this block – BUCS Olympic I was hoping for a better outing…

Arriving at the marina we were greeted with the customary wind and rain that May brings, however nowhere near the conditions of BUCS sprint.
Going into the race I was feeling confident of a good performance, provided I could eliminate the mistakes that cost me before. And it seemed I was right as I got a great start on the swim, making the first buoy in second to avoid the melee behind, and there I stayed until we emerged from the water and into t2.

So far so good. T1 went smoothly and out on the bike I worked hard to the first turnaround to try to build on my work in the swim and when I saw the chasers it appeared to be working as I had opened up a reasonable gap, so I kept pushing hard as I knew it was only a matter of time until I was caught as there were some strong cyclists behind. The inevitable happened with 5k to go, but with my weakest discipline put of the way I was happy to come into t2 in 5th. Out onto the run and I attacked from the start, trying to close down the leaders and after the first lap I was running in 2nd, but then I paid the price for my fast start coming into the last lap as Alex passed me, but fortunately I managed to hold on for third. Overall I was pleased after what was a testing race to take 3rd and an added bonus to win the team gold with Alex schilling and Dan Woodcock by just 8 seconds…

A good  win for the Loughborough mens team at BUCS Olympic

 

After that was then onto my biggest race of the season so far – Blenheim super series. I was nervous, as this was my first Draft Legal race, but after an iffy start – messing up one of my race number transers – it was onto the swim and a rough swim was the order of the day. I was stuck in the middle of the group and found myself a few body lengths down after the buoy. So I emerged from the swim in 5^th, and entered transition. This went without a hitch and it was soon onto the bike, and luckily I managed to be near training partner James Teagle, so we formed a group and quickly caught the leaders. Coming into T2 I found myself too far back, and hence got caught up in traffic coming in, but onto the run and I immediately started working past people, and managed to finish in 10^th. I was happy for my first race at this level, but lots to work on once again.

After Blenheim, as all my exams were finally out the way, I had a nice week at home, to pick up my new TT bike and a good  week of catching up with people I hadn’t seen for a while (massive thanks to my new sponsors Anchura Partners for the bike), and I finished it off with the Dartford Bridge triathlon – where I was happy to take the win over what was a very tough course. A good indicator for Geneva in a few weeks’ time at the European Champs

The new beast... No excuses now

 

 

Back into training now, and building for the next races – Geneva, and Liverpool and London super series races, and to enjoy being a full time athlete for a few months.