My Triathlon Journey

Inter Regional Duathlon Championship (IRD’s)

The month started out racing in the IRD (Inter Regional Duathlon) in my last race as a Tristar 3. The race was at Velopark in London and was raced by three different regions: South East, London and East. The lower age groups got turned into running races due to the excessive amount of rain but luckily they managed to keep ours a duathlon.

I ran the first run at the front and got a small gap into transition after surging off a bit towards the end. The race was non-drafting and I had a solo bike leg the way round. The course had a couple hills plus some fast corners and was a good length. I came off the bike with a extended gap and managed to stay ahead on the final run and finish in 1st, with a minute lead. South East had high performances in my race and I’m glad I raced well. I liked the bike course a lot and could carry a good amount of speed round it. The duathlon was my last race of the season and my last race as a Tristar 3. This season went really well for me and I felt a lot of progress was made. I won the South East overall series and had some strong performances in other races but really enjoyed my last time doing the IRC’s British Triathlon Championships for Tristars in Sunderland, at the end of August. I came 2nd in my category and my team won the mixed relay plus we did really well in region overall points as well.

Sussex League xc Round2

The second weekend of the month, I ran in Round 2 of the Sussex Cross Country League. The race was at Ardingly Showground and for me was a 2 x 2km loop with a long flat, downhill and long gradual uphill. My start was fine and I was at the front. After a lap there was just three of us and I tried to attack just going onto the downhill. One person kind of managed to go with me and by the bottom of the hill I had a very small couple second gap. I opened it up slightly to the finish and won with a 10 second lead.

As I won both round 1 and 2, I qualified first for Southern Inter Counties xc in Oxford so get to race for Sussex against counties in the South of England.

Parkrun

Last weekend I did Hastings Parkrun and ran 16.37 for 5km. It was about 30 seconds of a P.B but good considering the windy conditions. I turned halfway at 7.56 so was on track for a 15.52 but the headwind was quite strong and I was on my own at the front. This year I’ve made good progress as I started the year running 16.55 there and finished with a P.B of 16.05 (twice). The last time I ran 16.05 there, I turned halfway at 7.40-7.45. It’s hard to find a day when the wind is still as it’s an out and back along the promenade but the course is fairly flat and fast.

Going into December…

On the first Saturday of the month I’ll be doing the third round of Sussex League then the weekend after I’ll be running in the Southern Inter Counties in Oxford. I’m looking forward to both and hopefully the first bit of semi-national racing this season.