Llanelli provided some warm weather racing by May’s standards, as I was racing on the south-west Welsh coast for round 2 of the British Triathlon Super Series.
Coming off the first series race at the Super Series PA’s with a 9th place Youth A result and 21st overall (Youth A+B), I was looking to improve at the next round here in Wales.
With an open water (OW) swim this time round, compared to a pool swim last round, I preferred the first leg this time.
I began with a run-in start into the dock’s 450m swim before going onto the bike’s 12km flat, 3 lap course and then finishing with the 2.5km run (out and back flat).
After having my Biology GCSE, the Friday morning before race day, it meant I didn’t arrive to my race accommodation, until getting on for 10 o’clock in the evening. I managed a short mile run along to the place I was staying to stretch my legs out after a long car journey, but was up and ready to go the next morning after a decent nights sleep.
RACE DAY
Arriving to the race in good time for a midday race, it seemed it would be a warm race, a repeat of last year.
After warming up and ready, I lined up on the sand for the run in to the swim before it all began.
I was racing in the Tier 1 (quicker) race again this year, with Tiers (1 and 2) based on finishing position at Super Series PA’s .
START
Expecting a gun as the previous races had started, we were started by a whistle, which was a little unexpecting but I still managed to have a solid run in and relatively strong start, getting away well with a very quick first minute or so as usual, until the first buoy where it was physical as normal, where we all came together.
Being met with an army of arms and legs is always the same at buoys, and I doubt it’ll change, but after losing some places for 5 seconds or so before beginning to be able to start swimming again, I made up some distance across to the next buoy and into the shore.
I had a much better swim than at the PA’s coming 20 seconds off the front of where the first group of people came through and 30s or so off the leader, ahead on their own by a few seconds.
Quickly onto the bike after a clean T1, I was just 10s off the front bike group of around 12 athletes. Working with a few others we bridged the gap within about a lap, to form a larger front pack.
After trying to stay towards the front whilst taking a few turns on the front and finding my self further back and working back up quickly at times during the bike, I came into T2 in a decent position for a top finish, if I could have a solid run.
Unfortunately I had some trouble in T2, losing time trying to put my bike on the rack by the saddle as I’ve always done. I haven’t had a problem with racking before or when I was setting up transition pre-race. When leaving I thought it was on properly but it had fallen off so received a 10s penalty, as did a number of other people who suffered the same in my race.
Coming out of transition I managed to chase down the leaders of my category across the out, on the out-and-back lap. With no penalty board I was unaware I had a penalty until later collecting my things in transition post-race. I held it to the end to go to be safer for the win and put in an effort with 100-200m left and crossed the line first but with the 10s penalty was put back to 3rd in the end.
Despite the penalty, I was happy to finish in the top 3 and will next time probably just have to rack by the hoods, but it didn’t cross my mind as I’ve never done it that way before.
I’m now tied for 5th in the series rankings based on a best 1 result out of 2. The next race in the series is Mallory Park Heats and Finals, at the end of June, with a mixed relay on the weekend too.
Thanks for reading and feel free to comment at the bottom of this page and all blog pages, as well as subscribe at the bottom to receive an email whenever there is a new blog or review out. 😉
My Triathlon Journey 
Leave a comment