It was a sunny but breezy morning for this triathlon at Whitley Bay. I expected a large turnout from the club but in the end there were just the two us, many of the regulars being on holiday. Helen Egdell posted a very impressive time and whilst I was somewhat slower it was still a PB for me in this event. This is a great location for a tri, the sea swim is directly in front of the famous Spanish City dome, the bike is a very scenic run up and down the coast to Seaton Sluice (twice) and the run is basically the Whitley Bay park run with a fantastic stretch along the old promenade past the Rendezvoua Cafe.

It was generally agreed that the swim was tough, there were some decent sized waves coming in as we set off which made it quite hard to see the buoys ahead which were keeled over by the wind. The buoys were positioned hastily as we waited on the beach in the true laid back way of a TRI organised event which resulted in a swim closer to 1000m than the 750m intended.

After surviving the swim and negotiating the rocks and steps up to transition the bike and run were more pleasurable despite finding more steps on each lap of the run. I enjoyed the event and as the closest open water tri to Ponteland will look forward to next years.

Dave

A video of the start is here

https://www.facebook.com/spanishcitytriathlon/

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