There are very few days in the racing calendar when all the elements come together to make a spectacular race! Gorgeous sunshine, but not too hot, no gusty winds just a gentle breeze through the trees to keep the competitors cool and the beautiful Northumberland countryside as the backdrop. Yes, it’s the first open water event of the season at Northumberland Tri, Druridge Country Park. Ponteland boasted six entries; two in the sprint distance and four in the standard. Everyone had an excellent race and seemed to thoroughly enjoy the experience (although maybe not the extended 10km standard run route, which stretched them out to 11.4km!)

There were some super sprint finishes, a spot prize was awarded to Mark Kelly’s for his mad dash at the end when someone dared to try and overtake him on the finishing stretch! Yet again we’ve had some amazing results and the ladies are continuing their early season successes by winning multiple podium spots. A second place podium spot for Lyndsey Curry, who is having a great winning streak this season, which bodes well for her debut middle distance triathlon in a few short weeks (no pressure Lyndsey!) and a third place podium spot for Emma, who despite it being her first podium position wasn’t aware of her success (the relay teams skewed the results) and missed her moment of glory, but the trophy found its way home to her for an evening celebration! John McGargill was seconds away from a podium spot coming fourth in the super vets age group, but with his Edinburgh marathon legs only having had a week to recover and with only 17 hours of preparation (he signed up for the tri on Saturday afternoon) he shouldn’t be too hard on himself! Mark Kelly took three minutes off his time from last year despite a weekend of entertaining rugby players and attending rugby dinners! A special mention to both Steve and Andy as they embarked on their first open water standard triathlon with ease and completed in impressive times! Andy is competing in his first full distance Ironman in July and this was only his second triathlon and first open water event. He’s showing he’s got what it takes, you just need to do that another three times in a row Andy! 😉  Steve meanwhile has embarked on a triple challenge this summer; Coast to Coast in May, Northumberland Standard Tri in June and Steelman Middle distance tri in July. Wow, you’ll definitely deserve a break in August Steve!

Well done to all and hope to see you back in the water for the Woodhorn event on 17^th July!

This race is known on the circuit as one of the biggest ‘beginner’ half Ironman events around and I was more than a little overwhelmed at the number of competitors (c. 3800) and the size of the bike transition area (a premiership sized football pitch) …. even Sue Heppell would find it hard to get a T1 time of under 5 minutes, surely? The sea was a balmy 20 degrees, the sun a slightly frazzling 32 degrees but to make it feel a little more like home there was a good headwind on the bike route out!

Six competitors were released into the sea at five second intervals from the pens, using barrier flags and a beeping clock – it felt a little like being on Gladiators! The sea swim was lovely, no incidents to speak of apart from one man doing a 90 degree turn across the path of myself and two other swimmers, we briefly stopped and looked at one another as if asking where the heck he was off to before ploughing on! I felt great after the swim, I felt I could have done another lap, which means: a) I could have swum harder b) I paced myself perfectly for my first endurance event or c) I was ridiculously thinking about whether I could complete a full Ironman before I’d even completed my first half Ironman!! Swim done in 39m 38s.

The long run out of the water to get my blue bike bag (very interesting to experience the clean transition ethos of Ironman events) and into the modesty tent to get my wetsuit off – yes it’s quite a strict setup, despite the tent ends being open to view! Then off to find my bike amongst the thousands. Fortunately, I was on the first row and my bike was very conveniently placed directly opposite two huge orange generators on the beach, perfect landmarks to prevent me from running around transition screaming ‘Where’s my bike’ … I did that at the Brownlee Tri, it’s a tad embarrassing! K The bike route was amazing, I loved the hill, it was the perfect gradient to not wreck you but give you a long, winding challenge. Kid goats, yes really, lined the roads as did the spectators and they all cheered or bleated us on! The descent from the hill was in one word sublime! The hairpin bends were amazing and the road surface was perfect, not a single pothole! I maybe could have taken the descent a little faster, but I didn’t want to get wiped out by any of the fast (i.e. crazy) cyclists flying past me. I saw loads of people with punctures or broken bikes and I wanted to make sure I finished the event! Once down I tried to notch up the pace and managed to maintain a respectable 21-22 mph on the flat, hot plains. I cruised past many competitors on their TT bikes in the last 20km, which was rather enjoyable (smug smile!) and showed how effective my cadence and high gear training had been. The 56 miles flew by and I didn’t feel like I’d done that distance as I cruised back into Alcudia. I felt great having thoroughly enjoyed the bike section in 3h 40m 26s.

So, began the 3-lap half marathon! My legs felt great, no real sign of the dreaded jelly legs and I did my first mile in 9:30 pace. Thousands of spectators lined the run route and cheered us on. Three aid stations broke up the lap and my strategy was to run between each station and walk through whilst sipping drinks and refuelling. Everything was going to plan till I had an energy gel at the start of the second lap. The combination of this gel and isotonic drinks from the bike aid stations I think proved too much for my stomach and I was completely bent over double with crippling stomach cramps. I jogged and walked the next lap trying desperately to spur myself on with the thought of all the people who had sponsored me. There’s no way I wasn’t going to finish but I wanted to try and run the route rather than walk it. Desperately racking my brains for a solution, I ate a banana at the next aid station and fortunately this immediately cleared up the cramps (trapped wind – embarrassing!) My stomach was ok-ish now but my legs were starting to cease up from the walking. I managed to push on and complete the third and final lap! Coloured hairbands are placed on your arm at the end of each lap (red, yellow and blue) to ensure that you complete all three laps and I have never been so relieved to receive a blue hairband in my life. The final straight is reached, along the legendary Ironman carpet, up to the finishing arch and suddenly all pain is forgotten and you are sprinting like Chrissie Wellington (well in my head!) towards the finish line and your medal! Run (jog/trudge) done in 2h 32m 03s.

The atmosphere was amazing, the competitors and spectators supportive and friendly, whilst the organisation was truly second to none! I’d recommend the event to anyone wanting to do a half Ironman. I can’t wait to do my next one … after a little rest first! 😉