Roade Sprint Race Report

Terry Wooton Roade Triathlon – 30-Sep-2012

The Roade Sprint is a funny little event. The venue and course suggests a small, local race but every year it seems to attract between 400-600 participants.

It is a pool-based triathlon based at a school. The pool is an unusual 23m long and you do 18 lengths for a total distance of 414m. T1 is in the school field just outside the pool, with a 150m run to the cycle mount/dismount line. The run is a 2 lap out-and-back through a suburb and back around the school field with the finishing chute at the end of lap 2 on the field.

Being only a small 4 lane pool, waves were set of in groups of 4 every 2 minutes seeded by your normal 400m time that you submitted upon entry. Slowest went first around 7am with the quickest swimmers not starting until around 1pm. Rach’s start time was around 10:15 and I went about an hour later. Normally that meant there were 4 people in each lane at any one time. If everyone was honest about the swim time they submitted, this would have worked well. Unfortunately there were those who knew the system and wanted to get their race done early so logged a time much slower than they were capable of. This caused loads of issues with dodgy overtaking, head-on collisions, etc. I remember commenting that I’d been in more civilised Ironman swims!

The later starts for us meant for once we could wake up at a reasonable hour. Roade is only 20 minutes drive from MK so we had a bit of breakfast and bimbled our way over. Registration was quick and easy and we racked and watched the earlier waves go until it was Rach’s turn to make her way to the pool. It was by far the most relaxed I’ve seen her before a race, so I knew she’d go well.

I watched her first few lengths then went into transition to yell encouragement to her there as she set off on the bike. I got myself sorted and waited for my turn.

The Race

Swim – 414m

Fortunately the lane I was assigned looked orderly with everyone around the same speed. When we were told to go I had the best part of a length clear in front of me. Unbelievably I got a clear swim the entire time and never had feet in front of me nor anyone tapping on mine. The water was extremely choppy though! I swam ok and felt relaxed throughout but probably could have pushed more as I was barely breathing heavily when I exited the pool. The swim split was recorded at a mat outside the pool so the split for 414m, getting out of the pool and out of the building wasn’t too bad for me.

Swim – 7:59

T1 

I thought I was pretty slick through T1 but the split suggests otherwise!

T1 – 1:41

Bike – 18km

Getting out of the suburb was about the only issue I had. Within a minute of starting the bike I had to bunny-hop onto the kerb to avoid a head-on with a Tesco delivery van on my side of the road going around parked cars. That got my HR up!!

Once out onto the open roads I started to put the foot down and have a good time. Being a slow swimmer and an ok cyclist meant I tend to do a lot of overtaking.  The bike course had a couple of drags up slight inclines but nothing that could really be classed as a hill. There was one left hander that was > 90 degrees that required a bit of concentration but other than that I found it all pretty straightforward and surprisingly unaffected by traffic. I managed an average speed of around 36kph which I was a little disappointed with given I’d maintained the same speed over 45km a couple of weeks prior, but I suppose when you predominantly train for endurance you become a little one-paced.

Bike (+ runs to & from mount/dismount line) 30:24

T2 

Uncomplicated and quick (for once!)

T2 - 00:48

Run – 4.3km

As usual in sprints, the start of the run felt hideous and I felt like I was running very slowly out of T2. Rach (who had already finished) reckoned I went off like a rocket which shows how different your perception is when you’re out there! The wind was really picking up and the run out to the turnaround point was into it. Saying that, the run out was very short and before I knew it I was on my way back to HQ for the first time.

I expected a shout from Rach at the turnaround point but she was getting herself a cup of tea – she reckoned she wasn’t expecting me back so quickly! I pinned my ears back and gave it everything on the 2^nd loop knowing that the course was short and I’d only have to endure the pain less than 10 minutes and that I had of chance of breaking an hour in a sprint. (I know, the bike & run were short but you grab these chances when they occur!)

Rach had her cuppa and was there to cheer me over the line. I was knackered but the nice thing about sprints is that you’re just about fully recovered within a minute!

Run – 17:42

Total – 58:36   28/478 overall finishers   4/67 in M45-49

Rach had a great race and finished 3^rd in her AG – result!!

We hung around a little while and watched the real quickies finish. These included a couple of our mates, Rob & Kat who each finished 2^nd overall male and female. Impressive!

All in all a good little event, albeit a bit hectic in places. 

TTFN!