Annette McInnes
The first thing that I’ve got to say is that I was scared, really scared, on the days leading up to Sunday. I was expecting the Ironman to be the most painful experience of my life and require all my reserves of mental toughness to get me to the finish line. The day unfolded slightly differently …
We arrived and registered on Friday and spent Saturday morning preparing our transition bags and double/triple checking that they contained everything that might be needed. I packed little emergency bags in both my bike and run bag – these contained a few extra clothes just in-case the weather stayed wet and cold. I had also packed a chocolate Freddo Frog in my bento box as an emergency ‘pick-me-up’ if things got really bad during the race.
We racked our bikes on Saturday afternoon after the athlete briefing. I put plastic bags over the saddle/seatpost and my handlebars – I was really reluctant to leave my beautiful new bike out in the rain overnight. If I had a sleeping bag with me I probably would have used it to keep it warm and dry.
We arrived at transition just after 5am and put air in tyres, bento boxes and saddle bags onto bikes. I was a ‘bit’ stressed getting my wetsuit on, and I managed to put a 3inch tear in the back of the leg, but once it was on I calmed down a bit. I stole a hug from Marianne and Steve who were taking the white bags from us as we left the transition area. We had a procession down to the lake with people cheering from the sidelines – the atmosphere was so amazing that I was really looking forward to getting into the water and swimming. Anyone who has swum with me at Heron lake will know how unusual this is as I am ‘not so keen’ on lake swimming.
The 2.4mile Swim:
We all got into the lake and swum to the start where we were kept waiting for 10-15minutes. It was fairly cold and I had to resort to whatever means possible to stay warm, errrheem, no more details required there!
I heard a familiar voice just before the start, looked to the right and saw Les, Steve and David. It was great to see them and all start off together when they sounded the klaxon.
The swim was really congested and cold, but despite that, I enjoyed it more than any other open-water swim I’ve ever done. I was swum over, pulled backwards, bashed and my goggles knocked around – but I was calm and didn’t feel the need to ‘Lake Rage’ anyone (this is a miracle!). I finished the swim in 1hr15mins which was OK for me especially as I have a tendency to assume that just floating will get me around the swim without the need to use my arms or legs (yep – I’m a very lazy swimmer).
I was out of the water in 786 th position. I then achieved an incredible 1129 th in T2, taking 14:08 to get myself organised – that is almost last! I don’t know where the time went, but I remember helping at least two other girls to get dressed (before I remembered that I was actually in the race this year and wasn’t a volunteer) and also having trouble pulling my cycling shorts up over wet legs. There were very few bikes left in transition by the time I picked mine up!
The 112mile Bike:
Basically, the bike was good, I did it in 6:39:18, averaging 16.83mph in windy conditions. The first two laps I felt strong, and despite keeping the effort down, passed loads of people. I was eating every 20mins and took two comfort breaks at the feed-station by the BP garage. The volunteers offered a food delivery service at that particular porta-loo – I would order what I wanted (banana + Gatorade) and when I came out of the loo my food would be sitting beside my bike. Brilliant!
By the third lap I was starting to tire but still feeling fine, I was still talking to myself and singing Vince the Lovable Stoner (by The Fratellis) when I passed the 100mile sign. The weather took a turn for the worse on my third lap, light rain and very windy. I kept expecting to experience rough/emotional patches (as I did on the long training rides) but they never really developed, so I had a comfortable ride with a sore behind being my only complaint.
T2 was wicked – DanL, Steve and Marianne were all there which gave me a real lift. My bike and helmet were spirited away and I headed into the transition tent to get changed. Once again I managed to faff around for far too long and took 8:54 to change into running gear and chat to a couple of people. I saw Michelle on the way out of T2 so got a good lift out of that too.
The 26.2mile Run:
I left T2 clutching a High5 gel, my chocolate Freddo Frog and a large chunk of homemade flapjack.
The flapjack was eaten over the next 4 miles, the gel stayed in my hand until mile 21 and Freddo made it all the way to the finish line in my jacket pocket.
The two laps of the deer park were quite enjoyable. The first lap I saw DK and Steve running back from the turn around. I did wonder to myself how I was going to run a marathon when the longest run I’d previously done was 16mile … however, I remembered Michelle telling me to just put one foot in front of the other. The second lap I was starting to feel really good. I bumped into David and we ran together for ¼ of a mile, it was really nice to have a chat and that gave me a little boost.
Leaving the grounds and running out to the A30 I was feeling good and taking a drink at every aid station and a banana at every second station. I caught up with Dan on the A30 as he was starting his 2 nd Lap. We ran together for my first lap of the A30 which made the time appear to go much quicker. At the end of my first lap I said goodbye to Dan (who was heading back to the finish) and continued for another 7mile lap of the A30. This one was a bit harder mentally and the wind had started to create a bit more of a chill. I would say that this 7miles was the hardest of the race for me because I felt I was running so slowly that I would never get there… but I never felt really terrible and didn’t need to walk. Getting to the end of the A30 was brilliant as it was just over 2miles to the finish.
During the last mile to go a couple of people shouted out that I had done it, I had nearly finished … this made me cry. I couldn’t stop crying for the whole of the last mile, it was emotionally overwhelming to be finishing this race. I saw DK and his family at the turn onto New Road and tried my best to pretend I wasn’t crying as we did high-fives. DanL was directly behind them though and I started bawling my eyes out when I saw him. I stopped crying just in time for the finish. In the finishing chute I slowed down to let the competitor in front of me finish (I wanted a finishing photo with just me in it) then ran over the line with the clock showing 12:59:53.
Freddo the Frog travelled 112 miles on the bike and got carried for an entire marathon … only to get eaten as soon as I crossed the finish line. He did well.
In summary, it was a very hard day, but nothing like the pain-fest I was anticipating. I have to thank Michelle for that as she helped me to prepare for the race and I often found myself drawing on her words of wisdom during the day.
Also thanks to Steve & Marianne, DannyBoy, Suzanne, Wendy, Mandy & Graham and the mystery voice (who I now know was Daryl) for the encouragement and cheers … having support really makes a difference!
Mark Saunders
Basically, it was fantastic! I really enjoyed the whole thing. Everything went right for me.
I felt like I really raced the last half of the last lap on the run. For the whole of the bike I was smiling and thanking volunteers and stuff. The same with the first part of the run. The last 50 minutes my face was grimacing with … determination. It’s in those last 50 minutes that I nearly caught Dan up. I am probably the only person on the course who wished that there was an extra 500 metres to the finish line. To go that far and to lose by 28 seconds!!!!
I was particularly impressed with the support there. Marianne and Steve seemed to be everywhere that I was. They walked in to the castle the same time as I did (both days), they guarded my bike, they stopped me slipping on the mud on the way into T1. Steve and Army Dan collected my bike for me at T2, cheered me at the end of the 1st lap of the run. I wasn’t impressed with the way that on the way to the swim start, Steve just held a thin tape barrier while Marianne struggled with dozens of white bags. I think I also saw Margaret at the pub on the bike course (sorry, I think I went by you before working out if it was definitely you). I also saw Steve and Marianne’s friends on the middle aid-station on the A30 but can’t remember their names either.
All-in-all I had a fantastic time, even if I now have problems standing up after I have been sat down for five minutes.
Mark Sherwood
The swim was delayed by 20 minutes, due to the main competitor car park (field) being too muddy to use due to the recent rain this was causing competitors having problems getting to the start, however I was there by 4:15am.
From the transition area they had a precession of the competitors to the lake entry point. This was good as you got encouragement from the spectators.
From the swim I had two swimming caps on and a swimming mask. I positioned myself for the start in the middle of the lake which was next to the lap divider buoys but behind the pack. I thought I would not get involved with the tussle of a mass swim start with 1,600 people. During the swim I got hit in the back of my head, in my swimming mask and my body this was while swimming the just the first lap of two. During the last lap of the swim my forehead was starting to get quite cold despite having two swimming caps on and being told
before the race the lake temperature being 17C (62F). As I was only a few hundred meters from completing the swim I decided to continue on see how I felt when out of the water. Then about half way down the last leg I got cramp in my right calf, which I stopped briefly before continuing on with the swim which did go a few minutes later.
Based on my longest swim of only 2000m I estimated a fast time of 1:45 for the 3800m (2.4 miles), so when I did it in 1:29 I was well pleased with that.
T1 took 13 minutes but this includes time from leaving the lake and the run to transition and out on the bike. During transition I also put on a few pieces of cold weather cycling gear including my additional layer on my head which had already warmed up from the swim.
As at the race brief the day before they warned about hypothermia. The Cycle was 3 laps for 112 miles (180km), which on the way out section had 1 hill and the rest was undulating. They way back was hilly, there was 3 long hills plus a long 14% descent with the rest being undulating. The only flat bit was the 1 mile at the start/finish of the cycle section. A number people including the professional triathletes dropped out due to the conditions. On the cycle route you could still see the Homer Simpson which was next to the Cerne Giant on the hill side, it had faded turned brown as it was a biodegradable paint.
There was a cold north westerly wind which made it more difficult. My cycle computer had the temperature (excluding windchill) between 15-18c on the route. There was some light rain for about an hour on the start of the last lap of the cycle. My longest cycle ride before this was 76 miles about a month ago, although I had done a few triathlons including Half Ironman Distance. I did stop a few times to stretch my legs so they were not too sore after over 7 hours of cycling. I also stopped at most aid stations to get the required
nutrition and fluids, as I decided to only take sodium replacement tablets with me on the cycle as there was plenty of aid stations on the route. My GPS watch just had enough power for the cycle lap which was setting to get a low battery warning in the last few miles. This was good for pacing myself over the long distance as used the pedal cadence and my heart rate functionality on it.
My cycle time was 7:44 which was an average of over 14mph (23 kmph) which I was pleased with considering the course and weather conditions. So I had done my two difficult parts of the triathlon and just had to run a marathon, the easy part so I thought as I have already run 6 marathons.
My T2 time was about 8 minutes, this including the time to run to the transition area after the cycle still wearing cycling shoes and after 112 miles of cycling. Here I put on two other short sleeve running tops, as the weather was still cloudy but at the end of the cycling it looked like it would improve. The buff scarf (cycling scarf) that I had underneath my helmet I decided to keep round my neck for the run in case it got chilly.
On the run for the two laps around the castle (9 miles/14km) I think I was doing just over 9mm pace and I was overtaking lots of people. I got warm during this section and out the buff scarf in my tri suit pocket and not to family members. After running through the town where there was a lot of support in the high street, you do two laps of a 3 mile section of a HILLY dual carriageway (the A30 to Yeovil). This was
into a cool headwind. By time I was half way done the first leg of first lap my leg muscles had gone and I was only running down the hills and walking up the hills. At this point virtually everybody was walking, I decided to stop recording my mile split times on my stopwatch. By the time I completed the first lap of this section my arms where cold, luckily I packed a bag for the run special needs area which was at the end of the lap. However I packed a pair of running
gloves and a running waist jacket, nothing with long sleeves. By the time I was getting near the end of the last lap of this section my arms where really cold it was getting dark and they had ran out of the foil space blankets. There was only a bin liner which would have kept by body warm which was warm and not my arms. I was very seriously considering stopping at this point to do to fatigue and my arms feeling cold but then I remembered a song from the last week that was on my Ironman playlist, “You’ll Never Walk Alone”. I looked at my watch I had built up enough time earlier on the run to be able to walk complete all the way back. So as long as I could stay warm and my muscles not complete give out I will make.
Using what I had available I decided to put my arms inside the sleeveless jacket and hold it closed with my gloved hands. This made my arms warm again. As my core body was warm, they were out of the wind and the jacket was against my body so there was not much heat loss compared to a space blanket would have been in the wind. I was
still able to run down the hills like this with my buff scarf around my face. This must have looked wired to people going the other way but I did not care as I was warm and I was back on the way to the finish.
Going up and down a footbridge was a bit interesting due to my leg muscles fatigued at this point. I walked through the park and the town centre getting encouragement all the way. When I got to the last few hundred metres I took off the jacket, this was to look better for the photographs at the end. The atmosphere at the end was great despite it
being late, dark and chilly. With that last step I became an Ironman, the next fews steps was to get my medal.
I completed the marathon run in 5:43, which is nearly 2 hours away from my marathon pb that is how bad the run affected me.
My overall time was 15:19:36.
I really enjoyed the day there was plenty of support around the course. The weather conditions and hills were not that ideal but it was the same for everybody so you all had to deal with it whatever way you had to make it to the finish.
Dave Edwards
It’s a strange addiction this Ironman thing
For me the weekend was mainly horrible. At the time I picked for bike assembly & racking, it was lashing down. The castle car parks could not be used, and it was cold.
On the day itself, mercifully the rain had mainly stopped, but it was the windiest race day I have experienced down there. The lake was much colder than Heron Lake, and after a totally inexplicable delay while we were waiting in deep water, I was frozen. An amazing and good thing did happen though. Having entered the water entirely separately, Les found himself Next to me, I saw Steve right behind Les and then Annette HEARD us talking and came over! What were the chances of that in a field of 1200 or so? (And last year Marianne and I found ourselves next to each other)
As always for those not at the sharp end, the swim in such a narrow lake was brutal. I came out cold. Running to T1, someone stopped in front of me and when I side stepped I went a purler on the brown slime that once was grass, resulting in painful elbow and shoulder right through the day. This messed up my T1 which is the only thing I am good at, and I was only ranked 68. I must have gone wrong in my preparation/taper, because having felt really strong on the bike for the preceding weeks I felt dead from the start. I wore more clothes than anyone else, but seem to be the only one who stayed freezing cold – which continued right through the day. If T1 was bad, T2 was worse. I was grounded and wrapped in a blanket until deemed to have warmed up. But I needed it and they were very nice.
Despite specific training to adapt to a new hydration fluid and favourite bars, I found myself unable to continue ingesting, as usual. Made worse on the run by the fact that I left my bottle in the transition bag, so had to revert to water. In the end running made me very nauseous, but I just couldn’t throw up however hard I tried. So from mile12 ‘ish to 24 I walked (again!) but ran the last two feeling fine and just starting to warm up!
The time was a disappointment, but a step up on baling out, which is what I did last year. I was fifth (last) in my category
Will I be there (or wherever it is held) next year? You bet!
Congratulations to the other club members, all of whom finished. I look forward to all that reading.
My results……….
1128 finished. There must have been a lot of DNF’s, but they are not listed yet.
Steve Hobden
My fuelling strategy was to eat and drink as much as possible, so no different to any other day really. Drank at virtually every single drink stop for both the bike and the run, also ate enough bananas to make a monkey want to change his diet. Timings approx, but think I’ve covered the majority of things as they happened.
Oh! and for the record, I weighed myself on the Friday beforehand, and came in at a ghastly 16st 7lb. So if I can do it weighing this much…….. ……..
23:00 – Finally get to sleep
1:00 Quick pee
2:00 Quick pee
3:00 Quick pee
4:00 Wake up, quick pee
5:00 In portaloo in transition area – Full movements in a less than fresh cubicle!
6:00 In wetsuit
6:01 Quick pee, Annette rolls her eyes and Dan announces I’m an animal when I point out how far it’s moving down the wetsuit!!
6:05 Walk to water’s edge
6:06 Quick pee
6:07 In water
6:10 Quick pee
6:15 Race Starts
6:50 Slow down while on first lap, quick pee
7:02 Slow down while on second lap, quick pee
7:35 Exit water
7:40 On bike
9:50 End of lap 1
9:51 Start winding it up on lap 2, overtaking shed loads of people, even up hills, and not working too hard!!
11:20 Bryan Rhodes smokes past on long drag other side of Cerne Abbas. Still at least 15 miles to go on this lap and don’t see another elite athlete. He must have a gigantic lead on the bike!
12:00 End of lap 2
12:45 Quick pee
13:00 Hills now taking their toll, having to dig hard
14:05 End of lap 3, head back to the castle
14:10 Steve A & Army Dan on hand to take my bike.
14:10:05 Try portaloo 1, no toilet paper, D’OH
14:10:10 Try portaloo 2, no toilet paper, D’OH
14:10:15 Try portaloo 3, no toilet paper, D’OH
14:10:20 Try portaloo 4, no toilet paper, D’OH
14:15 Into T2 tent, then on run
14:28 Quick pee
14:41 Quick pee
15:07 Quick pee
15:20 Quick pee
15:33 Quick pee
15:46 Quick pee
15:49 Quick pee
16:02 Quick pee
16:15 Quick pee
16:52 Use portaloo by bridge near start of A30 leg which does have toilet paper. Manage full sit down performance!
17:05 Quick Pee
17:18 Quick Pee
17:31 Quick Pee
17:44 Quick Pee
17:57 Quick Pee
18:10 Quick Pee
18:23 Quick Pee
18:36 Quick Pee
18:49 Quick Pee
17:01 Quick Pee
17:14 Quick Pee, …but only 3 miles left now
19:52 Completion. I’m an Ironman at last
20:10 Spend 45 minutes in First Aid tent, struggling for warmth, as had nothing all day long except a tri-suit, but most definitely not dehydrated!! !!!!!
Perhaps not your average report!
Steve
Daryl Barker
Wow wow wow.
I was in awe!
I stayed over with my in-laws on Saturday night, and arrived in Car Park 1 mud at about 5:50 am. Perfect timing. I quickly changed a light bulb that had blown at the front of the car so that I didn’t have to mess about when it was dark when I left – if it was dark. I was expecting to have to get towed out at the end of the day, the mud was so thick!!
Instantly I realised that I hadn’t either worn enough clothes for a day of spectating, or even packed any. So there I was in my T shirt and shorts with a packed raincoat. Great.
I positioned myself on the hill behind the swim exit, camera in hand. The swim had a very exciting finish, and as soon as the New Zealander was out (sorry Annette, not you this time) I jostled for position by the bike exit.
As hard as I looked, I did not see all of you come out, and not sure if you saw me. However, I did yell at some of you if I saw you. I wanted to take lots of pictures, but sometimes it was just good to yell instead – so I missed the photo opportunities.
When I saw you at that point I knew it had been worth the effort to come and cheer. The adrenaline was pumping for me – goodness knows what it was doing for you participants!
When most of you (I think) had cleared the bike exit, I made my way to catch up with relatives who were supporting Lee from the Sigma Sport shop. We wandered up the hill to see the laps, and placed ourselves in a good position at the top of the loop, and where also the last lap would descend back to the castle. We saw one cyclist take a nasty tumble on the wet corner – to a crowd that went “OOOoooo” and then roared like mad when he got back on and continued. The atmosphere was purely carnival for the first lap – we even had competitors taking pictures of US with disposable cameras!
As the second lap came we could see that the cyclists were a little more serious as tiredness started to creep in – which simply made the crowd roar louder! It was at this point that I began really feeling the cold, so we stopped watching our heroes and headed in to town for a warm up in the café. Bliss for an hour.
Out again into the biting wind, and this time I positioned myself about 100 metres outside the entrance drive of the castle, just prior to T2. I found it virtually impossible to identify our folks b4 taking a picture, so gave up and just shouted and clapped. And clapped. And clapped. And clapped. I saw David Edwards come in, so moved down into the grounds to watch the first bit of the run and (I think) the first lady to come home. (Alternatively, it may have just been an attractive lady followed by a race referee and a camera crew!).
I bumped in to Sarah, who had come down to support Steve.
Eventually I made my way to the town drinks station, and stayed there for the rest of my time at the race. Just outside a lingerie shop for a bit of window shopping too! (was this Riccione all over again??) It was there that I saw most of you competitors, most looking strong and hopefully you heard me shout at you. If I missed you – sorry! Particular apologies to Dan as I only recognised you at the last minute before shouting encouragement, so I’m not sure if you heard.
It got colder and colder. I was now chilled to the core with lack of real movement, and it got worse as the sun went down. I kept thinking “you poor sods!” If it was a bit uncomfortable for me, what on earth were you going through? Eventually, I had to leave as the children were back at my in-laws and needed to be taken home. This was with regret as I wanted to see you all come back in, but was regretfully unable. I made my way back to the car, dropped the camera in the boot and headed off to the loo before the journey back to Weston. On my way back in to the castle grounds, I saw sight of Les so gave him a yell of encouragement. He looked great with only a small way to go.
After a bit of fun getting out of the car park, I drove back to collect the kiddies and wifey, on the way driving along the A30 I was amazed at the number of athletes in the cold and dark. I prayed that all those I hadn’t seen come in were OK.
Guys, well done to you all. It was a memorable day for me as a spectator. I even kept having to pinch myself when silly thoughts like “maybe one year” jumped into my head. I put it down to the cold making me a bit delirious.
Annette McInnes
The first thing that I’ve got to say is that I was scared, really scared, on the days leading up to Sunday. I was expecting the Ironman to be the most painful experience of my life and require all my reserves of mental toughness to get me to the finish line. The day unfolded slightly differently …
We arrived and registered on Friday and spent Saturday morning preparing our transition bags and double/triple checking that they contained everything that might be needed. I packed little emergency bags in both my bike and run bag – these contained a few extra clothes just in-case the weather stayed wet and cold. I had also packed a chocolate Freddo Frog in my bento box as an emergency ‘pick-me-up’ if things got really bad during the race.
We racked our bikes on Saturday afternoon after the athlete briefing. I put plastic bags over the saddle/seatpost and my handlebars – I was really reluctant to leave my beautiful new bike out in the rain overnight. If I had a sleeping bag with me I probably would have used it to keep it warm and dry.
We arrived at transition just after 5am and put air in tyres, bento boxes and saddle bags onto bikes. I was a ‘bit’ stressed getting my wetsuit on, and I managed to put a 3inch tear in the back of the leg, but once it was on I calmed down a bit. I stole a hug from Marianne and Steve who were taking the white bags from us as we left the transition area. We had a procession down to the lake with people cheering from the sidelines – the atmosphere was so amazing that I was really looking forward to getting into the water and swimming. Anyone who has swum with me at Heron lake will know how unusual this is as I am ‘not so keen’ on lake swimming.
The 2.4mile Swim:
We all got into the lake and swum to the start where we were kept waiting for 10-15minutes. It was fairly cold and I had to resort to whatever means possible to stay warm, errrheem, no more details required there!
I heard a familiar voice just before the start, looked to the right and saw Les, Steve and David. It was great to see them and all start off together when they sounded the klaxon.
The swim was really congested and cold, but despite that, I enjoyed it more than any other open-water swim I’ve ever done. I was swum over, pulled backwards, bashed and my goggles knocked around – but I was calm and didn’t feel the need to ‘Lake Rage’ anyone (this is a miracle!). I finished the swim in 1hr15mins which was OK for me especially as I have a tendency to assume that just floating will get me around the swim without the need to use my arms or legs (yep – I’m a very lazy swimmer).
I was out of the water in 786 th position. I then achieved an incredible 1129 th in T2, taking 14:08 to get myself organised – that is almost last! I don’t know where the time went, but I remember helping at least two other girls to get dressed (before I remembered that I was actually in the race this year and wasn’t a volunteer) and also having trouble pulling my cycling shorts up over wet legs. There were very few bikes left in transition by the time I picked mine up!
The 112mile Bike:
Basically, the bike was good, I did it in 6:39:18, averaging 16.83mph in windy conditions. The first two laps I felt strong, and despite keeping the effort down, passed loads of people. I was eating every 20mins and took two comfort breaks at the feed-station by the BP garage. The volunteers offered a food delivery service at that particular porta-loo – I would order what I wanted (banana + Gatorade) and when I came out of the loo my food would be sitting beside my bike. Brilliant!
By the third lap I was starting to tire but still feeling fine, I was still talking to myself and singing Vince the Lovable Stoner (by The Fratellis) when I passed the 100mile sign. The weather took a turn for the worse on my third lap, light rain and very windy. I kept expecting to experience rough/emotional patches (as I did on the long training rides) but they never really developed, so I had a comfortable ride with a sore behind being my only complaint.
T2 was wicked – DanL, Steve and Marianne were all there which gave me a real lift. My bike and helmet were spirited away and I headed into the transition tent to get changed. Once again I managed to faff around for far too long and took 8:54 to change into running gear and chat to a couple of people. I saw Michelle on the way out of T2 so got a good lift out of that too.
The 26.2mile Run:
I left T2 clutching a High5 gel, my chocolate Freddo Frog and a large chunk of homemade flapjack.
The flapjack was eaten over the next 4 miles, the gel stayed in my hand until mile 21 and Freddo made it all the way to the finish line in my jacket pocket.
The two laps of the deer park were quite enjoyable. The first lap I saw DK and Steve running back from the turn around. I did wonder to myself how I was going to run a marathon when the longest run I’d previously done was 16mile … however, I remembered Michelle telling me to just put one foot in front of the other. The second lap I was starting to feel really good. I bumped into David and we ran together for ¼ of a mile, it was really nice to have a chat and that gave me a little boost.
Leaving the grounds and running out to the A30 I was feeling good and taking a drink at every aid station and a banana at every second station. I caught up with Dan on the A30 as he was starting his 2 nd Lap. We ran together for my first lap of the A30 which made the time appear to go much quicker. At the end of my first lap I said goodbye to Dan (who was heading back to the finish) and continued for another 7mile lap of the A30. This one was a bit harder mentally and the wind had started to create a bit more of a chill. I would say that this 7miles was the hardest of the race for me because I felt I was running so slowly that I would never get there… but I never felt really terrible and didn’t need to walk. Getting to the end of the A30 was brilliant as it was just over 2miles to the finish.
During the last mile to go a couple of people shouted out that I had done it, I had nearly finished … this made me cry. I couldn’t stop crying for the whole of the last mile, it was emotionally overwhelming to be finishing this race. I saw DK and his family at the turn onto New Road and tried my best to pretend I wasn’t crying as we did high-fives. DanL was directly behind them though and I started bawling my eyes out when I saw him. I stopped crying just in time for the finish. In the finishing chute I slowed down to let the competitor in front of me finish (I wanted a finishing photo with just me in it) then ran over the line with the clock showing 12:59:53.
Freddo the Frog travelled 112 miles on the bike and got carried for an entire marathon … only to get eaten as soon as I crossed the finish line. He did well.
In summary, it was a very hard day, but nothing like the pain-fest I was anticipating. I have to thank Michelle for that as she helped me to prepare for the race and I often found myself drawing on her words of wisdom during the day.
Also thanks to Steve & Marianne, DannyBoy, Suzanne, Wendy, Mandy & Graham and the mystery voice (who I now know was Daryl) for the encouragement and cheers … having support really makes a difference!
Mark Saunders
Basically, it was fantastic! I really enjoyed the whole thing. Everything went right for me.
I felt like I really raced the last half of the last lap on the run. For the whole of the bike I was smiling and thanking volunteers and stuff. The same with the first part of the run. The last 50 minutes my face was grimacing with … determination. It’s in those last 50 minutes that I nearly caught Dan up. I am probably the only person on the course who wished that there was an extra 500 metres to the finish line. To go that far and to lose by 28 seconds!!!!
I was particularly impressed with the support there. Marianne and Steve seemed to be everywhere that I was. They walked in to the castle the same time as I did (both days), they guarded my bike, they stopped me slipping on the mud on the way into T1. Steve and Army Dan collected my bike for me at T2, cheered me at the end of the 1st lap of the run. I wasn’t impressed with the way that on the way to the swim start, Steve just held a thin tape barrier while Marianne struggled with dozens of white bags. I think I also saw Margaret at the pub on the bike course (sorry, I think I went by you before working out if it was definitely you). I also saw Steve and Marianne’s friends on the middle aid-station on the A30 but can’t remember their names either.
All-in-all I had a fantastic time, even if I now have problems standing up after I have been sat down for five minutes.
Mark Sherwood
The swim was delayed by 20 minutes, due to the main competitor car park (field) being too muddy to use due to the recent rain this was causing competitors having problems getting to the start, however I was there by 4:15am.
From the transition area they had a precession of the competitors to the lake entry point. This was good as you got encouragement from the spectators.
From the swim I had two swimming caps on and a swimming mask. I positioned myself for the start in the middle of the lake which was next to the lap divider buoys but behind the pack. I thought I would not get involved with the tussle of a mass swim start with 1,600 people. During the swim I got hit in the back of my head, in my swimming mask and my body this was while swimming the just the first lap of two. During the last lap of the swim my forehead was starting to get quite cold despite having two swimming caps on and being toldbefore the race the lake temperature being 17C (62F). As I was only a few hundred meters from completing the swim I decided to continue on see how I felt when out of the water. Then about half way down the last leg I got cramp in my right calf, which I stopped briefly before continuing on with the swim which did go a few minutes later.Based on my longest swim of only 2000m I estimated a fast time of 1:45 for the 3800m (2.4 miles), so when I did it in 1:29 I was well pleased with that.
T1 took 13 minutes but this includes time from leaving the lake and the run to transition and out on the bike. During transition I also put on a few pieces of cold weather cycling gear including my additional layer on my head which had already warmed up from the swim.As at the race brief the day before they warned about hypothermia. The Cycle was 3 laps for 112 miles (180km), which on the way out section had 1 hill and the rest was undulating. They way back was hilly, there was 3 long hills plus a long 14% descent with the rest being undulating. The only flat bit was the 1 mile at the start/finish of the cycle section. A number people including the professional triathletes dropped out due to the conditions. On the cycle route you could still see the Homer Simpson which was next to the Cerne Giant on the hill side, it had faded turned brown as it was a biodegradable paint.
There was a cold north westerly wind which made it more difficult. My cycle computer had the temperature (excluding windchill) between 15-18c on the route. There was some light rain for about an hour on the start of the last lap of the cycle. My longest cycle ride before this was 76 miles about a month ago, although I had done a few triathlons including Half Ironman Distance. I did stop a few times to stretch my legs so they were not too sore after over 7 hours of cycling. I also stopped at most aid stations to get the requirednutrition and fluids, as I decided to only take sodium replacement tablets with me on the cycle as there was plenty of aid stations on the route. My GPS watch just had enough power for the cycle lap which was setting to get a low battery warning in the last few miles. This was good for pacing myself over the long distance as used the pedal cadence and my heart rate functionality on it.
My cycle time was 7:44 which was an average of over 14mph (23 kmph) which I was pleased with considering the course and weather conditions. So I had done my two difficult parts of the triathlon and just had to run a marathon, the easy part so I thought as I have already run 6 marathons.
My T2 time was about 8 minutes, this including the time to run to the transition area after the cycle still wearing cycling shoes and after 112 miles of cycling. Here I put on two other short sleeve running tops, as the weather was still cloudy but at the end of the cycling it looked like it would improve. The buff scarf (cycling scarf) that I had underneath my helmet I decided to keep round my neck for the run in case it got chilly.
On the run for the two laps around the castle (9 miles/14km) I think I was doing just over 9mm pace and I was overtaking lots of people. I got warm during this section and out the buff scarf in my tri suit pocket and not to family members. After running through the town where there was a lot of support in the high street, you do two laps of a 3 mile section of a HILLY dual carriageway (the A30 to Yeovil). This wasinto a cool headwind. By time I was half way done the first leg of first lap my leg muscles had gone and I was only running down the hills and walking up the hills. At this point virtually everybody was walking, I decided to stop recording my mile split times on my stopwatch. By the time I completed the first lap of this section my arms where cold, luckily I packed a bag for the run special needs area which was at the end of the lap. However I packed a pair of runninggloves and a running waist jacket, nothing with long sleeves. By the time I was getting near the end of the last lap of this section my arms where really cold it was getting dark and they had ran out of the foil space blankets. There was only a bin liner which would have kept by body warm which was warm and not my arms. I was very seriously considering stopping at this point to do to fatigue and my arms feeling cold but then I remembered a song from the last week that was on my Ironman playlist, “You’ll Never Walk Alone”. I looked at my watch I had built up enough time earlier on the run to be able to walk complete all the way back. So as long as I could stay warm and my muscles not complete give out I will make.
Using what I had available I decided to put my arms inside the sleeveless jacket and hold it closed with my gloved hands. This made my arms warm again. As my core body was warm, they were out of the wind and the jacket was against my body so there was not much heat loss compared to a space blanket would have been in the wind. I wasstill able to run down the hills like this with my buff scarf around my face. This must have looked wired to people going the other way but I did not care as I was warm and I was back on the way to the finish.Going up and down a footbridge was a bit interesting due to my leg muscles fatigued at this point. I walked through the park and the town centre getting encouragement all the way. When I got to the last few hundred metres I took off the jacket, this was to look better for the photographs at the end. The atmosphere at the end was great despite itbeing late, dark and chilly. With that last step I became an Ironman, the next fews steps was to get my medal.
I completed the marathon run in 5:43, which is nearly 2 hours away from my marathon pb that is how bad the run affected me.
My overall time was 15:19:36.
I really enjoyed the day there was plenty of support around the course. The weather conditions and hills were not that ideal but it was the same for everybody so you all had to deal with it whatever way you had to make it to the finish.
Dave Edwards
It’s a strange addiction this Ironman thing
For me the weekend was mainly horrible. At the time I picked for bike assembly & racking, it was lashing down. The castle car parks could not be used, and it was cold.
On the day itself, mercifully the rain had mainly stopped, but it was the windiest race day I have experienced down there. The lake was much colder than Heron Lake, and after a totally inexplicable delay while we were waiting in deep water, I was frozen. An amazing and good thing did happen though. Having entered the water entirely separately, Les found himself Next to me, I saw Steve right behind Les and then Annette HEARD us talking and came over! What were the chances of that in a field of 1200 or so? (And last year Marianne and I found ourselves next to each other)
As always for those not at the sharp end, the swim in such a narrow lake was brutal. I came out cold. Running to T1, someone stopped in front of me and when I side stepped I went a purler on the brown slime that once was grass, resulting in painful elbow and shoulder right through the day. This messed up my T1 which is the only thing I am good at, and I was only ranked 68. I must have gone wrong in my preparation/taper, because having felt really strong on the bike for the preceding weeks I felt dead from the start. I wore more clothes than anyone else, but seem to be the only one who stayed freezing cold – which continued right through the day. If T1 was bad, T2 was worse. I was grounded and wrapped in a blanket until deemed to have warmed up. But I needed it and they were very nice.
Despite specific training to adapt to a new hydration fluid and favourite bars, I found myself unable to continue ingesting, as usual. Made worse on the run by the fact that I left my bottle in the transition bag, so had to revert to water. In the end running made me very nauseous, but I just couldn’t throw up however hard I tried. So from mile12 ‘ish to 24 I walked (again!) but ran the last two feeling fine and just starting to warm up!
The time was a disappointment, but a step up on baling out, which is what I did last year. I was fifth (last) in my category
Will I be there (or wherever it is held) next year? You bet!
Congratulations to the other club members, all of whom finished. I look forward to all that reading.
My results……….
1128 finished. There must have been a lot of DNF’s, but they are not listed yet.
Steve Hobden
My fuelling strategy was to eat and drink as much as possible, so no different to any other day really. Drank at virtually every single drink stop for both the bike and the run, also ate enough bananas to make a monkey want to change his diet. Timings approx, but think I’ve covered the majority of things as they happened.
Oh! and for the record, I weighed myself on the Friday beforehand, and came in at a ghastly 16st 7lb. So if I can do it weighing this much…….. ……..
23:00 – Finally get to sleep1:00 Quick pee
2:00 Quick pee
3:00 Quick pee
4:00 Wake up, quick pee
5:00 In portaloo in transition area – Full movements in a less than fresh cubicle!
6:00 In wetsuit
6:01 Quick pee, Annette rolls her eyes and Dan announces I’m an animal when I point out how far it’s moving down the wetsuit!!
6:05 Walk to water’s edge
6:06 Quick pee
6:07 In water
6:10 Quick pee
6:15 Race Starts
6:50 Slow down while on first lap, quick pee
7:02 Slow down while on second lap, quick pee
7:35 Exit water
7:40 On bike
9:50 End of lap 1
9:51 Start winding it up on lap 2, overtaking shed loads of people, even up hills, and not working too hard!!
11:20 Bryan Rhodes smokes past on long drag other side of Cerne Abbas. Still at least 15 miles to go on this lap and don’t see another elite athlete. He must have a gigantic lead on the bike!
12:00 End of lap 2
12:45 Quick pee
13:00 Hills now taking their toll, having to dig hard
14:05 End of lap 3, head back to the castle
14:10 Steve A & Army Dan on hand to take my bike.
14:10:05 Try portaloo 1, no toilet paper, D’OH
14:10:10 Try portaloo 2, no toilet paper, D’OH
14:10:15 Try portaloo 3, no toilet paper, D’OH
14:10:20 Try portaloo 4, no toilet paper, D’OH
14:15 Into T2 tent, then on run
14:28 Quick pee
14:41 Quick pee
15:07 Quick pee
15:20 Quick pee
15:33 Quick pee
15:46 Quick pee
15:49 Quick pee
16:02 Quick pee
16:15 Quick pee
16:52 Use portaloo by bridge near start of A30 leg which does have toilet paper. Manage full sit down performance!
17:05 Quick Pee
17:18 Quick Pee
17:31 Quick Pee
17:44 Quick Pee
17:57 Quick Pee
18:10 Quick Pee
18:23 Quick Pee
18:36 Quick Pee
18:49 Quick Pee
17:01 Quick Pee
17:14 Quick Pee, …but only 3 miles left now
19:52 Completion. I’m an Ironman at last
20:10 Spend 45 minutes in First Aid tent, struggling for warmth, as had nothing all day long except a tri-suit, but most definitely not dehydrated!! !!!!!
Perhaps not your average report!
Steve
Daryl Barker
Wow wow wow.
I was in awe!
I stayed over with my in-laws on Saturday night, and arrived in Car Park 1 mud at about 5:50 am. Perfect timing. I quickly changed a light bulb that had blown at the front of the car so that I didn’t have to mess about when it was dark when I left – if it was dark. I was expecting to have to get towed out at the end of the day, the mud was so thick!!
Instantly I realised that I hadn’t either worn enough clothes for a day of spectating, or even packed any. So there I was in my T shirt and shorts with a packed raincoat. Great.
I positioned myself on the hill behind the swim exit, camera in hand. The swim had a very exciting finish, and as soon as the New Zealander was out (sorry Annette, not you this time) I jostled for position by the bike exit.
As hard as I looked, I did not see all of you come out, and not sure if you saw me. However, I did yell at some of you if I saw you. I wanted to take lots of pictures, but sometimes it was just good to yell instead – so I missed the photo opportunities.
When I saw you at that point I knew it had been worth the effort to come and cheer. The adrenaline was pumping for me – goodness knows what it was doing for you participants!
When most of you (I think) had cleared the bike exit, I made my way to catch up with relatives who were supporting Lee from the Sigma Sport shop. We wandered up the hill to see the laps, and placed ourselves in a good position at the top of the loop, and where also the last lap would descend back to the castle. We saw one cyclist take a nasty tumble on the wet corner – to a crowd that went “OOOoooo” and then roared like mad when he got back on and continued. The atmosphere was purely carnival for the first lap – we even had competitors taking pictures of US with disposable cameras!
As the second lap came we could see that the cyclists were a little more serious as tiredness started to creep in – which simply made the crowd roar louder! It was at this point that I began really feeling the cold, so we stopped watching our heroes and headed in to town for a warm up in the café. Bliss for an hour.
Out again into the biting wind, and this time I positioned myself about 100 metres outside the entrance drive of the castle, just prior to T2. I found it virtually impossible to identify our folks b4 taking a picture, so gave up and just shouted and clapped. And clapped. And clapped. And clapped. I saw David Edwards come in, so moved down into the grounds to watch the first bit of the run and (I think) the first lady to come home. (Alternatively, it may have just been an attractive lady followed by a race referee and a camera crew!).
I bumped in to Sarah, who had come down to support Steve.
Eventually I made my way to the town drinks station, and stayed there for the rest of my time at the race. Just outside a lingerie shop for a bit of window shopping too! (was this Riccione all over again??) It was there that I saw most of you competitors, most looking strong and hopefully you heard me shout at you. If I missed you – sorry! Particular apologies to Dan as I only recognised you at the last minute before shouting encouragement, so I’m not sure if you heard.
It got colder and colder. I was now chilled to the core with lack of real movement, and it got worse as the sun went down. I kept thinking “you poor sods!” If it was a bit uncomfortable for me, what on earth were you going through? Eventually, I had to leave as the children were back at my in-laws and needed to be taken home. This was with regret as I wanted to see you all come back in, but was regretfully unable. I made my way back to the car, dropped the camera in the boot and headed off to the loo before the journey back to Weston. On my way back in to the castle grounds, I saw sight of Les so gave him a yell of encouragement. He looked great with only a small way to go.
After a bit of fun getting out of the car park, I drove back to collect the kiddies and wifey, on the way driving along the A30 I was amazed at the number of athletes in the cold and dark. I prayed that all those I hadn’t seen come in were OK.
Guys, well done to you all. It was a memorable day for me as a spectator. I even kept having to pinch myself when silly thoughts like “maybe one year” jumped into my head. I put it down to the cold making me a bit delirious.