Not that I’ve been wicked this week… I’ve just returned back from a hard weeks training camp in the (very snowy!) Gloucester countryside. Training with the German team was great! They gave the British team some great competition, although we kicked ass in the swimming and running events. I enjoyed a great track session running in the freezing snow, I felt really strong throughout, must be all the tough winter training! Then it was back to the hotel for a nice hot shower, ahh heaven!
It’s been a tough few weeks getting over a fluey-bug but I’m healthy at the moment, lets hope it stays that way. I had a couple of days off but I am continuing to train hard despite this, and looking forward to my updated Focus bike arriving any day now, and a training trip on the horizon to a Spanish training centre near Barcelona!
I have been increasing the amount of endurance runs I do and as I live near the beach I run a lot on the sand and along the sea front. It’s great to get out in the fresh sea air! Some Thursdays my club do a great session running up and down the zig-zag slopes on the seafront cliffs – which is a killer. The new puppy is also proving to be a fantastic new training partner apart from when he cuts me up!
Lately I’ve had a non stop schedule with the National cross country in Leeds and Birmingham and soon the Biathle and Triathlon season will start too. I’m really looking forward to getting back into some open water training again. It’s up to Leeds for XC this weekend, bound to be cold and muddy – my favourite: come on Team Dorset!
Happy New Year everyone – I hope you have been keeping to your New Year’s Resolutions ! Its been pretty difficult through January with all this snow and ice to get out on the road, but I have made a few bike excursions (without incident) as I resolved: however my mileage on my trainer has more than quadrupled as a result, along with my trips to the gym! Several competitions were cancelled – notably our regional Cross Country Champs, and some of my National training camps have been cancelled or moved due to the snow, and the flooding that has followed on.
I started my new year with the customary Boxing Day run in Poole park – this will be my last year in the junior competition, and it was a little frustrating not to be running the adult race with my friends! I was the first girl home, but I think everyone appreciated getting out and having the Christmas cobwebs blown off!
Swimming training has been a bit patchy so far this year as we have had early start problems with the weather and the state of access to our training pool: the car park was like glass the other morning and cars were sliding everywhere! One of my friends has been out in Lanzarote training – I’m not jealous: just thinking about it warms you up doesn’t it!
This weekend saw the first step back into the normal routine with a South West Tri Academy training day in Newport, followed by the Cardiff X-Challenge cross country for Poole AC. The Newport sessions were run by coaches Will Newton and Andy Bullock (also to be seen starring in this months 20:20 Triathlon magazine) from British Triathlon with run, core stability and velodrome track sessions. The weather was relatively kind and we just got slightly damp outside, but it was nice to be back in the warm again. We were a large group this time but fortunately we had a couple of hours on the track: Which I used to my advantage – working hard all the way.
After the track session we had a presentation and I was awarded the South West series trophy. The parents also had a discussion about which races the academy will be targeting in the coming year: with a few more sessions like this one we should be going well in 2010. On reflection, I probably should have thought ahead a little, because when I arrived at the X-Challenge Event in Cardiff the following day my legs were like lead towards the end of the race!
I tried to stretch off and did a full warm, but I knew from the outset it was going to be hard work. The course was pretty flat, but I had heard reports of it being very boggy in parts last year. This year the organisers had laid plenty of bark chippings, and the course was so well taped-off so that you couldn’t possibly get lost, so it was looking good. As my race was the last-but-one I was expecting it to be pretty churned-up and went for long spikes, but it wasn’t abnormally muddy. Beforehand I was wearing my bright fluorescent pink Ron Hill Vizion windlite jacket around the race venue – I had loads of people ask me where I had got it from: hope the Wiggle stocks are OK !
I got off to a good start, but at the end of the first lap I was having to work hard. I pushed on – taking another two places on the last lap, coming home 16th out of 72 entrants. Two of my friends came in first and second with excellent runs, although I wasn’t disappointed with my result I think easing off on the training session the day before probably could have lifted me into the top ten. My coach agreed – but I am only bottom of the age group at the moment so I’m pleased.
It was a very full weekend; I enjoyed a well earned doze in the nice warm car on the way home.
Our Team Wiggle athletes have had a cracking year, standing atop rostrums the world over in road racing, mountain biking and triathlon. Before they put their feet up for the festive break, we caught up with them all as they reflect on 2009 and look ahead to 2010. Youngster Africa Mason proved she has a bright future in multisport with some excellent results…
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Team Wiggle 2009 Team Highlights
Q. What was the highlight of your year?
A. Oh, I have a few! A training camp in Berlin; a team silver at the modern pentathlon tri in Hungary; the National Aquathon and competing in the IRCs (Inter Regional Championships) at Bryn Bach.
Q. What was the funniest moment?
A. Altitude training in France was so fun – running up the mountains covered in snow. I’ve never fallen over on my bum so many times!
Q. What was the biggest lesson you learnt?
A. How to conquer bike transitions and dismounts with cleats.
Q. What are your plans for winter training? How’s it going so far?
A. Training is going pretty well at the moment, I’m so much more confident on my bike, mounting and dismounting and my transition. I am upping my running mileage, running three times a week – four when I can – and I’m doing more endurance runs and very tough hill sessions. My new year’s resolution will be to find a good local group to ride with regularly and increase my swimming training/fitness. Over the past year I have been more focused on my running and I would like to have a good triathlon season next year.
Q. What does 2010 have in store for you? What are your major races going to be?
A. There will be lots of camps with the Pentathlon Talent squad and also some training days with the BTF South West team. I have the National Cross Country and other major races will be London Triathlon, National Pentathlon, National Triathlon, National Biathlon, National Aquathon and the Salford Biathle – hopefully I will qualify for the World Championships in Dubai. Who knows really – a year ago I certainly wouldn’t have predicted all the places I’ve been this year!
As the Triathlon season winds down I am still keeping in with my other sporting commitments and the training is complimentary. I managed a win in the Sealion’s Tetrathlon up in Croydon at the end of last month: though this wasn’t really the resounding victory it might have been as most of the serious competition fell by the wayside with injuries!
The MPAGB National Triathlon (run/swim/shoot) is one of the most important events in the calendar for me as it is an early indicator of the National rankings as I mentioned in my last post. Although the rules for Pentathlon are now a combined run/shoot/run event, this format has not been adopted in the Tri yet. The first event was the shooting on Saturday morning; I felt good and even managed a pb. Next was the swim which I came 3rd – It felt like a strong swim. The run early on Sunday yielded a 2 second pb with me coming 2nd in the event. Last year I was 16th overall, this year I took Bronze medal and that’s in the bottom half of the age group! Result!
I also had a Bio-mechanics evaluation at Manchester Metropolitan University with Dr Carl Payton – one of the top guys in the country: he analysed everything from the blocks right through to my finish. It was really interesting to see, and I have some key points to work on. It’s strange to think that you’re doing OK, yet you can be making so many simple mistakes that cost you so much time! Fascinating! Whilst we were in the pool I took some underwater shots for a photo assignment: sounds very glamorous, but it wasn’t – more frustrating! More work to do.
I have decided my new year’s resolution will be to get out on my bike even more. Although I am regularly doing turbo sessions I’m not putting in enough long rides when I’m not near to a competition!
Mind you it doesn’t help when your training partners bike disintegrates mid session (It wasn’t a Wiggle bike I hasten to add !) and you have to call your dad to come and bring him home! Well he wasn’t keeping up either…
Sadly I’ve had a few twinges in my back last week and have been to see the Sports masseur and Chiropractor: but I’ve just done my first serious cross country of the season this weekend which was the County Championships and I qualified for the regional heats so it can’t be that serious! Though there was one broken ankle on the Cross-country course that held things up for a while and meant that the hill course (what a hill!) had to be re-routed: It’s a lesson to us all to watch where we’re putting our feet, and not let things get too fluid on the downhill! Still, more cold – more mud to come – I can’t wait! Maybe there’ll be some snow to run in too ?
I’ll be doing a few Christmas fun runs and trying to stick to my diet and training plans over the holiday season. Many thanks to everyone who’s been helping me this year and here’s to an even better 2010! Hope Santa brings you everything you’ve asked for!
Well last month was such a hectic month, with my European Tour carrying on I have got a little behind with my Bloggle! After Monaco I barely had time to get my breath before I was whisked off to the ‘Olympic Hopefuls’ competition in Debrecen, Hungary. Debrecen – home of the Hungarian cowboys, was about 2 hours by coach from Budapest. It was a pretty hectic schedule with a large field of Eastern European and Balkan competitors – some of whom were incredibly quick.
All this set against a very different countryside, that I unfortunately didn’t get to see much of! My individual performance was not as good as I had hoped: finishing around the mid-point in the Individual competition. We had started the event at the crack of dawn after arriving at 10 pm the previous evening – Could that have been why ? Never the less I returned with a silver team event medal, (won a few days later after I had had time to settle in) and a whole load of new friends. It was certainly an experience to remember but reminded me that the need for acclimatisation isn’t always so obvious.
Earlier that month, back home I had managed to fit in the Aldershot road relays – at the start of the Cross-country season. Our stirling performance – coming second in this Southern region event had got me and my team mates through to the National event in Sutton Coldfield where we came in 4th just outside the medals, after what was deemed a valiant attempt and some very fast individual laps times. After that it was straight back down to Millfield for the regional modern Triathlon qualifier, where I at last picked up a Gold ! – GOLD there I’ll say it again (OK it was for the South West: but that could be a good omen!)
In the following days I managed to fit in a week of normal intensity training – dragging my CyclOps Fluid 2 trainer back in from the garage and snatching some road-time out in the Purbecks before the winter really sets in.
Over half term I went to Berlin and had a week of intense training for Modern Pentathlon at the Olympic stadium complex there. I was up at 8am most mornings, which makes a change from the early 5am start for swimming. The days training would usually start with a two hour shooting session on their very flashy new range. This was then followed by a two hour swimming session, some of which the German team joined in with. The pool we were using was 25m and in close proximity of the training centre. We then went back to the accommodation for a light lunch.
During my time in Berlin I got to go on some lovely forest runs which passed a beautiful lake, the leaves had all fallen onto the ground and it was very pleasant although very chilly! My Pearl Izumi Aurora thermal hoodie helped keep me warm though.
In the afternoon we would do some very tough fartlek sessions and some longer 5-10k runs. I really benefited from the ‘combined’ training out there: learning how to deal with the pressure of having to shoot well after running 2km flat out is very tough. You have to remain calm and in control of your breathing. We did some of this training throughout the week and then had a competition amongst the GB team at the end. Naturally we were all very competitive. The main focus of the camp was shooting and fencing.
We would all fence in the evening for 2-3hours which included free play with the German team and a private lesson. At the end of each day I felt completely exhausted both physically and mentally, but now I feel in great shape and have learnt a lot from the experience. My next major events are a regional Tetrathlon in Croydon followed by the National (modern) Triathlon up in Wolverhampton where last year I came 16th I am hoping to come in the top 5 this year, who knows I may even medal!
Last week I was living the ‘High Life’… off to Monte Carlo for the World Biathle Championships. Biathle is a continuous run-swim-run event run by the Modern pentathlon Association (UIPM) – who actually have their HQ in Monaco. Its a good training vehicle for Triathlon as you get plenty of Transition practice. Following my disappointing previous qualifying race at Salford: where I had been given the ‘wild card’ entry I knew that I needed to justify the GB coaches confidence in me.
I was going to have to pick up the pace and raise my game. We flew from Luton, and were based in an apartment in the Beau Soleil district (actually just outside ‘Monaco official’ – by about 10 metres!) The area was well provided with shops and restaurants, but literally a stones’ throw from the glamour of the yachts and the Casino that the principality is so famous for.
Up until the competition I had been training hard and was feeling good. After we arrived in Monaco we had a couple of training days practising entries and exits from the sea, which was lovely and warm! (Makes a change from Weymouth!), though the Jelly fish boom had us all a little concerned – Especially knowing that it was going to be removed for the competition so that we could get to the buoys! We had one rainy day during our stay, where despite the showers it was still around 26 degrees C and not a jelly fish in sight..
Whilst the sun was shining and I still had one day until I was competing it was nice to be able to relax a bit and think about my race plan. I ran the course several times on the days before it was set up: The Run was going to be a tight start with 32 competitors in my race.
There was a hairpin bend about 100m after the start followed by a flat road run of 1k along the beach side Boulevard and back then into a 200m sea swim, followed by a repeat of the earlier 1km to finish.
The 32 people in my race was a lot compared to previous World Champs races and bearing in mind the tight hairpin turn was near the start this was surely going to be an aggressive field.
Surely enough everyone was ‘elbows-out’ on the start line. Because there were so many competitors in such a tight space I was getting forced back on to a second row, but luckily the other countries objected to this and I found myself a good position as several Spanish athletes were plucked out from beside me and reinstated right of field. I was able to muscle back into the front and got around the bend at the head of the pack. After 800m running in a rubber swimming hat I came down the slippery polished granite slope to Larvotto Beach and couldn’t wait to drive into the sea – I was absolutely boiling!
I had to be tactical in the swim as a few of the Spanish were known to be very physical, and they were especially rounding the final buoy. I had a good transition: reflecting later on other races that day athletes had been disqualified for dropping equipment – goggles, on the course (regrettably one of the GB girls) and disobeying the officials whilst accessing the transition boxes: there wasn’t any leeway or room for ignorance of the rules! Those rules were being strictly applied !
Coming out of the swim I felt strong, and powered on back up the slope onto the cool of the Princess Grace Boulevard and managed to take back 3 places, finishing 7th in the world, and 3rd in Great Britain. This was a huge improvement from the qualifier in Salford, and considering the larger field an improvement on last year. The GB coaches’ confidence in me was justified!
Things are looking up again: my next competition is ‘Olympic Hopes’ representing GB in Debrecen, Hungary 5-9 October – I can’t wait! After that the cross country season begins back home, and it’s back into the cycle of national qualifiers! Enough of this sun and sea – let’s get cold and muddy !
Last week I was back up in Wales to Parc Bryn Bach to compete in the BTF Inter Regional Championships. This was the ‘creme-de-la-creme’ of young Triathlon talent in the UK: entry by regional selection only, and was effectively a rematch of the event at Dorney Lakes back at the start of June. The only difference this time was that this was a team event, and I was with my fellow athletes from the South West Tri academy. We had the luxury of a few training rides and a practice swim before hand: Although I have swum here a few times before the swim course was unusually all in front of the islands this time.
I made sure I got the circuit fixed in my mind, so that I was on the correct side of all the buoys this time! When we arrived for the practice I was surprised how busy it was, I think the gravity of the task ahead hit me, but meeting up with the team and coaches soon scared any worries away. First we had an hour long swim session, where we practiced our exits and transitions. After a thorough bike check and a little light maintenance we then did a couple of circuits of the track, which were filmed with the loan headcam that I have:
Afterwards the team discussed race strategies, how to take the corners and the use of brakes and gears. I made a few last minute tweaks to my new Aqua Sphere wet suit as getting my legs out cleanly had caused me some grief in training the week before: snagging on my ankles, I also cut a few centimetres from my sleeve cuffs (I’m thinking of opening up a side-line in neoprene bangles !) It really is a breeze to get out of now.
Confident that I was as ready as could be I set off back to the hotel for an indulgent race-prep nosh-up and a good night’s sleep. I got a bit worried when we went into the hotel lobby and I saw people taking their bikes into their hotel rooms: I knew the area was a bit dodgy but honestly – not even safe in your car !? My dad assured me that he had checked with the desk and the car park had CCTV and had never been a problem. None the less both of my bikes were locked up in the back of the alarmed car with a hefty cable lock – I didn’t lose any sleep over it, but I guess some people are just very attached to their bikes!
Dawn rose and I began my pre-race routine. As we were too early for the hotel breakfast and we had another ride of the race circuit before racking I had decided to go for a staggered breakfast, some muesli and fruit – followed by more fruit and a pasta / bacon combo to see me up to an hour before my race. As I had to ride and then rack I also had to make sure that I had all my drinks sorted and ready to go. It was a gorgeous day, and I drained my drinks bottles on the practice laps. As it was so sunny I went for polarised lenses in my dhb sun glasses, figuring there’d be some bugs out round the lake, which would probably have a lot of glare on it (- there were some massive dragonflies !)
I collected all my gear for racking and had it all neatly laid out when things took a turn for the worse. The racking, which was made from light weight scaffolding poles began to sag and as the crew tried to re-jig it – fully laden, it started to collapse! Fortunately I grabbed my bike just in time, and although I don’t think any permanent damage was done there seemed to be a few mangled heaps at the other end of the rack as I looked along it.
The race was a deep water start and I made sure that I got in and properly warmed up for the swim, with some water in my wetsuit to keep me warm while I waited. It was another frantic start but I kept tight lines throughout and despite some interference from the lake weed I came out of the swim in the top ten. I found my bike easily and made a good transition, despite one of my elastic bands on my Lake bike shoes snapping as I headed out (AndyB – your ‘double wrap’ didn’t work for me!) I soon made my way up the race and got into a pack. Although I wasn’t at the front, I wasn’t at the back and the pace seemed appropriate.
It was indeed a good fast group and the 10K sped past in a few moments: I was working hard, and the downhill portions were very fast – the crowd seemed very close. I had been working on my dismount after picking up a few tips and T2 seemed to go more smoothly than normal. I was soon out on the track – running the the course in the opposite direction to my previous events seemed weird.
I enjoyed the run and quickly made up a couple of places even managing a sprint at the finish, but there was no one close for me to pick-off!
Final result: 13th in the UK for me, 6th overall for the South West team. For the South West I think that’s a good start, for me: that’s 10 places higher than 4 months ago – I was happy with that ! Better still, I didn’t pick up any injuries (besides a non-sport related blister), with the Biathle World Champs in Monaco next week, that would have been a disaster! I’d better go pack again!
Last weekend was the South West Tri Academy training day for the IRC’s (Inter Regional Championships.) This will be my first one, I’m quite excited! It was an early start for us as we had to travel down to Devon. After the previous hot week it was quite a fresh morning but I was looking forward to the open water swim, maybe it would wake me up! However , the Watersports lake wasn’t quite the azure blue lagoon that I had pictured. We had just over an hour’s session in the water where we worked on swimming off each other’s feet, sighting the buoys (useful after my last Aquathlon!) and changing leaders in the group. Throughout the day South West Academy Coaches Will (Newton) and Andy (Bullock) gave us lots of tips – all of which will be useful for the event next weekend, if we can remember them all!
The final element of the swimming training was a long swim up to a massive yellow buoy, back and round the (duck) island, up the muddy launch slipway, then a transition out of our wetsuits. This went well for me, but once I had my wetsuit off I was freezing! ..and covered in green slime – nice! Just time for a shower and hot drink before we were whisked off to a Secret airfield in the middle of nowhere…
Warmed up and changed after the half hour ‘power-nap’ drive to the airfield we had bike, run and transition practice in store. First off we went through a mock ‘racking’ as a refresher. This had a time deadline and included a thorough kit check – not a time to be at the back of the queue! Then it was out on to the vast expanse of the runway for a couple of hours where (checking for passing aircraft…) we had some coached speed and handling instruction and practical, followed by several time-trial laps and more practice transitions.
After the sessions I had a look at my bike set-up and I think I may need to reconfigure my gear ratios: I cant seem to get the power I need as easily as I should: on the flat particularly (I suspect Wiggle may have been cautiously kind to me with my bike, as I was a beginner!) Anyway all that can wait until after the IRCs – the last thing I want to do now is start making big changes before the event!
Picture From Africa’s Helmet Camera, Footage To follow In The Next Blog!
Throughout the session we managed to dodge the elements, and although we did have minor gusty showers it wasn’t enough to really get us wet, but it made the coned chicanes that the coaches had laid out a little challenging – especially at speed. We came away tired and confident, having boosted our skills and honed our technique: how we perform on the day we will have to wait and see, but we will all be training up to the last minute I am sure. As they say – the preparation starts well before you turn up for the event! We are now prepared.
It’s been another busy couple of weeks for me: Not a couple I want to repeat in a hurry though!
Last weekend I had the UK Biathle Champs up at Salford. Biathle is a continuous run-swim-run event run by Modern Pentathlon: its a good lead in to Triathlon as you get to practice the continuous elements, which I think have helped me have such a speedy transition. Transition wasn’t to be my problem on these two weekends though – I was going to have all my problems in the water !
The Salford event was important to me as a good result would mean selection for GB at the World Champs in Monaco in September. Prior to the event I was feeling pretty confident, though my swimming was definitely not on top form I didn’t expect it to be as far off the mark as it appeared when I put it to the test! This time I was at the bottom of my age group, but there were a few new faces and a doubt entered my mind for the first time – was I going to be good enough this year ?
I got off to a good start and was fourth into the water after the first 1 km run in 2:15 pace along the quayside. In the swim things started to change: there was a lot of jostling and I suddenly found myself dropping down the positions as T2 came up. On the second run I gave it everything – I needed to be in the top 6 to qualify: I was holding in there until the last 200 metres when I was just passed: I had nothing to come back with ! I came in 7th – out of contention, drained: At the finish my mates were there for me, but I wasn’t in a happy place. I sat and cried – I felt like I had gone backwards, my Club’s swimming training being wound down after Nationals certainly hadn’t helped my performance in the days leading up to the competition.
None the less after an awkward trip back home we put it behind us and moved on to the next event this weekend – the Brooks South West Aquathlon Champs to be held at the Olympic Sailing Centre on Portland. This was a testing event, with a 700m swim followed by a 5 km run. There were only two heats , and my heat went off with three age groups combined – starting at different points: it was a glorious sunny day and diving off the jetty into the fish filled lagoon of the sailing centre was a super start.
The swim started to drain me but I knew my main competitor , although older and a good swimmer was beatable on the run, so I started to work on that strategy. Perhaps I should have concentrated more on the swim: as I came round the last turn one of the safety kayaks obscured the buoy, and I missed the turn: I’d swum another 30 metres before my dad – hanging off the jetty like a demented gibbon, finally got my attention and I painfully realised I had to turn back: that 60 metres extra was the longest swim of my career – how could I have missed it ? But I still had my race plan – it was looking like a slim chance but I gave it all I had! Transition was tight as the boxes were very close together and that slowed down my wetsuit change: and with effectively three races going on together the run course was pretty chaotic! I hunted down my prey – gaining 30 to 40 seconds on her per lap. But it wasn’t to be enough, I came in second: 30 seconds down !
I’ll take the painful lessons from these two weeks and try not to repeat them: On the plus side, I heard a few days later from the selectors and did get selected for Monaco, and although I came in second on Portland I think that I may have won the Brooks South West series – we’ll have to see…
Next week I’m off to Crystal Palace to see the Modern Pentathlon World Champs and pick up some tips! I will be competing too as I have the National Schools Biathlon (Invitational) which is running alongside: Unfortunately the girl’s race is on the Sunday which stops me doing the Dextro Hyde Park Tri (the boys can do both !)
I made it on to TV in the Triathlon Grand Prix on Channel 4 this weekend and was caught in this clip for local Manchester TV ChannelM My next Tri is the IRC at Bryn Bach in September after a week to recharge ! – Then its back on the bike !
Yay! My favourite race of the year !- The British National Aquathlon Champs takes place at Parc Bryn Bach near Tredeagar in Wales. It was the same course as last year so I felt that I was pretty familiar with it, maybe that was my mistake?
The deep water start is quite magic – floating in the lake waiting between the islands is a lovely experience.
The Temperature in the lake was 15 degrees this year – two degrees colder than last year, which meant I could wear my new Aquasphere Ironman Wracer Pro wetsuit – which is awesome and so comfortable to swim in! My race, the Youth Girls was the second race of the day which started just two minutes after the boys. The swim was a 500m loop around a small island in the lake…. followed by a 2.5 km run on the lakeside track.
I got a good start and came out of the swim 4th but managed to pull back two places by the time I left transition! ;-) Transition went well and I found the Velcro ‘keeper’ pad on the back of the wetsuit very handy as sometimes I find it hard to find the tag to pull the wetsuit zip undone. I shed it smoothly without incident this time.
The run was quite undulating in parts but I managed to gradually overtake the two girls in front of me as they wilted around the 1km point. I couldn’t believe I was leading! I got a bit excited so I had to tell myself to focus and keep a rhythm to my running as I still had another 1.5k to go. At the turn around point I found a hill that I’d forgotten about and was over taken there, but luckily the trailing athlete was about 20m behind me and I managed to keep the gap – eventually finishing 2nd. Note to self: Walking the course is a good idea !
Funnily the mother of the winner is my brother’s God mother who we haven’t seen for ages ! So it didn’t feel too bad adding another chunky silver medal to my collection – and on the podium it was Wales, England and Scotland – result ! The medals were presented by local girl Helen Jenkins (nee Tucker) – 2008 ITU World Champion and we were surrounded by the press – paparazzi?
I stayed on to see the Corus Elite Women’s race, and got to see Wiggle Team Mate Emma-Kate Lidburyin action: though not to chat with. Unfortunately we had to shoot off home after that so I didn’t get to see the Men’s race: they were very impressive last year. I think we may be on TV next week: though I imagine that the seniors will probably get all the coverage – I’ll catch the Men’s race then (set the video now)! This is still my favourite event at the moment: just a pity the weather wasn’t as glorious as last year – but at least it didn’t rain, and I didn’t get sun burnt like last year!
