A carnival atmosphere greeted the six Ely triathletes who made up two teams in this year’s Bedford Team Relays.
Knowing there are no hard and fast rules around transition and having lots of time to recover and chat between the three legs makes a big difference to how relaxed this event feels, but the jovial disposition of team captain Will Gladwin, Mike Hendry’s genial loquacity and Hannah’s fantastic chocolate brownies had their own impact too.
Box End Park lake was warm, clean and well marked with large wake board ramps either side making navigation easy, even with steamed up goggles. In only her second triathlon, and the first involving open water, Kay Swords did particularly well in covering the 750m distance. Once the roundabout in the first kilometre was navigated, the bike route quickly improved to incorporate a succession of quiet country roads, blessed by fairly smooth surfaces. Though Bedfordshire isn’t as flat as Cambridgeshire, the 23k course is more undulating than hilly and there’s nothing severe enough to get you out of your saddle. Comparatively fewer potholes too.
We met one team of three ladies who swim at Box End regularly but had never done a triathlon before, professing themselves ‘just there for a day out’ – believable right up until the moment one of them sprinted past Martin Courtney during the 5k run (which admittedly isn’t difficult). Mostly on grass and with some welcome shade, the route was firm but challenging – certainly didn’t appear to slow down Will or Doug Furlong. Or Rory Dillon, who stepped in to run it twice after Mike suffered a calf injury before the race but still had to do his best impression of an elderly man in search of a catheter during the longish sprints from the lake and mount/dismount lines to the chip handover point.
This is what amateur tri events should be – supportive, inclusive and just good fun to take part in. Next year, we aim to bring more teams and copy the other local Tri clubs who have caught on to its delights much earlier and arranged their own gazebos, catering facilities and outdoor relaxation lounges. You can see the provisional team results here.
[* A team consists of three athletes, who each complete the swim, the bike, and the run in relay; all three members of the team must complete each discipline in turn before the team moves on to the next discipline. All changeovers between team members take place in transition - in other words, three connected relay races using all three Triathlon disciplines].
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