Ribby Hall Triathlon

Another weekend, another triathlon. This time in Ribby Hall, near Blackpool. I travelled up on the Saturday afternoon, after dropping my brother and sister off at Parc Menai. They were going to the Welsh Road Relays at Llandow with Menai Track and Field. The three hours trip to Ribby Hall was uneventful, and I arrived at 4.30 in order to register and recce the run and bike route. Nice route and very flat for a change, should make for some fast racing. We were staying at the Holiday Inn at Burnley, which my father admitted to be a mistake as it was about 40 minutes drive away! Nice Hotel though, and the food was nice, which is always a bonus. 6.30am wake up call in the morning, in order to get up for breakfast, and make the trip to the race in plenty of time for me to set up my transition, warm up, stretch and do some drills. Soon it was time for the briefing and the start of the swim. There were 15 of us down to swim at our allotted time of 10.20, which meant 3 swimmers per lane, but luckily this was staggered, and I went by myself. A good 400m swim saw me out of the pool in an unofficial 4.30. I found myself running out of the pool and along the path to transition with eventual winner Beau Smith. Our transition was also quick and again we found ourselves leaving for the bike leg together. This is where the split was taken at 5:15.

As I entered the road I found to my disbelief that my chain had come off! That was the last I saw of Beau, as I came off my bike and got my chain back on. Eventually I started the bike leg, which was a flat course, with some traffic lights after the first corner. I managed to get through the lights without a problem, with the next possible problem being at the level crossing at 13km.

No problem here either, as the trains were late, so only about 4kM time trial to transition. Feet out of the bike shoes and off the bike, as I came to the dismount line in a time of 30:20. I pushed the bike to transition, and quickly got my Inov 8 F Lite shoes on for the run. The 5kM 2 lap run winded its way along the roads in Ribby Hall. As I turned the corner to the finish line, I came home in a 5kM time of 17:52 and a total time of 53:27.

About an hours wait for the results, before I was confirmed as 1st Junior and 8th overall. Great race, well organised and well worth the trip over the border. Results can be seen here, with some pictures here.