Pwllheli Triathlon

It was the second Pwllheli Triathlon yesterday, and like last year, was held on a glorious sunny but cold day, in the sea side town.

Luckily, I'd remembered to turn the clocks forward the night before for a 6.30 start. The 40 minutes that it took to Pwllheli was a nice change to the hours of driving that I do usually, and I arrived in plenty of time to register, sort out my transition and get warmed up for the event.

As I had the fastest swim time of the day, I wore the coveted No 1, and was first to go in the pool. There are some different rules in this triathlon, where no one is allowed to do tumble turns, and after 4 lengths everyone has to move to the next lane by going under the lane ropes! One of the other problems I saw was the 20 seconds intervals between swimmers. This I felt would allow too many swimmers into the lanes at any one time, bu I was fortunate as I was the first to go, and had more or less clear lanes all the way.

I was wearing my new Wales tri suit, made by Speedo, which has a water repellent material, which allows the suit to quickly dry once out of the pool. This certainly was the case, as when I started the bike leg, the suit was dry.

Another different rule in this triathlon, was no running in transition, and as I had a long way to go to my bike, I was forced to power walk all the way, which I'm sure looked hilarious to the onlookers!

No drafting in this race, so it was a 20k time trial from the leisure centre at Pwllheli, to Y Ffor, Chwilog and back to the leisure centre. I was using my new Kuota K Factor triathlon bike supplied by Revolution Bikes, it was only my second outing on it, the first being only last week. A flat start to the bike leg, before a 31/4 km, 80m climb to Bryn y Neuadd Hospital. It was then through the first village of Y Ffor, with a sharp right hand turn along another 1.5km climb to Chwilog.

After 16km, I was caught up by two others, but got stuck in, and didn't let them have too much of a lead. By the time I reached transition, I was only a few seconds behind the first two riders. Bike racked, helmet off and shoes on. They say that transition is the fourth discipline, and although I was in after the first two, I was out before them, and by the first corner on the run route I has a lead of about 20 seconds.

A 5k technical run followed, as I had to follow the pavements along the sea front, which snaked it's way around parked cars and through sand that had been deposited by the strong winds that come off Cardigan Bay. From here, and into Pwllheli and around the marina before turning back to the finish. Not only did I get he fastest 5k run time of the day of 20:33, but also got the fastest swim time of the day, 4:48. Together with my bike time of 37:54, gave me a total time of 1:03:15. This gave me 1st junior and 3rd overall in the race.

A great triathlon, great racing, really friendly atmosphere, good company and food at the Pwllheli Rugby Club made the trip to Pwllheli worthwhile.

Some pictures can be seen on SportpicturesCymru, with results soon, to be seen here.

Kuota K Factor

I received my new bike last week, courtesy of Gareth and Matt of Revolution Bikes in Bangor. Over the past two years, their support has been invaluable, allowing me trouble free cycling, both for training, riding in the local time trials and competing at triathlon.

The new bike is a triathlon specific time trial bike, which I used for the first time on Sunday with fellow triathlete Arthur Connell. I took my new Kuota K Factor to recce the route of the Pwllheli Triathlon, and also have a go at the 5kM run course, along the sea front in the town.

The bike felt comfortable and really fast. Hopefully, this will translate to faster cycling times in my triathlons during the year..watch this space!

I also tried my new Inov 8 road x 255 whilst trying out the run course at Pwllheli. The new shoes were an instant hit, being very comfortable and light, a great road shoe which I might even try in my next triathlon.

Moel Wnion Race

It was my first fell race of the season on Saturday, at Moel Wnion.
The 4.5m (7.2km)1800ft (549m) climb started at Abergwyngregyn, with a steep ascent to the summit of Moel Wnion. Runners from the friendly Hunters Bogg Trotters came down all the way from Scotland, together with runners from Ambleside and Mercia and the local clubs meant that the field was quite strong.

I warmed up on the roads with my new Inov 8 Road X 255's, which, as soon as put them on my feet felt extremely comfortable. More from me on the new road shoe, as soon as I get a proper chance to use them.

I was competing in the same race as the senior runners, but in the U18 category. I was about 6th at the top of the first climb
but lost places on the way to the summit. The X Talons 212's coped well, with plenty of grip, which gave me the confidence to run hard on the way down,

I passed 13 runners, to come home in a time of 45:28, coming home in 1st junior and 19th overall position.
Good day’s running with a welcome panad and something to eat at Yr Hen Felin, Abergwyngregyn.

More pictures can be seen here, courtesey of Pete Mac and on Al Tye's Fell Running Pictures website. Race results can be found here.

South West Duathlon Championships.

I travelled down from Atlantic College to Castle Combe Race Circuit on the Sunday morning following the Welsh Triathlon camp to compete in the South West Duathlon Championships, courtesey of DB Max. I arrived at about 11.30, following a long trip in the mini bus, with my fellow team mates.

My race was due to start at 2pm, which included a mixed race of youth and junior, both male and female. The race included a 2 mile run, followed by a 10 mile draft legal bike race, ending in a 1 mile run. A mass start saw 33 athletes compete for honours. The 1st 2 mile run of 11:07, saw me coming into transition in 11th place.

All the transitions were quite similar for the faster athletes, with mine taking 44 seconds to get out of my running shoes and onto my bike.

I started the bike ride, and soon caught up a few more riders. The draft legal race meant that we could hopefully work together in order to make up some time on the other cyclists. However, as only two of us knew how to draft properly, this couldn't be done, and I lost some more time to the leaders. After 10 miles, which took me 26:22, it was time to enter transition again for T2. I was out in 42.7 seconds, and I was off for the mile run.

Just a mile to go, and hopefully time to catch up some athletes on the run. With 6th fastest run of the day inm y Inov 8 F Lite 230's, I came home in 8th place, 9th overall.

A great day of racing at the circuit. The only disadvantage was the 5½ hour trip home!

Some pictures of the race can be seen on the SportpicturesCymru website.

Cerist Tri Earlybird Winter Aquathlon Series Race 2 - Owain Llŷr James

Second day of racing with a 5am wake up call, in order to start for Machynlleth, and the second in a series of three races in the Cerist Triathlon Winter Aquathlon series. 1½ hours later I arrived at Machynlleth. Only 35 people made the trip, less than the 1st race, perhaps the longer swim and 10kM run kept people away?


The organisers at the Cerist Triathlon Club are all very friendly, and both the aquathlons and triathlons are well organised.

All too soon it was time for my 600m swim in the Bro Dyfi Leisure centre 20m pool. The fastest time of the day saw me exiting the pool in about 7 min 30sec, and a relitavelly poor transition saw starting the 10kM run after 8 min 7 seconds. After a flat, 2Km start, the course soon turned hilly with steep road climbs. After about 5k, I Started to get blisters on my arches, as I wasn’t wearing any socks following my swim. These were getting more and more painful, but if I wanted to win, I needed to run through the pain to the finish. The hills eased off after about 6.5k, before I returned to the road and along to the finish. The official 10k was actually about 10.2kM, and I finished with cramp in my stomach in 40 minutes 2 seconds, giving me a total race time of 48:09.


My feet were bleeding after the race, testimony to the hard and hilly run. It was a great race, which saw me take my second win of the series, putting me in 1st overall position. One race to go, which I’m not sure that I’m doing yet, as there’s a clash with the local Pwllheli triathlon. I’ll keep you posted.

Results from TRI247.com can be seen here.

Cerist Aquathlon Series Race 1 - Owain Llŷr James

I missed the North Wales Cross Country League at Lilleshall in order to take part in the 1st of the Cerist aquathlon races. A 6am start in the fog, gave way to slightly better, but much colder weather further south in Machynlleth. Fifty athletes braved the chilly conditions to swim 400m, followed by a 5kM run.
I had a good swim, which saw me getting the fastest swim time of the day in 4:48. My 5kM run took me 16:29, with a 1 minute transition time to be added, giving me 2nd fastest run time of the day. With an overall time of 22:17, I won the junior category, but also was 1st overall!

Pictures can be seen at http://www.sportpicturescymru.co.uk/

Twin Piers 10K

It was the Pier to Pier race yesterday, which is an annual 10kM race between the piers of Llandudno and Colwyn Bay.


273 runners braved the downpour and gale force winds to run along the cost between the two seaside towns. The race started at 1pm, with the usual frantic start, before everyone got into their stride.
After 37 minutes of running I came home in 10th place. Quite pleased really, as weather hadn’t helped fast running.

I was wearing my new F Lite 230, which I found very comfortable and light. Ideal for road racing.
Results can be found here, and pictures from SportpicturesCymru.