Super Serena

So… if you enter an adult race as a 14 year old you might not expect to win…….. that’s unless you are able to post the 3rd fastest run split in the race and swim and bike nearly as fast as the next fastest lady. That’s what Serena O’Connor did at the Dorset Try a Tri last Sunday to take the overall win in the ladies race (and that was the day after winning the Ts3 race at the Milton Abbey Tri) – phenomenal!

Meanwhile (at the other end of the age spectrum – sorry Dave) the legendary Mr Pratten was winning his age category at the Immortal middle distance in Somerset – and a very competitive age category it was too

Sam Brown sneaked in an 800m pb of 2min09sec on the track on Thursday (be afraid) before the main event of the week(!!?????!!) when yours truly took to the race course for the first time this year (just point out here that Guy went away for the weekend in his caravan). Before I hit the water though, the mighty Franster ambled into the standard distance race at the Arundel Tri as a ‘warm up’ for her assault on 70.3 Switzerland next weekend. Leading off the bike she took a wrong turn on the run (as Annie would say – numbnut!) However, I think I take the  overall ‘numbnut’ award for the day – forgetting to actually attach my back wheel to the bike so had to dismount as soon as I’d mounted.  Check out the somewhat disparaging report here

I can add this to my top five entertaining transition don’ts, so here we go…….. (all learned from personal experience)

1. Don’t forget to put vaseline on your wetsuit zip or you will find yourself at the Reading tri unable to get out of your wetsuit and aimlessly wandering around transition telling the race officials that they can’t help you as you would be disqualified whilst desperately hoping that one of them will and not disqualify you. They don’t. (Reading Tri 2012)

2. Don’t forget to fasten the quick release on your back wheel after you get it out of the car – it won’t work without a secure axle. (Arundel Tri 2014)

3. Don’t forget that helmets are for the bike not the run so can definitely be removed in T2. (Althorpe Duathlon 2013)

4. Don’t attempt to take your feet out of your bike shoes before T2 without first practising this skill so as to avoid the pedal rotating and causing the shoe to hit the road and ping off the pedal over a hedge into a private garden, thereby forcing you to stop, get off your bike, run to afore mentioned garden and retrieve afore mentioned shoe before continuing to T2 in a slightly slower time than expected given the pre-perceived advantage gained by said removal of foot from shoe. (Bournemouth 2011)

5. Don’t turn up to an aquathlon so late that you forget to actually put both your training shoes in transition and stand with one shoe on accusing all slower swimmers of stealing your shoe for a couple of minutes before looking in your bag to find the missing foot ware safely stowed in exactly the same place it had always been. I know what you are thinking – how could you put one shoe in transition without the other one. I’ll never know the answer to that question. (Bournemouth aquathlon 2009)