Archive for the ‘Sport’ Category

Getting something out of this race meant a lot to me.

I only just found out about the event after the registration deadline in 2022. I was in great form from IRONMAN Copenhagen but alas, it wasn’t to be.

So I signed up for the 80k in 2023 and decided to make that my A-race of the year. Health problems got in the way of training and I dropped down to the 47k but in the end I was too ill to run at all for two months and missed the race.

When 2024 rolled around, I opted to register for the 47k as that seemed straightforward. But continuing health issues meant I couldn’t train and even though I dropped down to the 30k, I still wasn’t in any form to complete the race. This year, though, they added a 10k option. I missed the deadline to switch down so ended up having two separate registrations: one for the 30k and one for the 10k. But I made it to the start line.

I wasn’t feeling much better on the day. I was still having stomach issues and my latest attempt to find shorts that did not chafe had ended in failure. Luckily, Bray had clean public toilets.

The race starts by running along the sea front and then heads straight up Bray Head. It’s a climb of just under 200 vertical metres. As we went up, I found my vision got quite blurry. I’m not sure whether it is the low light under the trees as a similar thing happened on the way down where I woul have had a lower heart rate.

The views from the top are beautiful and I stopped to take a few pictures. We then follow the track around the headline for another beautiful view of Greystones before descending into the valley on the far side. There is then a road section into town before climbing and descending Bray Head a second time.

I was so relieved to cross the finish line after battling my stomach, my vision and my nerves. It’s bean a unpleasant descent from IRONMAN triathlete to struggling to run a 10k. But I did run it and I made it to the end. I wasn’t aiming for any kind of time but for the record it was:

1:21:57

It’s a beautiful race and well worth checking out if you like mountains and sea views.

I’ve been struggling with a lot of stress-related injuries recently which have made racing very challenging. But that doesn’t mean that I cannot compete vicariously. I’m back coaching with DUCC. We got a few swim sessions together last year but this year we have a much stronger schedule with three swims per week. We also have a track day coming up in a few weeks so I am looking forward to that.

Another Paralympics has been and gone and another great result for Team GB. We finished with 124 medals including 49 golds. This is the exact same number of medals we won at Tokyo 2020 but with eight extra golds. It also means Team GB has come second in the medals table again.

This marks the 7th Olympics in the row where we have come second in the medals table. Technically, Russia came second at London 2012 but obviously we don’t count them anymore because the country is a bunch of big cheats.

One of the things that makes me proud to be British is that as good as an Olympic team we field, and we do field an excellent Olympic team, our Paralympic team always outperforms them.

Back in May, Jonas Deichmann set out to try and complete 120 long-format triathlons in a row. Last week, he finished it. This surpasses Sean Conway’s previous record of 105. Congratulations, Jonas!

I finished the namely challenge! I was the last letter I needed to spell my name. It’s a lovely parkrun: along the banks of the estuary, trail, plenty of shade and friendly.

Thorp Perrow is an estate near Bedale. The parkrun is almost entirely off-road. There are bits of track but moatly you’re running across grassy fields. It makes it quite aoft underfoot, and therefore hard work, and I imagine much more difficult in winter. So not a PB course but a beautiful one. Nice cafe, too.

Cycle Against Suicide is a mental health charity. I recently took part on their King of the Castle Sportif which had celebrity guest Sean Kelly leading the ride. Kelly has four green jerseys at the Tour de France and red jersey from La Vuelta and is now one of the leading cycling commentators.

I have taken my bike outside about a dozen times since IRONMAN Copenhagen two years ago, so I signed up for the 65k rather than the 120k, and even then this was a lot further than I have ridden this year. I was nervous after having so many problems with getting my bike fixed.

They did a neutralised rollout at the start with motorbikes stopping cars at junctions and keeping everyone together. It was a bit chaotic but no crashes and felt very pro. The first half was lovely. There was one small hill but otherwise it was relatively flat. And was the ride went on, the rain lifted and the weather became much nicer.

I was following everyone else but my GPS said we were off course. I discussed it with a few other riders and everyone agreed we were on the right road. I decided to slow down and stick with the group so that I would have some local knowledge around me. After all, my GPS was clearly not reliable because it was saying we were on the wrong road when everyone agreed we were on the right road.

We were on the wrong road. But we managed to find our way to the feed stop. After some lunch, there was another rollout and we headed back down the coast. The view was lovely but it was also into a headwind and I started feeling pretty bad. I just stuck with it and tried to eat some more. At 10k to go, my nightmare scenario did happen and the rear tyre lost pressure entirely. Luckily, it wasn’t as bad as it could have been: I was able to pump some more air into it and it held foe the remaining ride. But there is clearly still a problem there.

Overall, a lovely chilled out event. With a burger included at the end as well.

Oldbridge parkrun takes place at Oldbridge House. It’s a country estate which now forms the Battle of the Boyne Visitor Centre.

The course is all off-road. Most of it is grass with some on dirt. It’s a lovely course in several ways: off-road, pretty flat, around some beautiful fields and a single lap (although some of it does form an out back bit). The main limitation would be if you like road or if you want a PB: the narrow tracks through the long grass mean there is not much overtaking room.

I’ve been ill with one of those colds that you it is difficult to believe is “just a cold” because it wiped me out. This was my first attempt at a run back and I was around 35 minutes, and even that felt like a slog. But I got around and ticked off my second O, leaving me with only one letter left for the name badge challenge.

Lots of exciting thing happened at Challenge Roth this year.

In the men’s race, Magnus Ditlev set a new men’s course record of 7:23:24. And in British interests, Tom Bishop moving up to long format, came second with 7:37:54. He was actually overtaken by Rudy Von Berg on the run but battled back to regain second place.

In the women’s race, Anna Haug set a new women’s course record of 8:02:38. It was only two years ago that Katt Matthews set the first women’s sub-8 at Sub7 / Sub8 under artificial conditions and now Haug is less than three minutes from doing it in a race. Also, she’s 41!

Further down the field, Jonas Deichmann completed his 60th full distance triathlon in a row to mark the halfway point in Challenge 120. He’s been taking up to 15 hours to complete them, meaning less than a full night’s sleep, and yet incredibly is still banging them out every day as he chases Sean Conway’s record.

Got my Q!

Queen’s parkrun takes place at Queen’s University’s sports fields and consists of a couple of laps around the campus. Nice, enough, not too hilly. Friendly place. I got chatting to one of the staff at Queen’s and it turns out he does computing. There were also tonnes of tourists, including a woman from Finland so I tried out some of my Finnish, which mostly went well.