Newquay Big Goat Sprint – 400m Swim – 22km Cycle – 5.2km Run
Pre-race
After the disappointment of Woking’s sprint triathlon being cancelled earlier this month I was very much looking for a triathlon event that I could give the lungs a blow out ahead of my first A race of the year.
Out of the blue 2 good friends of mine sent me a link to a sprint triathlon in Cornwall, both were keen to enter. This came as a bit of shock as neither had experience of competing at each discipline, one didn’t have a bike and I was pretty sure the other couldn’t swim.
I replied, I will enter if you both do. The rest is history.
Race Day
After a bit of a the panic the night before of having open roads I decided I needed to get up extra early do a quick drive of the bike course in the car. Probably the best decision I made!!
I will be honest this revealed a very dodgy bike course. Within the first and last 5km were a series of mini roundabouts and roads peppered with side roads. As for the hills, yes they steep but they were short and there was a small bit of rest between them. I made some mental and paper notes of where I planned to push and rest, the paper notes were then taped to my bike.
After the drive, it was time to meet up with Harry and Sophie and go through the registration and racking process. It was clear that there was a number of people who were taking this very seriously (me including), lot’s of TT bikes in the racks which settled me down as at one point it looked like I maybe the only one!!
The nice part of a smaller event and a pool based swim meant I was able to watch lots of people set off including Harry and Sophie. Turns out both can swim…although “swimming is harder than it looks” (H.Newman).
Once both were on their way it was time to get myself prepped. I had worked out that I was in the last group to go which meant if I managed to put a good swim and bike together I would be at the sharp end of the race come the run.
I had 2 aims for this race, complete a sub 6min 400m and run fast off the bike. I didn’t have time in mind for the run, just a case of running with my HR above 165 and see where that puts me.
Swim
I had a disappointing swim for two reasons. Firstly, I swam 450m. I can count I promise. In fact I knew before even looking at my watch that the lane counter had made an error. On your penultimate 50m they were supposed to pop a float in the water indicating you had 2 lengths to go and then you get out. Secondly, even with the 50m deducted I swam the 400m in about 6:05.
Even though it was only 400m in my head I was immediately questioning why I was doing this event….. not a good start to the day.
After getting out the water all those thoughts were left inside the leisure center thank god.
A rare photo of me swimming!! looks like i'm actually extending as well!!!
Out of the water heading to T1
Cycle
As usual I couldn’t wait to get out on my bike. The transition zone was at the top of the carpark and after mounting the bike, you would fly down past the leisure center and head out on the open road. This gave me the perfect opportunity to speed past my family and in particular my Mother, I like to worry her.
Once out of the carpark the course immediately starts with a small incline and it was from this moment I attacked. I was targeting a HR of 165 when pedaling and I was going to push hard to achieve this. I caught 2 or 3 people early on which I recognised from my wave and this boosted my confidence.
After the first 5km which goes up and down a little the next 7-10km included the 3 hills. The event offered a King of Mountain award for the fastest person over the climbs combined. It wasn’t an aim of mine to win this, but it certainly provided the motivation to push for the entire climb.
Overall the bike course was an odd one, I worked bloody hard when pedalling and I managed to stay in the aero position on the bike for most of the sections applicable. The problem was the downhill parts were so steep that you had to free wheel, which gave me a lot of time to rest, this meant trying to keep a consistent HR or Cadence proved tricky.
On the last 5km I knew I was on for a fairly decent time, each 5km split had been between 7-9mins so a sub 40min time was on the cards. I was also flying past people, which was incredibly satisfying.
As I returned to rack my bike I had no idea how my legs would respond to 40mins flat out on the bike.
Returning from the bike leg
Run
After my fastest transition to date (thanks to now owning a tri suit) I was off on the run. Immediately my legs were like jelly and I was kicking myself for not drinking all of my drink/gel on the bike. Either way I decided to run off feel and try and pick people off.
At this point the course was fairly busy with people and knew I wasn’t actually racing them but it was good to use them as markers/targets.
After 1km I was over taken by a chap flying, I very quickly decided I wasn’t going to kick and try and stay with him. Sensible decision.
Around the 2km mark someone else came past me, at this point I decided to not let this happen again and I was going to run with this chap or at least keep him in my sights.
At exactly the half way point I caught my friend Harry, much to both our surprise!! His words of encouragement gave me the boost I needed to kick past the chap who over took me and from that point on the goal became keep him behind you.
In the last 1.5km my legs really started to come to me which is encouraging and certainly bodes well for the longer distance races I’m targeting. I had broke well clear of the chap behind and put in a solid effort up the finish line.
Final push for the line
Post event
After crossing the line and immediately telling my mother that was harder than an Ironman there were some confused faces. Of course it wasn’t actually harder, but it is actually harder than I thought it would be to go ‘flat out’ for just over an hour.
I had no idea how I had done overall or what my finish time was. I went to the presentation post event in the hope I may have done well in the KOM challenge, I had no expectation of actually getting on the podium.
When my name was read out as finishing 2nd overall I was a little bit taken back. The field was very diverse but there was certainly some experienced triathletes there. I had to remind myself this is my first sprint, first event of the year and I’m not training for this distance.
After the event Harry, Sophie and I managed to get our respective families together for a much needed feed. It was while driving the short distance to the café that the emotion of what I had just done hit me…. A tear did roll down one cheek.
Great day, great event and I’m certainly going to do a couple more of the Cornish events to see where I end up in the league table.
Overall time
Swim - 06:32
T1 - 01:04
Cycle - 40:01
T2 - 00:37
Run - 21:22
Total time - 1:09:38
Overall time
Swim - 06:32
T1 - 01:04
Cycle - 40:01
T2 - 00:37
Run - 21:22
Total time - 1:09:38
Thanks for taking the time to read this. Get in touch via Instagram if you have any questions.
Thanks
@Triathlon_Ross
The finish line with Sophie, Harry and Penguin