Once more unto the breach, dear friends… Andy Notley battles the wet conditions in the Stratford-Upon-Avon Sprint Triathlon

1 May 2018 - By James Montgomery

So with spring upon us, WRC triathletes have started to stretch their wings with Andy Notley the first to stick his head above the parapet at the Stratford-Upon-Avon sprint distance triathlon.

AND given the lovely sunny conditions of the previous weekend, Andy could be forgiven for looking forward to something similar on the morning of his first sprint triathlon of the year; however, a grey sky and a fair bit of rain greeted competitors as they racked their bikes for the 400m swim, 18km bike and 5km run event.

In to the pool and Andy was off at 8:05. With the swim safely completed in 6mins 36secs, he set out into the cold and rain to get on the bike.

With the wet roads there were warnings to take care negotiating the route out of town then onto some quiet and fairly flat country roads. As the route climbed to its highest point passing exposed fields, the wind picked up and Andy started to feel the cold, the wet & the effort. Relief came with the downhill section and the few miles back into town to the bike finish in 30mins 37secs and then into transition to try and get socks and trainers on to frozen and damp feet!

The run was two laps and though Andy’s weakest discipline, he felt good on the first lap and even with the muddy sections trying to suck his trainers off he completed the run in 22mins 13secs, less than a minute off his pb for a stand-alone 5k.

Andy’s final time was 1hr 1min 42sec, with an overall position of 24th out of the 341 male finishers, and 4th in age group.

Maybe no crying for Harry, God or England, but simply because you’re cold wet and miserable and still a great start to the year!

Splits:
Swim: 00:06:36
Bike: 00:30:37
Run: 00:22:13