WRC Members take on The Outlaw Triathlon

26 July 2016 - By James Montgomery

On Sunday, a contingent of WRC members travelled up to Nottinghamshire for the Outlaw Triathlon, held at the National Water Sports Centre at Holme Pierrepont. The Outlaw Triathlon is a full “Iron” distance event consisting a 2.4 miles swim, 112 miles bike and 26.2 miles run.

Two individuals, Paul Hedger and myself were taking part in the whole event and two relay teams of three consisting Theresa Montgomery (swim), Tony and Brigid Wallen (bike and run respectively) and a second team with Wendy Martin (Swim), Stuart Mills (bike) and Alex Stuckey (run).

The swim was an early 6am start, with the sun just beginning to show itself above the rowing regatta lake of which we would basically swim 2 lengths. The water was pretty calm until the start and then it became a maestrom as 1000+ competitors charged into the water. Starting with the faster swimmers and going like a torpedo, first out was Wendy in 1hr 07 mins 17 secs; myself, Paul and Theresa started among the slower swimmers with both myself and Paul making good progress through the field and were a few minutes apart at T1 in 1:32:18 and 1:38:43 respectively. Unfortunately, Theresa didn’t have a good swim and reoccurring motion sickness forced her to withdraw at the top end of lake, this also meant that the team were unable to continue.

The bike course was 3 laps of two loops, with the 1st and 3rd laps the same, largely flat with a couple of climbs on the northern loop. With Stuart blazing a trail averaging nearly 20mph, myself and Paul were locked in our own heated battle, passing each other several times during the 112 miles. Although the course was predominantly flat, this came at the expense of being open to the wind and everyone found the last 25 – 30 miles particularly hard going. Stuart finished in under 6 hours in an impressive 5hrs 57mins 18secs and more so since this was his first ride over 100 miles. Myself and Paul posted almost identical bike splits and entered T2 close together, with my time of 6hrs 52mins and 05secs with Paul closing the gap a little in 6hrs 51mins and 30secs.

Alex now took over from Stuart on the run which consisted several laps of the regatta lake followed by a long haul alongside the River Trent, which we had to do twice. Having had typical preparation during the week leading up, Alex stormed off at a fast pace before his legs reminded him he was running a marathon. His positive split aside he finished well within his target time of under 4 hours, completing the marathon in 3hrs 54mins 50secs, giving their team an excellent overall time of 11hrs 02mins 32secs and 27th from the 87 teams that completed.

Myself and Paul had now been on the go for over 8 1/2 hours and “just” had the marathon to complete. With similar run/walk plans, I set off from T2 a few minutes ahead of Paul, thankful to be off the bike as I’d been suffering some lower back pain for most of the ride. Paul, meanwhile, was going through all sorts of issues as his legs locked up and suffering from some sickness. We passed each other on the run several times and a massage had helped Paul get going again. Keeping to my plan became much harder after the halfway stage, but persisting I eventually finished in 5hrs 07mins 53secs and an overall of 13hrs 57mins 39secs. Paul demonstrated great courage in overcoming his running issues to get to the finish line, which he crossed in 7hrs 11mins 53secs and an overall of 16hrs 5mins 33secs.

We also had fantastic support out along the way. Liz Stuckey and Jen Hedger having to endure the whole day as supporters and from experience, that is just as hard to do as the event itself. They were joined shortly after the swim start by Brigid, Tony and Theresa then Wendy, Alex and Stuart as their relay legs allowed them to. Thanks guys!

Splits:

Relay:
Wendy Martin (swim):  1hr  07mins 17secs
Stuart Mills (bike):  5hrs 57mins 18secs
Alex Stuckey (run) :  3hrs 54mins 50secs
Overall:             11hrs 02mins 32secs

James Montgomery:
Swim:     1hr  32mins 18secs
Bike:     6hrs 52mins 05secs
Run:      5hrs 07mins 53secs
Overall: 13hrs 57mins 39secs

Paul Hedger:
Swim:     1hr  38mins 43secs
Bike:     6hrs 51mins 30secs
Run:      7hrs 11mins 53secs
Overall: 16hrs 05mins 33secs