Rachel takes on the Cumbrian Hills, Road Closures and Weather at the Ullswater Triathlon
10 July 2016 - By James Montgomery
The Ullswater Traithlon is normally tough. Being in Cumbria, when there’s been a lot of rain and it’s windy. it’s simply tougher, which is probably more normal. Since the triathlon was being held in such conditions, the organisers changed the swim course to try and make life a bit easier for the competitors but instead of one lap, it became two… This had the effect of making the swim longer at around 1650m. After a good slap around the face (by the waves, that is) the very tough swim saw many slower swim times than expected and Rachel was quite exhausted at the end of that leg.
Onto the bike section and as you might expect being in Cumbria there are plenty of hills with undulating, rolling roads giving Rachel plenty of time to admire the fantastic scenery, making the effort worthwhile. However, a theme that is not unfamiliar to us Essex cyslists are the cheap stone chippings that are laid down under the guise of “road resurfacing” not only did the competitors have to deal with this but also a road closure meant a slightly longer bike section. Another theme was developing here…
And not to be outdone by the swim and bike legs, the 10k off-road run section also had a minor change making it 4 laps instead of 3, but running along the lake side was pretty with the pebbles and loose stones underfoot making the run to the finish interesting!!
With this as a good base, Rachel now looks forward to the London Triathlon in 4 weeks time. Hopefully the elements won’t be quite so significant.
Swim: 0:50:26
Bike: 1:37:16
Run: 0:55:15
Overall: 3:26:45
Very well done Rachel – sounds like fun!
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