Southport Triathlon – Olympic Distance 16th May

19 May 2021 - By Anita Grainger

On Sunday I took part in my first triathlon of the season up in Southport. This was a GB team qualifier event which I have rolled over from 2020 although I wasn’t expecting too much given everything that’s gone on over the last year with COVID, injuries and loosing Dad in January. So I went for the experience and to see where I was. I drove up on Saturday to attend registration.

Sunday’s start time for the ladies wave was at 9am, later than usual although it still meant an early breakfast and arriving at transition before 7am to rack. With COVID restrictions the transition area was very long… more on that later.

I set up in transition next to my new triathlon buddy, Lisa from Cornwall, who I met last year and we always seem to be next to each other in transition & it was nice to see a friendly face.

The swim was in the marine lake and around 12degrees, we set off at 5 sec intervals off a floating pontoon, it was a bit of a shock and definitely woke me up, don’t think I kicked my legs for the 1st 200m! My sighting was ok and had a pretty good swim with only a few clashes with other swimmers fighting for space. I was pleased with my swim time and haven’t lost too much speed in the lockdowns.

After exiting the lake it was off up the steps into the long transition area running across the tarmac barefoot, not that I could feel my fee at all! Then it was off onto the bike with a long run out to the other end of transition to mount the bike….. felt like a whole other section running that far in transition! The Bike course was a flat fast 2 lap on closed roads along the seafront with dead turns at each end. It was a tad windy which soon dried me off after the swim. My bike leg wasn’t as fast as expected and slower than previous efforts but not too far off so something to work on.

Back into transition and a nice long run with my bike , I could hear my legs and feet on the tarmac but couldn’t feel them….. then onto the run. The run always seems to be my least favourite part of triathlons and I knew my pace wasn’t there after injury so I decided to just accept that and try to enjoy the run. After the usual jelly legs for the first 1.5km I settled and took everything in and got into a nice steady pace having a little chat with my Dad watching over me. I enjoyed the run and didn’t do the usual beathing myself up for not running fast enough and it made such a difference as I was smiling during the run and crossed the finish line with a big smile.

All in all grateful to have been able to race and complete in a reasonable time….. a nice start to the season splits and times below

Swim 1500m 30 mins 2 sec
T1 5mins 39 (600m)
Bike 40km 1hr 26mins 15 sec
T2 4mins 45 (450m)
Run 9.5km 55mins 39sec
Total time 3hrs 2min 18sec