SWYD Barry Island Sprint Triathlon 26th May2024

27 May 2024 - By Anita Grainger

Anita headed off to Wales to compete in the SWYD (Sleep When you’re Dead) Sprint Triathlon on Barry Island in Wales the home of Gavin and Stacey and a European Qualifier.

After an eventful journey on Saturday taking 6.5 hours thanks to closures on the M4 Anita just made it in time to register. Having missed the first race of the season at the beginning of May and now recovering form whooping cough Anita was hoping to be able to well enough to compete.

The race stated with a run into the sea in Whitmore Bay, the course was cut short due to sea vs air temp. Anita had a coughing fit 10m into the swim and it was nearly game over as she couldn’t breath. After doing a bit of breaststroke she calmed down and got on with it. Such a shame as the swim is normally one of her strongest disciplines.  The swim finished with a run onto the beach, up the steps through the park and into transition. The bike leg consisted of 3 laps on the roads round Barry which were wet in places from overnight rain. Anita had a decent bike leg but not up to speed yet. The run consisted of 2 laps round the edges of the old harbour and Whitmore Bay, a pretty route. Anita had a good run staying positive for the first time in ages, normally the run is where Anita has to try and hold it together. A good performance considering in recovery mode just missing out on Q4 qualification. Onwards an upwards for the next events, times below

Swim 13.37 (includes run over to T1)

T1 2.15

Bike : 43.19

T2 : 1.45

Run 27.29

Total: 1.28.27