Bucklers Revenge

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Hi All, 

Thought it was about time I did a write up on the Bucklers revenge just so you can all appreciate just how soaking wet we all got!!

When we arrived the weather appeared to be fine and I thought we might just get away with it although I'm glad I took Tamzin's advice and popped my low light lenses into my glasses for the bike! Transition all set up and then it was time to head down to the hard to check out the river, all appeared calm, what was all this talk of a strong current looks ok to me! I was soon to find out!

One last trip to the loo before on with the wetsuit and the final race brief by the river, I was in the first of 3 waves and as Richard let us in the water and said right I'll give you 50 seconds before I sound the horn, we had all dicovered the current which was pushing us rapidly towrads the start line and we said we haven't got 50 seconds!! The horn went and we flew down the river and i think i must have turned in 3rd place at the bouy.  However upon turning rd the bouy I soon dicovered what it would be like to swim in an endless pool!!  The effort that was needed to get going again was immence and if only I had gone to the side a lot sooner I would have saved a lot of time (minutes i reckon!) anyhow I fought my way back to the turn around bouy and did it all again!  However this time i decided to go to the side sooner although I thought I best not swim under the little pier onto which a small rib was moored, big mistake! Whilst I was fighting my way around it, others simply swam under it in less current whilst I got pinned against the rib and had to swim like mad to get past before moving to the side to catch people again! Finally I emerged from the river to run the 400m uphill to the transition area.

After an age in transition during which time I probably could have had morning tea and read the newspaper as well with quite a few people going past whilst in T1, (improvements here I feel!) I finally got out onto the bike and I was feeling pretty good!  Overtaking a couple of people before getting to Beaulieu but from then on it was a pretty lonely existence for most of the bike apart from a couple of guys coming past whilst I overtook 4 others I think, although to be honest due to the rain which started about 4 miles into the bike I couldn't really be sure as just seeing the road in front of you at times was hard enough!!!  However with a little old fashion grit and determination and Lewis's favorate phase "smash it up!" swirling around in my head I pushed on only coming off the tri bars on the corners where i couldn't see the road for laggoons that had gathered on the road!

I came back into T2 just over the 2hr mark averaging 21.4mph for the bike which I was pretty happy with considering the conditions! T2 was a much swifter affair and I flew out of transition with the legs feeling pretty good although 2k's into the run my quads started to cramp (oh no here we go again!) anyway I managed to get to the first turn around point and was confronted by 3 ladies going mad shouting at me whilst I rounded the cone (thanks Egg, Sarah and Nicky!), as I headed back down the hill from this point the cramp started to fade and i pushed on catch the people in front of me, however I had managed to pick up a stone in my shoe which was becoming bloody painful as it had worked its way under my forefoot so as I come back to complete the first lap I had to stop take my shoe off and remove the little swine! so I had to catch the guys in front all over again which I did however half way throught the second lap and numbness then set in and now I couldn't feel my feet I was running on stumps! It was no good I have to admit to stopping and trying to beat some feeling back into my feet however this did no good at first!  However a quarter of the way into the third lap and feeling was restored and I was able to run freely again although I had lost the places I had gainind on the first lap!  Anyhow by the time i got to the the final turnaround point where Egg, Sarah and Nicky were doing a great job shouting their support I could only just muster a grunt as I went past grabbing what energy drink I could before setting off for the finish line, it was only about 2 3rds of the way round the 3rd lap it stopped raining so I crossed the finish line in the dry (well there was not rain falling) but completely soaked and under 4hrs, which if someone had asked me before the race what would be a good time then I would have said under 4hrs, so happy with that! :-)

After a little recuperation in the finishing area I stumbled over to collect my bits and pieces from transition, pouring about of inch of water out of my transition box! Despite the weather I really enjoyed the race and the challenge of the swim (although next time I will be taking a slightly different approach) and would highly recommend it to anyone, well organised and upto the usual standards set by Richard and Jo.

 

Sam

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Author: Sam Pociecha - 09 September 2011 12:22