Ripon Standard (National Championships) 1/7/17
Posted: 03 Jul 2017 08:11
Oh the plans of mice and men.
Limited racing this year, none last year, and my first open water swim in over two years, not a great foundation. I wasn't going to bother any of the podium position chasers, or ruin someone's chances of an AG place in the GB team, just have a day out racing.
Ripon is a great race, although of all the distances I find the Standard/Olympic the hardest. Over the years it has grown from a club run event NYP Tri, to the National Standard distance championships run by a race company. freebird events.
The bike route has changed, this was the fourth different route, the run route has changed a couple of times, and the swim has become a more accurately measured course.
A nicely timed start of 1pm on a Saturday afternoon, so no getting up at stupid o'clock, the downside is the increase of traffic on the roads. A small queue at registration, huge transition area, about twenty stalls at the expo, selling not very much. Campsite available at race venue. The pre race information informed that there would be a £3 car park charge, all monies going to the Yorkshire Air Ambulance. A bit of a queue getting into the car park due to the various car occupants not having the £3 ready to hand.
Swim:
Wave starts, 7 minutes apart, 9 waves, my wave was wave 7.
The cunning plan was to start at the back, swim on the outer swim line, and relax. Worse swim ever, weeds galore, so had to constantly keep my arms shallow so no deep pull. At one stage I had one arm and both legs tangled in the weeds, took over 600m before getting into the relaxed swim. About 1000m in I heard a shout, stopped looked up, saw another swimmer in a not too happy position, she had another swimmer with her and a canoeist by her side, so I carried on. Eventually out of the water but not in a good frame of mind.
T1:
Nothing to write home about, sedate would be the opportune word.
Bike:
Pretty much an out and back route, alongside the A1. A number of roundabouts, all marshalled, traffic was slowed, but still a couple of motorists to watch out for. A good still breeze, side/tail on the way out, side/head on the return.
The roads were not the widest. A lack of consideration by riders, poor riding skills may have lead to one rider getting taken away in an ambulance. Just because you are in a race, it doesn't exclude you from correct road use procedure. Failure to hold their line, not glancing behind as they overtake. But what took the biscuit, as I approached the accident site, ambulance in situ, blue lights in, draft marshal instructing riders to keep left so you would pass the ambulance on the right, keeping one side of the road open, slowed down to a couple of mph, unclip, until one rider decided they were exempt, overtook the stationary riders/cars on the right, despite the marshaller shouting keep left, blocked the traffic on the other side of the road. TBH, I would not want to be in a team with a competitor that inconsiderate to others if they got chosen to represent their Age Group. When the race is down to seconds, his inconsiderate riding probably screwed up a number of competitors chances, wanker!!!!!!!
His race number was slightly distorted, but I could narrow it down to four, but lack of video evidence and all that.
T2:
As sedate as T1
Run:
A mix of roads, paths and canal towpath. Great support from the householders along the route, aid stations every 1.5 miles. Ran between 150-160bpm to maintain an even pace, walked twice for 100 yards due to muscle niggles.
A great race, there are always some idiots who are selfish, that's life, but there are morons who are out to cause damage through selfishness.
Limited racing this year, none last year, and my first open water swim in over two years, not a great foundation. I wasn't going to bother any of the podium position chasers, or ruin someone's chances of an AG place in the GB team, just have a day out racing.
Ripon is a great race, although of all the distances I find the Standard/Olympic the hardest. Over the years it has grown from a club run event NYP Tri, to the National Standard distance championships run by a race company. freebird events.
The bike route has changed, this was the fourth different route, the run route has changed a couple of times, and the swim has become a more accurately measured course.
A nicely timed start of 1pm on a Saturday afternoon, so no getting up at stupid o'clock, the downside is the increase of traffic on the roads. A small queue at registration, huge transition area, about twenty stalls at the expo, selling not very much. Campsite available at race venue. The pre race information informed that there would be a £3 car park charge, all monies going to the Yorkshire Air Ambulance. A bit of a queue getting into the car park due to the various car occupants not having the £3 ready to hand.
Swim:
Wave starts, 7 minutes apart, 9 waves, my wave was wave 7.
The cunning plan was to start at the back, swim on the outer swim line, and relax. Worse swim ever, weeds galore, so had to constantly keep my arms shallow so no deep pull. At one stage I had one arm and both legs tangled in the weeds, took over 600m before getting into the relaxed swim. About 1000m in I heard a shout, stopped looked up, saw another swimmer in a not too happy position, she had another swimmer with her and a canoeist by her side, so I carried on. Eventually out of the water but not in a good frame of mind.
T1:
Nothing to write home about, sedate would be the opportune word.
Bike:
Pretty much an out and back route, alongside the A1. A number of roundabouts, all marshalled, traffic was slowed, but still a couple of motorists to watch out for. A good still breeze, side/tail on the way out, side/head on the return.
The roads were not the widest. A lack of consideration by riders, poor riding skills may have lead to one rider getting taken away in an ambulance. Just because you are in a race, it doesn't exclude you from correct road use procedure. Failure to hold their line, not glancing behind as they overtake. But what took the biscuit, as I approached the accident site, ambulance in situ, blue lights in, draft marshal instructing riders to keep left so you would pass the ambulance on the right, keeping one side of the road open, slowed down to a couple of mph, unclip, until one rider decided they were exempt, overtook the stationary riders/cars on the right, despite the marshaller shouting keep left, blocked the traffic on the other side of the road. TBH, I would not want to be in a team with a competitor that inconsiderate to others if they got chosen to represent their Age Group. When the race is down to seconds, his inconsiderate riding probably screwed up a number of competitors chances, wanker!!!!!!!
His race number was slightly distorted, but I could narrow it down to four, but lack of video evidence and all that.
T2:
As sedate as T1
Run:
A mix of roads, paths and canal towpath. Great support from the householders along the route, aid stations every 1.5 miles. Ran between 150-160bpm to maintain an even pace, walked twice for 100 yards due to muscle niggles.
A great race, there are always some idiots who are selfish, that's life, but there are morons who are out to cause damage through selfishness.