With all the goals from the first part of the season ticked off as successfully completed, Eleanor took a short rest before resuming competition in impressive style…

Well, this weekend, with what seemed like so many races to choose from, I opted to stay closer to home following a mid-season break after Deva tri.  After lots of relaxing with family and friends, I eased myself back into training last week with my first ever 25TT on the Wed, and gave my legs a right shock!  Whilst I was pleased with my time of 64’55, my legs felt totally trashed and I figured that this was either: good for the weekend triathlon by blowing away the cobwebs, or going to get very ugly at 8am on Sunday!

After sleeping in my own bed the night before a race, and a mere 20mins drive to the venue under dry skies, I was quite excited to be racing again.  The swim was a one-way affair down the River Ure, and the race organizer, Mark Livesey, led us like the pied piper through numerous cow fields, with us clutching carrier bags for putting our footwear in.  We were met there by a piper in full Scottish dress, which nostalgically reminded me of some of my races back in Scotland over the last few years.  Indeed, the piper then served as the start horn!  I managed to get a better swim than the last few races after trying a slightly different warmup routine, and was pleased to lead the ladies race up through the gardens from the river into T1.

The bike course was a mix of flat and fast (on the TT course I’d used on Wednesday – the old A1 road), and some undulating country lanes.  The TT sections had some dead turns which gave me the opportunity to check out where the rest of the field was.  Of course, someone coming the other way always looks dangerously fast, even if they’re behind you, which helped keep the pressure on, just in case they were closing.  The final section was into the beautiful parkland of Newby Hall, with the open ground giving not a jot of respite into the headwind!  The sheep behaved well, not venturing onto the roads, but baa’d a lot.  I’m not sure if they were impressed or not!

There were plenty of spectators who had come to support the event, and I took a lot of support from both them and the banter from the commentary box, out onto the run course.  Two laps of the country park, on a nice mix of terrain.  It had plenty of interest, but not too technical and no horrible hills.  It was great to take the win – who doesn’t like being on the top of the podium?!  The prizes were also top notch – prosecco, flowers and lots of cash!  Great race put on by Mark, and I can certainly encourage folks to do his middle distance race in early September which uses much of the same course www.functionalfitnessevents.co.uk

So, now to get back into a solid block of training, with the Castle Howard standard in July followed by the Scottish Middle Distance Championships in August.

Photo provided by Sport Sunday Photography www.sportsunday.co.uk

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