A small contingent of Carnethies at the New Years Day Triathlon. This event has been running for about 25 years, with a hiatus a few years ago for the refurbishment of the Commonwealth Pool. It’s a popular event, often one of the biggest triathlons in Scotland of the year with 400+ starters, and usually for about a third of competitors it’s their first triathlon. I think it was Mike Lynch’s second. I’ve done more triathlons than hill races, but I’d not competed in the NYD Tri since 2005. The race is a 400m swim in the Commie, followed by three laps of Arthur’s Seat on bike, then a final (on road) lap on foot.
As anyone who was about on the 1st will have noticed, the weather was less than ideal. But that’s part of the challenge of doing an event invented in sunny California in the middle of a Scottish winter. Fortunately the temperature was fairly mild, but the strong winds caused lots of problems on the bike where staying upright had to take priority over putting the hammer down. It was really very wet.
Mike finished in 1:21:23. I finished in 1:26:07, only about 4 minutes slower than ten years ago which I think is good going. Mike would make a pretty good triathlete if he could learn to swim and sorted his transitions out. He certainly is overachieving at getting his excuses in early. Mr “I’ve got a calf problem” Lynch still smoked me on the run and I’ve got no injuries at all at the moment! Mind you (and I’ll get this in before the Presidential Ego demands it) one Willie Gibson did a 1:14 back in 2001. I think that was a shorter course.
Meanwhile, Charlie and Anna Burnett were performing well in the kids bike/run duathlon with Charlie getting 3rd place. Neil and kids did a great job of cheering me on as a waited for my start. Seona Burnett finished the triathlon in 1:28:16 for Pentland Triathletes.
Results are here Photos by Seona Burnett, Anna Henley (Kathy’s sister, you’d never know it) and Bob Marshall.
Joel Sylvester