Jim Hardie and I signed up for this earlier in the year. I have previously completed 2 triathlons and Jim has managed the Solstice one a couple of times (or more?), but had never done one on a road bike and with a pool swim, so we are both still feeling our way in these things. One of of my three objectives for the day – to stay as close to Jim’s finishing time as possible – was removed with him clobbering himself during the week on some, er, pub, stairs and requiring a stapling job, resulting in him (wisely) pulling out. The thought of ripping out those staples as he removed his helmet/swim cap would make anyone wince. Which left the twin objectives of beating my Eyemouth time from last year (barring disaster, a certainty) and dipping under the 90 minute mark (more of a challenge).
Jim kindly agreed to drive us out to Tranent and we started to gather for registration and the race briefing. The ‘absolutely no nudity at transitions’ clause was a bit disappointing, but we made the best of it. There were some dazzling bikes on show and I could tell that Jim had wished he’d borrowed a van for the day. I was expecting my swim heat to be the first, given how poor I am at swimming, but there were (remarkably) worse swimmers out there than me, so I was on the second heat. Each lane had 5 swimmers in it (mostly) which makes for extra stress in terms of overtaking etc. so I was glad when the swim leg was over (in a PB of over 1.5 minutes, yay! Although I didn’t know it at the time). One advantage (and I guess there has to be one) of being a poor swimmer, and a half decent runner/cyclist is that you can overtake everyone else around you and so it proved. The bike leg was an 11.5 course and fairly flat, heading out towards Cousland and Ormiston and back in towards Tranent. Unfortunately, in addition to the one set of permanent traffic lights, the local council had decided to get started with some roadworks (despite the protests from organisers), so in theory you could have been stuck at three sets of lights throughout the duration of the bike leg (I got through one set, but was stuck at two). Times were adjusted accordingly, but it did interrupt momentum somewhat.
The run was a double loop of the local housing and I came in to lie in first place, which lasted for a wee while until the fasties started to come in. I was just outside the 80 minute mark, but knowing that a downward adjustment for the bike was coming I knew I was heading for sub-80 minutes, which I was very happy with. In the end I finished in 43rd position (and 13th MV), in 1.19.33, with the winner, Graham Scobie, of West Lothian Triathlon Club finishing in 1.02.14.
I was all done and dusted before 11am, which meant Jim and I could watch the others have their fun while we sipped coffee, munched sandwiches and played with the timing machine. A grand morning out!
Results here: http://whatsmytime.co.uk/index.php/race-results/2015-01-16-11-33-42/2015-01-16-11-41-24/tranent-triathlon-2015
Mike Lynch