Triathlons and Duathlons
Like many runners, members of Carnethy Hill Running Club will touch on many things outside of running. Sometimes climbing, sometimes swimming, maybe road cycling or MTB, or perhaps just rhythmic dance. It’s nice to dabble, after all, we’re not hillrunning robots. Not road running though, that’s a step too far. For those that occasionally cycle and maybe a little splashing round a pool, there’s a wonderful world of triathlon out there.
Triathlons can sound a little daunting, and most people fear the swim part in particular. I wouldn’t worry too much about that as the swim sections can be as short as 400m (8 lengths of the Commonwealth Pool) for the “Come and Tri” events. Obviously the cycle and then run sections are equally short (around 10km cycle, 3km run). At the other end of the spectrum there’s Iron-distance triathlons consisting of 2.4mile swim, 112mile cycle and 26.2mile run. Between these events there are many flavours of Triathlon, consisting of varying distances, along with onroad/offroad cycle, onroad/offroad run, indoor/outdoor swim. There’s even some events that are even more mental than iron-distance, but that’s for another day. For now, all you need to know is that we have a wee section dedicated to the reports from Triathlons, along with any nuggets of info that may help you on your exciting new sport!
Reports…
Moving up the pack…
New Years Day took on a new look as club members Magi Hunter and Sandra Cromie completed the Edinburgh New Years Day triathlon, ably supported by our pit crew, member, Gregor Heron. This was the first time for me, but Sandra is practically a veteran competitor with a very credible finish in 2023. Following on from modest success in the Speyside triathlon in June 23 (See “last place pride”) I was hoping that I would be able to offer a better performance in the 400m swim in the Commonwealth pool, 3 times round Arthurs Seat on the bike and a running lap to finish. We had the perfect weather, cool and bright but dry, and a very encouraging pre-race pep talk from members Jim Hardie, Sandy Patterson, Fraser Gibson, Nicki McLean and relay team members, Carole Fortune, Julia Saunders and Philipa. As this is run with a staggered swim start, I was extremely early in the pool and very quickly passed by Sandra but the whole race has a very friendly and encouraging ethos which continued throughout. In fact, if anyone wanted to do their first triathlon, this would be the one to start with. Once on the bike the public support kept the spirits up as Holyrood Park was full of walkers and recovering revellers who cheered everyone round (and occasionally wandered in front of the bikers) but kept us going until the running lap. I was very much feeling it by then, and this must have been obvious as several much older women made a point of saying “Good for you, Hen, keep it up”, a very kind tourist started to pace me and a young mother spontaneously offered to feed me Jelly Babies. I took this all in the spirit it was intended and, with a final burst of effort, made it to the finish line well before the last competitors feeling very, very proud (but also, according to Gregor, looking a bit “grey”) But did I wait to cheer over the final runners? You bet my aching old backside I did! There is nothing more important than feeling part of the whole event regardless of your finishing place and, for those who are at the end, this is even more appreciated. Feeling integrated into the race “family” encourages you to try again, try harder and learn from your experiences to hopefully make improvements so, the time the racer snakes spend cheering on the stragglers is never, ever wasted.
So, here’s to a fit and fulsome 2024 for us all, and always, let’s hear it for (not quite) last place pride!
Magi Hunter
A game of 3 halves
After a 5.30am breakfast the previous week for a race in the Alps, last Saturday I found myself up at 3.45am to force down some fuel ahead of a 5am deep water start at the beginning of the Solo 0.5 Celtman, the ‘baby’ version of the full event which had been run the previous weekend. The race involves a 2.2km swim around Loch Shieldaig, an 85km cycle around the Applecross peninsula and a 23.6km run around Liathach.
Other than the early start, the swim leg went well. Lots of jellyfish but no stingy ones, relatively warm water and only a modest amount of thrashing in the mass start. Swimming face down provides no sense of where you are in relation to the rest of the field but when I exited the water after about 42 minutes I was relieved to see a fair number of bikes still on the racks so I knew I wasn’t in last place.
Transition went OK with only mild cursing of my wetsuit and I set off on the cycle leg feeling reasonably positive, pleased that I could still feel my fingers and toes. We cycled initially south towards Tornapress and I started to regret my smugness at leaving plenty of bikes behind me at T1 as I realised that this just meant there were more people to overtake me. Over the next half hour, a constant stream of much stronger cyclists passed me including Noel Tomney (club member but competing on the day for his tri club, Edinburgh #3). Thankfully, once we’d reach the bottom of the fabled Bealach na Ba I was past caring about being overtaken (or maybe I was dead last by that stage). I laboured my way up the hill, mercifully shrouded in cloud, for a full 50 minutes bottom to top before enjoying the descent to Applecross followed by a lovely stretch along the west coast of the peninsula with a decent tail wind. My only low point during this section was when I was overtaken for the second time by Noel who’d had time for a toilet break and probably a sit down meal in Applecross before he sailed past me again. With this demotivation playing on my mind, I struggled badly for the last 20 miles back along the ‘undulating’ north coast (barely a flat metre the whole way), finally making it into T2 in Torridon after just less than 4 hours on the bike.
After a pathetically slow transition (who knew I could take so long to tie my shoe laces??), I set off on the run leg with my legs (which had clearly been having a rest for most of the cycle leg) feeling OK. Eliott Sedman, another club member who was also competing for his tri club, Grangemouth, rather than Carnethy, had come into T2 just as I was leaving so I knew he would catch me and so it turned out within the first 2 miles but, amazingly, after that, no-one else passed me and I slowly crept up the field as my relative strength in ‘running’ over unrunnable rocky terrain finally paid dividends. The triathlete thoroughbreds weren’t loving the going while the cart horse hill runners were in their element. Eliott counted 75 people he passed and I must have caught about 50. The run leg finishes with a few miles on the road into Torridon and I just about managed to hang on to finish in 7hrs 27minutes for 43rd position. Eliot finished almost exactly on the 7hr mark for an excellent 22nd place and Noel was just over 8hrs. The winner was 5hrs 25 minutes, over half an hour ahead of the 2nd athlete (that must have been an awkward wait!).
A tough day out, particularly on the cycle leg for me but an awesome location and an excellent course with a good level of infrastructure and support. I’m definitely never doing it again, I promised myself that towards the top of the Bealach, but I’d recommend it to others.
Neil Burnett
Last place pride…
On the 11th June, for the second year running, Carnethy members Sandra Chandler and Magi Hunter took part in the “Fitness at 58 degrees” Speyside Sprint Triathlon on the banks of the beautiful Loch Inch. We were well supported by our “pit crew”, members Richard Chandler and Gregor Heron, but as both officially “supervets”, and the forecast predicating it to be the hottest day of the year so far, neither of us were expecting to worry the Brownlee brothers on the 500-metre swim, an 18km gravel bike ride through Glen Feshie Forest and a 10Km run on the Speyside way.
Sandra, however, took off for the swim like a dolphin whereas I stuck to my “Victorian Duchess” technique – a standard that continued throughout the race until I finally finished in last place, an hour behind the winner but still able to call up an enthusiastic applause from the spectators and a hug from the very encouraging organiser, Sam. The funny thing is- I was still so proud of my performance. Sandra powered round the course like a pro both years but the previous year I had ended up in the rescue boat (apparently it resembled a large tuna being landed) but this year completed the whole course, supported every step of the way by other runners and the many spectators.
So why does this matter? Well, being a member of a club with so many record winning runners it just reiterates how important it is to be inclusive based on ability. The slow Pentland runs are just that- encouraging, friendly and allow everybody to enjoy the camaraderie that comes from group runs but it would be great to see more of these. So, if you are a racer snake- more power to you but make sure you hang around at the end and show your support to your fellow club members- we all started somewhere. However, if, like me, you are more of a carthorse then don’t be put off- do the run, keep your chin up and take the support that’s offered– and trust that one of these days, you’ll be cheering on the finish line for someone else. Let’s hear it for Last Place Pride!!
Magi Hunter
Wee Cycle on the Edge (The Heb)
The Heb Race happened at the start of September. If you haven’t been to the Outer Hebrides yet, let’s just say it is one of Scotland’s best kept secrets. I have cycled, run and raced on them a few times and every visit brings an amazing experience and a great adventure. I named my dog Barra after the southern main island of the archipelago. This year, three weeks before, I re-crocked one of my dodgy knees again and the x rays, scans, acupuncture and physio were inconclusive other than lots of degenerative & arthritic blah blah. They could not confirm the cause of the three pains so I had a decision to make; cancel and try and get a refund or deferral or go and do the non-running and non-walking bits and treat the cycle as physio. In other words, use the ferry and campsite bookings, cycle about and follow the route, eat the paid-for meals, enjoy the race craik and use it as a wee holiday.
The Heb is known as the “Race on the Edge. An achievable, exciting, engaging, truly adventurous and absorbing journey through the most spectacular, wild and remote landscape the UK has to offer – the Hebridean Island chain off the west coast of Scotland!” It involves two days of cycling roads, tracks and trails, kayaking, hill running and some navigation around the central islands of Benbecula, North and South Uist plus visiting the quite unique Vallay across 2km of immaculate sands.
Using this race as physio for a sore knee mirrored my solution to a previous knee injury which worked well. We all met at Mallaig for the 3.5hr ferry to South Uist. While the others took comfy warm coaches, I set off from Lochboisdale Ferry with Barra sitting in a pull along dog buggy as the rain started and cycled the 37km to our Benbecula campsite. Arriving cold and drenched I put a tent up in torrential rain and was the last to get fed. Joy. After a venison pie and soggy chips I slept well with a wet Barra who became very cuddly. In the mornings he escaped the tent to chase rabbits around the Otters View Campsite and said hello to most of the 150 racers and maxing out on cuddles.
In summary, I cycled the Day 1 cycle route dragging a 26kg dog in a 10+kg buggy in the rain, wind and sun and did 110km. I missed the running legs but did hobble to one checkpoint on Vallay to confirm I could not walk. On the Hebrides it is nearly always windy. If it is blowing the wrong way on a bike with a trailer you are stuffed. Everyone was friendly, cycling past me and saying hi as Barra whined to get me to cycle faster or let him out to run, which I did where I could safely. Day 2 was more of the same with the wind coming from the South as we headed South on an incredible 12km beach section on South Uist’s West coast. One of my three pains gave an increasingly sore knee that required me to bail out over the sand dunes to a golf course and so to find tarmac to the race end, after 50km of cycling.
Carnethy had a few racers with Drew Sharkey coming second overall behind Edinburgh Tri’s Calum Fisher. Issy ? came second female pair with her friend Vic. Well done both. Barra ran after anyone he could see and finished very clean while I finished as a non-starter with an even sorer knee. If you fancy a stunning adventure race next September, look up The Heb. Don’t try it with a dog and as physio though!
Mark Hartree
Celtman Solo Point 5 (the one for Jessies?)
The Celtman Solo Point 5 is not really a hill race so is barely worthy of a report here. However, it does run on a trail through the hills of Torridon from Inveralligan under Beinn Alligan, the mighty Liathach and the stunning Beinn Eighe over a pass rising to just under 400m. You get 16km of technical trail before a road and a cunning trail run to the race finish at Torridon village hall.
I guess it is a poor man’s Lairig Ghru in that respect, shorter, lower maybe nicer scenery.
It has a bigger brother -The Full Celtman which is an Extreme Triathlon (i.e. a long Ironman with hills) that a few Carnethies have done. That race allows support cars and support runners. The Celtman .5 is done solo and half its brother, apart from its ascent. It is therefore equally extreme.
Preceding the trail run is a brutal 92km cycle around the Applecross peninsula with Britain’s longest bike climb over Bealach na Ba. This gets steep, it poured with rain, and had a sketchy hair raisingly fast wet descent. It is a tough climb but the hills that follow are unrelenting strength sappers. My cunning tactic of letting Jim Hardie fly off ahead on the first climb was rewarded when I pumped past him on a steep climb 70km into the cycle. I made a massive 4 mins on him by Transition 2.
Being a Triathlon, of course, you start the day with a swim. Rising at 0255, we had porridge, drove to Sheildaig, got our dibbers and trackers and racked our bikes in Transition 1 ahead of the 0500 deep water swim-start to go 1km out into the loch around Shieldaig Island and back. My tactic was to take a longer line with a wider berth around the washing machine that is a mass swim start. There were plenty of jelly fish to look at below and three stinging encounters left my face tingling for 15hrs. Crossing a shallow reef we returned to shore to encounter a band of thousands of jelly fish that had us literally jelly fish crowd-surfing to get to the slipway. Having my bike racked next to Jim was helpful since he kindly helped me find it with a numb face having arrived 20secs earlier.
In the evening was a Ceilidh to loosen the legs with the most amazing accordion player. He did the longest Strip The Willow I have ever done. If you fancy hearing AC/DC’s Thunderstruck or Fleetwood Mac’s The Chain on an accordian, plus other incredible tunes, check out Rumac Music. The Xmas Ceilidh would be amazing with this guy! Thanks also to the volunteer Carnethy marshalls and everyone else that helped on the event.
Winner: Francesco Mirando – 5:55:02
Carnethies:
48th Jim Hardie – 7:44:07
61st Mark Hartree – 8:01:23
66th Gary Forfar – 8:06:05
124 finished. Last finisher: 10:49:02.
Ps. Celtman Solo Point 5 is NOT for Jessies.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/celtmanforum/permalink/2205932796227490/
Photos: Sally Cross, Anna Henly, Ross Miller
Mark Hartree
Global Virtual XTRI completed
After completing the Celtman Extreme Triathon (a tougher version of an Ironman due to hills etc) I applied and was selected for a sister race in Patagonia, Chile in December 2020. This was a classic case of taking the family on holiday…. and do a big race. The Patagonman XTRI soon looked iffy due to Covid, so I entered the Global Vitual XTRI Challenge for the training and also to add to my T Shirt collection for the £45 entry fee.
This is 14 virtual races comprising 4 swims, 5 rides and 5 runs with different distances and ascents. The routes are named after the 14 XTRI’s from around the world but were shorter legs than those races. The swims ranged from 1km to 3km length; the rides between 60km and 160km and up to 2200m ascent; the runs from 10km to 30km with 1500m up, so were not too bad.
The hardest part was fitting 14 races in and getting routes to meet the profile. Oh, and Covid ‘compliance’. As I did a lot of lockdown swimming, the swims were straight forward. The runs started well, along with the rides once my new shiney Cervelo Tri bike arrived. Along the way though, on the 15km run with Mike Lynch, I had a wee cow incident which set me back a bit. As physio, I cycled up the West Coast and Hebrides for 800km with Neil Burnett and Graeme Dunbar. This helped fix my sore legs and ticked off one cycle along the way, albeit going slowly with a sore chest on a fully loaded touring bike including hill kit and wetsuit.
In the end I did some events twice after doing 1200m too much ascent on the 20km run (read the race notes!!!). I re-did the 15km cow run giving the Glencorse Skyline route by extending an Alan Renville Strava route a wee bit, and carefully avoided Mrs Coooo along the way. Overall, I completed all 14 races covering just over 793 km with just over 14,700m ascent in the process.
I am not sure how many people competed worldwide but the FB race pages had folk from hundreds of countries and thousands of posts. My position for most events is within the top 150, doing better in the long runs with my best position being 68th and worst being in the shorter cycles (189th), noting a lot of folk did these on cycle trainers indoors! For those interested, XTRI and other virtual races are in the link. Of note is one event being planned for a climbing challenge with 10+ hill races with up to 6500m ascent!
https://raceid.com/en/races/7295/about
I am looking forward to my £45 T shirt arriving and hoping my deferred Patagonman race will happen in 2021.
Mark Hartree