Peak District Triathlon at Chatsworth House

Reports

10 Aug

Race Report

Chatsworth wasn’t one of the races I was planning for this year, but I’m pleased I booked it! It was a great race.

Hosted in the grounds of Chatsworth House with a swim in the river, a steep, hilly bike course around the Derbyshire Dales and a killer of a run straight up a hill! This was a new challenge for me.

The Swim - 00:14:44

After a 15 minute delay due to people struggling to get parked. I gathered with my wave ready for the swim start. A downstream then upstream swim in a very very cold river! 12 degrees C but it felt like 2, It was freezing cold!

I made the mistake of not starting from the front and ended up trying to fight my way through a tight pack. My goggles steamed up pretty quickly, but it wasn’t too much of an issue, as the river was quite narrow, so it was difficult to go off course. I was very please to get out of the water.

T1 - 00:01:22

T1 was an up hill run from the swim across a sheep s**t covered field.

One issue I had was with my DIY drinks bottle on the front of my bike, the drinking straw wasn’t sealed very well, so most of the drink leaked out.

Wet suit off, helmet on, grab bike and run out of T1, up a hill and onto the bike course.

The Bike - 00:40:14

The first part of the bike route is a flat road past the house, it was covered and I mean totally covered in sheep sh**, wet, slippery sh** across the whole road.

I used my old bike shoes for this race, they were perfect! they are so old and knackered that my feet slipped into them really easily (feet also covered in sh**)

Next was the hill! a long slow slog up a quite narrow road. Some competitors were already off their bikes and walking up the hill! crazy, I just got my head down and tried to be a steady and smooth as possible.

The top of the hill was a bit windy and my 808 front wheel was a bit twitchy, but once up to speed it was amazing, I love that front wheel.

The event organiser managed to get a section of the road closed to traffic, however, the local council saw this as an opportunity to resurface the road, which meant that a large stretch had had the top layer of tarmac removed. The vibrations were crazy, I thought my teeth were going to fall out! it was so server that my aluminum bottle bracket cracked! There were some very fast down hill sections and unfortunately, I was on the brakes most of the time, I need to get my down hill mojo back. Great ride though.

T2 - 00:01:28

The dismount like was quite far from transition and it was a long run with the bike, my rack was close to the entrance though, so I quickly racked my bike and ran out of the huge transition area.

The Run - 00:24:15

Up hill, down hill, what fun!

I don’t think I’ve ever smiled so much on a triathlon run. Its straight up hill across a field then up through some woods over steep rough ground, it was bloody hard work getting to the top and the turn around point. Running back down was hilarious, point in the right direction, move your legs as fast as you can and hope you don’t fall flat on your face!

I went over on my ankle twice on the down hill, but luckily didn’t get an injury.

Sprint finish, just being beat by a GB age-grouper.

Result

Not a great time and only 37th in my age group, this was however an ETU qualifying race, so there were some serious racers there.

Nutrition -

Pre-race nutrition: -

Nuts and seed mix,
Coffee, hornet juice
Primal Pantry Coconut & Macadamia bar 30mins before start

Bike: -

Elivar Endure in 500ml between the bars.
Hornet juice on the back, but not used

Run: -

Torq gel at start of decent.

Post-race: -

SIS whey20.

Kit -

Huub trisuit
2XU Z:1 wetsuit
zoggs predator flex clear goggles
Cervelo P3, Zipp firecrest 404 front, 808 rear (new Conti competition 22mm tires)
Front mounted, 500ml TriNerd bodge bottle
Rear Mounted, 500ml camelbak podium
Rudy Project Wing57 aero helmet
Specialized TriVent SC
Garmin 520
Newton TriRacer
Garmin VivoActive
Blue Seventy race belt (worn under wetsuit)