Roadford Reservoir Sprint Tri

Another team member on the comeback after a crash.

Sunday saw me take a return trip to Roadford reservoir to compete in the Sportiva Events sprint triathlon.

After crashing on my commute a fair few weeks ago I had one goal, survive the swim ….

The start was an in the water between the buoys affair, I loitered at the back so as not to hinder the faster athletes, steady swimming to say the least saw me exit the water 750m later in 2nd to last place overall and last in my age group.

Not deterred by this I had a fairly swift transition to the bike, after a marshal shouted at me to put my number on.

The 20km bike loop was fast, rolling roads, but plenty of potholes to avoid and a couple of short sharp climbs made it challenging.

I was trying out my aero helmet for the first time in a race setting, it made me feel fast but did have a few drawbacks, torrential rain made it hard to see, and I also struggled to hear traffic behind me.

Transition 2 was a slow affair, my hands were numb from the rain, and I wished I’d put speed laces in my shoes.

The out-lap of the run was mixed terrain and I gained a few places, when coming back through the main arena I found out I was 2nd in my age group, 7 minutes behind 1st and sitting in the top half of the overall rankings.

I decided to hold my pace for the final 3km which was a rather fun trail loop.

Crossed the finish

2nd in age group and 28th out of 64.

Happy days

Jude