Merchant Taylor's Classic Tri Report

Sunday dawned bright and early.  4.45 am to be exact as I rose to take part in my first race of the season, the inaugural Merchant Taylors Triathlon.  With IronMan Austria as my only A race of the season, I'd designated this as a C race primarily to stitch the three disciplines together for the first time this season, to get used to open water swimming again and to improve my (woeful) transitions.  Bike racking and registration had been the night before so all I had to concentrate on was the inevitable faffing around preparing my transition area.

The swim was the usual bunfight, struggling to establish any kind of rhythm despite having shown an improvement in the pool over the winter.   I emerged from the rather murky lake and ran up the grassy bank towards transition, where I proceeded to make my usual hash of things by ripping off my wetsuit and taking my timing chip off with it. 

I noticed the lack of beep as I left T1 and had to be manually logged as I went on my merry way.  The bike course was tough - the organisers suggested it was six minutes longer than an Olympic PB course.  Very hilly and deceptively windy and cold, this wasn't really the course for a TT bike so was pleased I'd opted for my road bike with tri bars. 

Back in T2 I proceeded to eat up the minutes by taking an age to switch shoes - what is it about my transitions, then looking for my timing chip and putting it on, running back to the bike in entrance to see if it activated there ( it didn't) before finally leaving on my run.

The run course was pleasant and flat but with difficult conditions underfoot for half the time as we circumnavigated the lake. 

Finish time was 2:32 and change which was outside last years PB of 2:26 by the organisers suggested 6 minutes so wasn't too alarmed, especially as I felt I had bags of energy left in the bank. 

A well run and marshalled, friendly first-time event for those of you looking for a local Oly next year.

Results

Jevon.