New Viceroy Jen Isaac tells us a little about herself: ‘Growing up I hated running, all types, short distance, long distance and anything in between….. I wasn’t particularly built for it and well, it’s hard!  I used to compete in swimming a lot as a youngster and also (rather averagely) in Tetrathlon & Modern Pentathlon and would dread the running element more than all of the others combined, I was no gazelle.

As I got older, as jobs got more demanding, as time out became more precious I found myself starting to slip on my running shoes more frequently and just head out the door.  It required no membership fee, no booking of classes and no particularly fancy or expensive equipment.  It was also a wonderful time to clear my head and focus on the important stuff.

So when I was asked if I’d like to run in the Paris Marathon last year on behalf of The Prince’s Trust, I gave a slight chuckle and shake of my head….. ‘a marathon?  26 miles? Er, you know I’d love to , but er’…… and before I had time to formulate a proper excuse, the form was in front of me, I was signed up, I was in.   What had I done!?  

But I did it, and it was hard – but I loved it.  I went on to run a further 2 official marathons last year qualifying for my first Ultra Marathon; Comrades (90km) in South Africa, which I ran in June 2014, again for the Prince’s Trust – I think I’m still recovering.   Having found that I’m stubborn enough and just about coordinated enough to run and swim in a straight line for a decent enough distance, my ultimate goal is to get the hang of the cycling element and give an Ironman a fair crack…. we can all have dreams right!?

I’m really looking forward to training with the club and very much appreciate the warm welcome I’ve received already – and the loan of a bike light, thanks Theo I haven’t forgotten!’

Welcome to Viceroys Jen.

New cycling Viceroys Ian Hope lives in Byfleet with his wife and two children: ‘I started cycling about 5 years ago with a friend. I thought now was the right time to join a club. I’ve participated in a few events – the London to Brighton for the last 5 years and two Etapes.’

Welcome to Viceroys Ian.

Mel Jensen (Mrs Simon Tack) joins us as an associate member: ‘I’m 34, and I live in Shepperton with my husband, dog and two cats. I’ve joined the club as my husband, Simon Tack, has been a member for a while and has nothing but good things to say.  I’ve been a long distance runner for a number of years, but a hip injury has meant I need to switch sports so am focusing on swimming and cycling until I can run again, by which time I hope I’ll be ready for my first triathlon.  For my day job I work as a project manager, but am also a yoga teacher part time, and eventually want to open a yoga studio in the area.’

Welcome to Viceroys Mel.

Andy Goulding joins us as an associate member: ‘ hoping to become a full member so next year I can compete in triathlons plus I’ve heard good things about the club. I’m also a member of TCC which I race in cat 4’s but since I’ve started running(well 4 times) I actually realised I enjoy it so I thought what the hell I might as well go full hog and  start pushing myself.’

Welcome to Viceroys Andy.

Viceroys took the new Redhill Sprint Tri by force and although it’s (apparently) not always about the winning, it certainly was for Viceroys at the inaugural Redhill Sprint Triathlon. We came away with 4 men in the top 10: Mark Yeoman (2^nd Place, 1^st in AG), Mike Essex (4^th Place, 2^nd in AG), James Turner (7^th Place, 6^th in AG), Steve Hobson (9^th Place, 5^th in AG). Lara Clay was 2^nd in her AG and 9^th lady overall and Andrew Whelband claimed 3^rd fastest female bike time!

 So how did some of our team achieve such feats? 

‘I was off in the second wave,’ begins Chairman Mark Yeoman, ‘this being my 5th in as number weeks I saw this as a training race. I swam okay by my standards with a low 10 for 750m (2nd fastest). The swim exit was a steep 30m run up the slipway to the lake – ouch. Quickly into T1 my focus was to catch as many of the first wave (10mins head start – aka James ‘Have I told you I’ve done Alcatraz?) as possible.’ Lara too was having a great swim, coming 14^th overall out of the water.

The bike course was a brutal hilly affair (‘horrific’ stated Lara) and one that was hidden in the course profile in the race pack. I was making good ground but certainly not as fast as the previous weeks. Half way my chain dropped and jammed on a hill. I tried to re-catch it but that wasn’t working – with the fear of falling over I hopped off and tried to release it. It took a whole and after flipping the bike over I yanked the chan free only to cut my finger severely. Blood was gushing out and rule 5 kicked in. as I rode on I was covering myself and the bike in blood. Resigned to this I rode safely back to transition (still 2nd fastest split).

Andrea I did her best time for 750m at a tri yet:  ‘I know I’d been doing faster times at the lake so was a bit disappointed with my time and that only got worse in T1 as my wetsuit got tangled on my timing chip and it resulted in what can only be describe as a comical battle between wetsuit and woman as I tried to wrestle it off but just kept making it worse & somehow ended up getting the wetsuit wrapped around the chip a few times – epic T1 failure, sorry coach!  So a glacial time later, I finally got on my bike to discover they really did mean it was a hilly course as we were straight into one!  I should mention at this point as I’m doing the Ride100 in a few weeks I’d done 97.5 miles Saturday, hence my legs weren’t very appreciative of not only getting on a bike again but going up a climb straight away!  They eventually woke up though and I started to get going and overtake people (and dodge the potholes!) and get into a rhythm.

Towards the end of the course I got a glimpse of pink in the distance so got my head down in an attempt to catch who turned out to be Lara, but couldn’t quite manage it and came into transition just as she was heading out for the run.  There I had another transition failure as when I racked my bike, in my attempt to make up for my dismal T1 failure, I racked a little too quickly & my bike nudged the one next to it & it somehow started a chain reaction of bike tangle of all the bikes around me, so had to stop & sort that out before I could get going on the run – epic T2 failure, sorry coach!

I had a pink target in the distance however to focus on and gradually got to within a stone’s throwing distance of Lara by the end of the first lap, but at that point Lara found her running legs & went off like a F1 car into the distance while my efforts on the bike the day before caught up with me & it was a case of getting round to the finish line as best I could!  Afterwards we all admired Mark’s blood-splattered bike & impressively bandaged finger before cheering him & Mike on at the presentation ceremony and then heading home for a nap! 

Highlight of the day – 3^rd fastest female bike time.  Low point – everything but the bike! J  Lesson learnt – either tuck the timing chip under the wetsuit or take it off before wetsuit removal & then re-attach after!’

As we welcome Tim Gray to Viceroys, we are proud to have another of our number representing GB as a triathlon age-grouper in Canada soon:

‘I’m a 45 year old triathlete living in Aylesbury, Bucks but working in Weybridge for Sony. Fitting training in around commuting and work is quite challenging which is why joining a club locally was such a good idea for me. The philosophy of Viceroys is in line with my own around our marvellous sport and I’d become very cynical around clubs only being interested in making money rather than the genuine improvement in performance of their members. It was great therefore for Mark Yeoman to suggest that I look at joining on an associate basis and I’m now looking forward to training and racing with other Viceroy members over the remainder of this season and ongoing into next.

My goals for this year were to go under 5 hours over middle distance and to qualify for GB age group over either middle or standard distances – I’ve managed to do both! All focus is now on coming up with a respectable time at the Worlds in Edmonton on 1^st September.’

Welcome to Viceroys Tim – and love the picture!

With everyone telling me how quick the Roth course was alarm bells should have been ringing…

Suze and I set off on Thursday morning only to find the uber efficient German motorways resembling the M25 – road works and lots of stationary traffic. Still, we knew we were close when passing a sign on the main A9 proclaiming ‘Welcome to Triathlon Region’ – very unlike Henley on Thames I dare say old boy!

Entering Roth we found it awash with banners welcoming triathletes and the ‘tri-village’ was pretty spectacular – not that I had a clue where to register!

Racking on Saturday afternoon was preceded with the usual last minute bike test – 20 meters up the car park road and there was a loud bang followed by lots of oooo’s – unfortunately all directed in my vicinity… Still rather Saturday afternoon than Sunday morning and wheel repaired, I nervously racked in what was considered ‘row Z’ – we’ll if you swim like me you will be in one of the last waves off….   (5500 competitors <> mass swim start in a narrow canal).

Sunday 3am and the alarm goes off, not that I’ve slept a wink. Getting to the race start was a doddle “ If Carlsberg organised triathlons”… Still one Policeman did have to dive out the way as I took his order to ‘turn left’ a little too literally – mind you he should expect that with GB plates!

Into the water for the 7.40 wave and the cannon went off. Cue Schoolboy error #1 – forget everything you have been taught by the Chairman and revert to short choppy strokes! Still it did protect me from a few blows to the head and allowed me to give as good as I got. Surreal moment was at about 2km in – man doing backstroke without a care in the world!!!???

Out the water in a pedestrian 1.19 but I was alive and had only swallowed 8.9 litres! Continue reading →

Joel Stainton raced in Wave 4 sprint 35-39 male at Dorney Lake (run by VO2) and tells us about his experience:

‘ I Lucked out with the weather this morning; not too hot, no rain. Swim was tough as first half was straight into a headwind but came out a minute faster than last year. Bike course different from last few years so it was up into the wind on the far side then back down the middle and, again managed a faster time than last year. Felt heavy legged at the start of the run but got overtaken 500m in by someone I felt I should be beating so hung onto the shoulder for the next 4.5k and crossed the line at exactly the same time in 1:08; a PB for me by 90 seconds.

Best bit of the race ? 0:59 for T1 all thanks to Mark’s superstar transition training. Notes on my hand of bike location, exact order once at the bike, pedals in right place and lots & lots of Vaseline!’

Well raced Joel!

During winter Pete Bell set his main target for 2014: go under 5hrs in a half-iron distance triathlon;  Sunday was his first of two attempts this year to achieve that goal.

‘Imagine my despair when I find out the bike course has been changed and now includes 3 loops with tough/nasty little climbs and not the original far easier rolling route. And then, morning of the race, they change the swim – 2 laps of a very narrow swim in the Thames with a mere 500 blokes all going off at the same time – my chances of achieving my target are surely all but gone…forget it. Race and soak up the experience for the next 70.3 race later in the year.

 Very early Sunday morning and setting up my racking spot – there’s Lloyd Cosgrove getting ready. Lloyd’s a better swimmer and cyclist than me. I knew I was going to have the chase my team-mate down on the run if I could.

 Into the water – good luck handshakes with Lloyd. I warm up in the Thames then sneak up to the nearside bank out of any (minimal) current as far forward as I dare. Why are we waiting so long? I look round and there are still hundreds piling into the water…Ignore them just focus on getting away. Go! Start Swimming; Stop – There’s no space; Swim; Stop – there’s no water only bodies clad in neoprene; Swim; Stop – all the way to the first buoy about 200-300m up river. What a nightmare – get round the turning buoy. Finally! Some clear water and a pair of feet to draft off – now, let’s get going. There’s the exit – I climb out trying to avoid damaging the toe I hurt a few weeks ago (not entirely successfully). Glance at my watch – 35 mins – about 2-3 mins slower than I wanted but given the start, fair enough…uneventful transition and on to the bike. Continue reading →