At first we thought Ian Talbot was avoiding us. Emails arranged a meeting at Thorpe 3 Triathlon – Ian’s name was on the list, but he did not make himself known to any of us. He then turned up to a Thursday night river run, but then the excuse of ‘work’ ensured he did not have to return on a weekly basis – but eventually Ian weakened and joined our pink ranks:

‘I’ve played sports of some sort as long as I can remember – football and badminton to county and country level respectively as a youngster before finally growing into my gangly 17 year old self and embracing rugby. 20 years later and I was in a brace due to rugby, having broken my neck playing in a match in Canada, all the while wondering if my travel insurance would cover this ! That put paid to that and my less than smooth transition to Triathlon began via a stint as a “runner” (a few 5ks, 10ks and 10 milers) – which I subsequently discovered does my knees in if I do it too often (I blame the badminton !) hence the inclusion of a bit of swimming and then cycling once a friend of mine coerced me into agreeing to do a tri.

The bug bit and I’m now well and truly hooked and joining the Viceroys makes me feel part of a team again – something I’d been really missing since the rugby days passed. I completed (note the absence of the word “competed “!!) 3 sprint tris this year – all at Thorpe/Thorpe Park and have plans to step up the distance and venue variety in 2014. Next year will surely be the year I can truly call myself a Triathlete !!’ Welcome to the club Ian.

Viceroys’ 2 nominees for ‘Most Mental Club Member’ (Carla and Anna) lived up to their accolades as they travelled down to Hever Castle with handicapped swim Club Championship winner Adel to tackle The Gauntlet (1/2 iron Man) and 2 Olympic Distance Triathlons respectively.  And according to our most mental, Hever is by far one of the most difficult events of the triathlon season, making other events feel like a walk in the park!

Speaking to mountain goat 1/2 Iron Man Anna first, who told us on Monday afternoon: ‘I can barely type … I am utterly exhausted .. What a tough race! It took me 6 hours and 13 minutes to finish – even the winning lady took 5 hours 15. The good bit was the end. The best bit was hearing Carla’s voice in T2…. Cheering me on and lifting my spirits. The worst bit was the start the middle and everything up until the end. Harder than Wimbleball half ironman although every bit as beautiful. Would I do it again? Only with a lot more training… Not a race for the faint hearted. ‘

Bouncing Carla loved her first ever Olympic Distance: ‘Fabulous! Water Temp 14, 2 caps and rash vest under the Tri Suit, the race captain on the mic to start with calmed my nerves but as soon as I entered the water I reverted back to my pre season nightmare and it was horrendous. The gun went off, I was in a strong pack, got kicked to buggery in muddy water and then had to lay on my back as the back of my knees locked up in the most painful cramp. I was joined at the kayak by another lady who was crying so my mind diverted to her instead of me, in doing so I managed to sort myself out and set back off on the swim – awful, awful experience!’ Continue reading →

‘I turned up at Stowe School to see some of the most amazing sights, stunning buildings, perfect playing fields and blue skies.

The swim was good but the water was so dark that drafting was incredibly hard, I struggled to see the person in front. However, the two laps soon passed, then it got hard as I cramped getting out of my wetsuit, before an 800m run uphill to to the bikes, whilst carrying my wet wetsuit.

The bike was a long 60k undulating course, however the wind and the road surface made it feel almost alpine. The two laps passed and heading towards transition I saw a red flag and several emergency vehicles. An accident had closed the road, this required a 2.5k diversion. However I was so tired it took me several minutes to understand the instructions. As this bike ride came to a finish there was one last surprise – an evil short sharp climb, pure evil.

Then the run, I expected it to be hilly, but hadn’t prepared to run down hill, it’s bloody hard, worse than uphill! Strangely I was told the standard tri was a 3 lap run so I eased off, until I learnt it was actually only 2 then I finished as hard as I could. I finished 4th in AG and 13th male. As tough as it was it was an incredibly picturesque and beautiful race, for my first Olympic distance race it was a tough introduction, but I didn’t show weakness.’

As raced and reported by Tim Ferguson

A merry band of Viceroys boys headed to Grafham Lake for the Anglian Water Olympic Triathlon hosting the final 2014 European qualifier: Clarkie, Mark Yeoman, Peter Bell and Matt Storr. All triathletes pushed themselves to their limits, lining up against some of the best age groupers in the country trying to achieve the qualifying standard for the GB team at the Europeans in 2014.

The approach of Viceroys to the race was mixed:  Clarkie had considered not racing as he was still not feeling on top form  from the race the previous weekend, but thought he’d give it one more blast before the end the season; Peter went there with the intention of testing myself against a quality field and seeing just how much he’d need to improve to get to the GB qualifying standard; having limped home last  Saturday, Mark was under no illusions that only having ran 3x 5km in 5 week, a tough 10km was going to be too much for even him.

And so the race began: ‘ The race ended up being a test of how much I didn’t want to have my first DNF rather than how fast can I go and could  I finish in the top 3 in the 45-49 AG,’ explained Clarkie. ‘My swim went well,  I got some good advice from Mr Yeoman about the charge to the first buoy and keeping right as the wind would take a lot of swimmers off course.  I swam well, got lost on the last bouy as full sun in your face meant no one could see where they were going! But I came out the water in second place which was great for me, a PB for the distance.’ Meanwhile Peter was certainly not so happy, claiming a ‘Shockingly bad swim, and worse, I have no idea why. I took Mark’s advice about where to line up at the start and went fast at the gun. However, for some reason I struggled sighting the buoys and I spent a lot of time zig-zagging across the course. I was devastated when I came out the water, only to find my bike being one of the last still on the rack!’ Mark the Shark had a good swim and lead the way but the final buoy eluded him in the sun and he went off course, frustratingly losing the chance of setting the fastest swim. Continue reading →

Thorpe Park was the latest tri venue for Viceroys Tim, Simon C, Simon P, Lara, Jon , Kate, Suze and newest VTC member Ian Talbot, who had barely finished filling in his registration forms before being embraced by his new team members. An early and chaotic start for most (Lara just returned from a work trip to Germany where she didn’t sleep and wasn’t fed; Kate & Jon both forget their race belts; Ian was complaining of sore legs from Wednesday’s run…) actually meant all entered the face fairly relaxed after sharing woes with fellow Viceroys in transition.

The swim was predictabley cold, but what none of the Viceroys banked on was the huge amount of weed on the first 2 sides of the 750m swim route. This did not put off our 2 speediest Viceroys Tim and Simon Colvan though as they cut through the water in 14:30 and 14:57..

The bike course was flat, fast and familiar, which made everyone happy. Continue reading →

Viceroys new breed of ‘Super Cyclists’ race at weekends too – ditching the swimming and the running for pure speed, we tracked down Kevin Argent to find out  a little more about what cycle racing involves… and much is still a mystery. Although you may have asked, “What distance do you ride Kevin?” or, “How far was your race?” this remains an unknown as he just tells us about the adrenaline rushes and good bits from his weekend race at the Hillingdon/ Surrey closed course summer championships :

‘After last week’s reckless riding from other racers I wanted to make sure I was either in the break away or at least in the very front come the last 300 meters! So this week I stayed in the middle to front of the peloton for most of the hour only dropping back to talk to the other guys from Nunns London and talk “tactics” . When the hour came round I was feeling fresh and fast but found that I lost touch with the lead group so the best I could hope for was 5th? With the 5 lap board out it was all to play for and I sat inside the top 15 and played safe.   Continue reading →

Alan ‘Clarkie’ Clark has wowed his fellow Viceroys this season as he has took the club championship’s Vets’Swim, Vets Bike title and made it to the Euros –  amongst other accolades, but how did he do at Hyde Park, racing for his country against the best in the world?
‘Grand weekend away at the world finals.

When I first thought of having a crack at qualifying last year I thought I’d stand a good chance of getting a place and looking at previous results thought I’d do rather well if I got in. This proved to be totally misguided as every lycra clad 45 something in my age group clambered for a chance to race in GB spandex in front of their friends, family and any other random person who made the mistake of asking what they did in their spare time. Continue reading →

With all the action going on at Hyde Park this weekend, I looked to get away from it all. However, after a calf injury four weeks ago and no running, I was apprehensive about whether I should race. I headed to Kent to do race 6 of the Ocean Lake Sprint.

Whilst racking I got some looks – well my bike did. Then I saw a Hyde Park wrist band – he had raced the day before: 17.50 5km split – one to watch I thought. Then I saw Dan Sim – Mr Rapid and frustrated that he’d got a flat the day before also – suddenly this was a race and not test.

I hit the swim hard and had a good gap by the first buoy. I can into T1 with about 30seconds lead and sub 10min splash. Out onto the two lap course I was settled in and soon noticed that Dan was close and 3 & 4 where back some way. This was extended further by the end of the second lap as Dan and myself came back in. I kept him close on the first 1km but then eased back to ensure that my calf didn’t go pop. On the second lap only 9 bikes had been racked so I thought I’d better lap a couple for fun 🙂

I came home 2nd overall. Fastest swim, 2nd fastest bike and 3rd fastest run – one more race before winter – hopefully I can get a couple more miles in before Sunday. Ideal race next season for anyone looking to get into sprint triathlon in a relaxed and cheap race’

As raced and reported by Mark Yeoman