‘Final race of the season for me with no big expectations following 2 weeks on relaxing holidays and a preparation focussing on quality rather than quantity! I arrived in Weymouth on Saturday and the weather conditions were as predicted very wet and windy. The sea was very bad and if it had stayed like that for the race, it would have been a definite DNS for me. Sunday was a very different story and conditions were just ideal. Sea was very flat, and after a friendly rolling start and a good first 750m swim in 13mn I lost my rhythm and never found it again resulting in a much slower swim than I had hoped for. Being well behind my schedule, I decided that 1 or 2 more minutes wouldn’t change the overall result, and I used the facilities in T1 for a quick comfort break. Not sure how I did it, but I managed to cut my left thumb quite badly opening the toilet door and had to spend 10 minutes with the medics.

Me, my bike and my plaster were finally enjoying a fast few kilometres on beautiful roads when suddenly… my thumb decided to bleed again and never stopped until the last few kilometres of the bike course. No need to say that my bike, trisuit and I, looked pretty disgusting. Anyway, Weymouth is a tough bike course, with steep climbs, technical downhills and a nasty headwind. Second loop was mentally challenging but I managed to catch up few people and I was now much closer to the front of the race! Continue reading →

After some coercion from a couple of Sprint Distance stars, I made my way down to Worthing on bank holiday weekend for a crack at the Olympic distance tri. As the final ETU qualifier for the year, the field seemed pretty strong. It was also an opportunity to don my Viceroys vest for the first time this year, after a big money mid season transfer from B2P.

Some swell and wind blown chop made the swim interesting with some fight club at the first turn bouy. Not my strongest discipline, and too much time in calm Shepperton lake saw me exit at the back pack after 25:41 minutes, which makes me think the course was generously short. A swift transition, I was out on the bike in 170th place.

Bike course was not as flat as I expected, more ‘rolling’, but with a couple of good opportunities to get into a rhythm and time trial it. Some light rain combined with the wind saw a few crashes, and the open roads resulted in some frustration for both cyclists and drivers as we got stuck behind some of the slower competitors. A good out and back course though, and a decent run in allows you to set up for T2 (52 seconds!), out onto the run in 147 place.

The run started off well, about 10-15 secs/ km inside my usual pace, on a 2 lap course. It became pretty clear at the first dead turn that my stunning outward pace was largely a result of a 15 mph tailwind, which was now a little less helpful. This is a the first footrace where I have actively drafted other competitors, pedestrians and beach furniture. I made the most of the final outward drag, then turned and hung on for the final 3km home, crossing the line in 2:25:  all up, in 135 place, pretty much mid field.

After 4 years of training for long course, this was a pretty swift reminder what threshold feels like! Continue reading →

As a bit of a back story, some of you may know that I competed at Ironman Nice last year, but failed to convert the long hours of training due to suffering from heat exhaustion and being pulled from the race, and rapidly attached to a saline bag (which actually made me feel very good afterwards!).

So, 2017 meant I had a score to settle.  However, with a new baby arriving in the Shakir household in October, training for Nice in June was going to be a touch tricky.  So Ironman Wales was selected, as it was far enough in the future to have time to train, close enough to home that we can drive with said baby in tow, and cool enough that I didn’t suffer at the hands of the heat gods again.  What I didn’t take in to account, was that this is in fact (not necessarily factually correct), one of the hardest Ironman races on the European tour.  Tidy.

Training started just after Christmas, dragging myself out of a warm, dry house into the wet and cold, where I imagined hearing the phrase ‘Jamal Shakir, you are an Ironman’ as motivation to get out the door.  The first few months weren’t too taxiing, but when things stepped up a bit, the lack of sleep and losing a training partner due to injury meant I was really struggling to find motivation with riding on my own.  This is when the good people of Viceroys took me under their wing!

Anyway, to race day. Continue reading →

‘I’ve not raced at Dorney for a couple of years now. A mixture of apathy about the race venue coupled with qualifiers elsewhere kept me away from the iconic British Olympic rowing venue. However, I’d not been able to get a place at Liverpool and wanted to race – Diamond Triathlon at Dorney it was then! 

I actually like racing at Dorney. The lake is always clean and since it’s a rowing lake, it’s quite easy to keep straight between the buoys. The bike course is flat and fast as is the run course. Yes, there is a degree of repetition (8 laps of the bike course, 4 of the run course, 2 of the swim course!), but it allows you to concentrate on the task at hand and really maximise your efforts in each discipline. Continue reading →

Lance Kesson completed the London Triathlon and recounts his race:
‘The alarm went off 5:30, racked my bike.  I had forgotten that I had set myself a personal challenge by signing up for the sub 2hrs30 wave. Was not so confident now on the morning of the event.
In the water at 8.55, claxon rings, off we go. Swim was good, no panic attack.
On to the bike, I was on the Westminster route. We headed up to Big Ben, fighting the head wind, exchanging some chat with a couple of other riders, while playing cat and mouse lead change with them.
Arriving back at the Excel centre, trainers on. Now the run, this is the part the I have traditionally found tough. I am trying to reframe what the run means to me. Part of this is listening to my body and not looking at my watch. Coupled with the negative chatter in my head and the temptation of looking at the thing on my wrist, I push on, enjoying the chill of head wind when I turn into it.
Finally the last lap I turn into finishing lane, where I pass Rachel who has been her amazing self all day supporting myself and any other competitors that look like they need their spirits lifted.
I cross the line, happy to get to the line feeling good, no idea what time I had done.
Rachel asks me do I want to know?
2:26:40
I had managed to complete the challenge I set myself, and grabbed my PB by 20 minutes.
Saw a couple other Viceroys, I hope they had equally good days – a wonderfully crazy big event.’

As raced and reported by Lance Kesson

Henley bridge to bridge (now named Thames Marathon) is a 14k downstream swim (does help!!) in the beautiful and idyllic location on the Thames. It’s the longest swimming race I’ve entered, so was a real Unknown. With the family woken at 05.30, the race started at 7.30: I was off. There were 4 sections split with 3 great feeding stations at 4K, 6k, 1.5k and 2.5k.

You get into a rhythm and your mind can wander and be free. Although there were shallow reeds, I was loving my horror movie I made up!! The tow float is compulsory and was fine to swim with. The feeds stations had lots of variety and I didn’t need any gels:-)) The end was in sight and arms burning. Always the competitor I was fighting to the end, 5th female overall. 3 hours and 6 minutes of hard work but wonderful and definitely do it again. 100% recommend.’

As raced and reported by Sarah Hempenstall

Peter Kelsey was one of 30 Viceroys who cycled London/Surrey 100 in 2016, he tells his own story:

‘Every time I looked at my wake up time for this event, I set the alarm even earlier to fit in breakfast. In the end I almost got up before I went to bed, such was the challenge of the drive to my approved parking space in sarf east Larnden. With hindsight, the drive there and back was ghastly, (not to self: next time stay in town the night before).

 RideLondon is a fantastic 100 mile closed road sportive, with 26,000 riders taking part. The weather was good, and I was really looking forward to riding so many local roads at a pace, and not having to worry about ‘car up’ or ‘car back’. I would recommend any keen cyclists add this sportive to their list!

The start pens are well signed and well-drilled and there are more ‘pre-fab toilets’ than at La Maratona.

A slightly delayed start before we rolled out, and immediately the pace was over 40 kph through central London. Heading west I could see a large group had formed a few hundred metres ahead, and with the help of a big friendly giant South African we reeled them in by Richmond Park. Things then rumbled nicely through Walton & Weybridge, even if I rolled through Walton too early to get a cheer from Chairman Yeo. Byfleet, Pyrford & Ripley were a blur before the first climb up Newlands, where some of the group go out the back. Then a fast descent towards a climb into Holmbury & Leith and finally Box Hill. You then head  back through Leatherhead, Oxshott & Esher to the final blast into town via Wimbledon. A late hill into Wimbledon wrecks a few who have gone out too hard, but from there it is a really fast flat ride to the embankment through Putney and a sprint finish after Admiralty Arch.

 I didn’t stop to refuel, but there were many feed and drink stations well-signed, and it was lovely to see the public out to watch in such force.

 After political recent events it was also great for London to put on such a positive event, even if it does mean closed roads for most of the day, which I know some locals find a bit tedious.

I hope to ride the event again next year, and hope that based on this year’s time I can get seeded in the very front pens, as it is clear that those groups go the fastest, so getting out early is a better plan for those aiming to set a fast time.

 Other lessons learned:carry 2 super-size bottles to avoid stopping;  stay up in London the night before;  don’t over hydrate pre-ride to avoid a loo stop.

Rumour has it that Yeo will do this in 2017, it is tailor-made for the bigger stronger rider like him, as RideLondon is all about pure power on rolling hill events like this, there are not really enough hills for little mountain goats like me!’

As raced and reported by Pete Kelsey

‘I returned to Eton Dorney on the 17th of July for my second triathlon , my first ever had been the previous month in slightly different weather conditions. June was an early start with constant rain and winds , July a later start , warm and muggy.

Having not been able to swim a length at the Xcel a year ago I was always going to be apprehensive going in to the swim but once I had got that out of the way, I knew I was on my way to achieving my goal and completing my first ever TRI. Not sure of pacing etc , I managed  to complete the task in a final time of 1:24:27.

On my return to Dorney in July I felt more comfortable knowing what lay ahead plus having the support of my family there to cheer me on and Coach Yeoman along side me to offer some crucial words of wisdom and support I was determined not to embarrass myself too much in from of them all.

Instead of being at the back of the pack during the swim I realised I was actually in part of a group of swimmers so I must be doing better than last time , I was thinking of all Mark had taught us at Shepperton and was doing my best to try and drift in addition to stay on course !! Once out of the water and on the bike all seemed to be going well until T2 when I struggled to get my shoe off but after a bit of struggling I was back on my way with just the 5K run to complete.

I’ve neglected my running for some time for the sake of trying to learn to swim but managed to maintain a reasonable pace and passed a few guys , which is always a good way to finish a race.

As I crossed the finished line and checked my Garmin much to my surprise I had exceeded my previous outing by almost 9 minutes with a final time of 1:15:44 .

I was most pleased to see an improvement in my swim time by 3 .5 minutes and hope with continued coaching and training by next year to shave a few more minutes off and even try a longer distance .’

As raced and reported by Rich Jones