06/07/24 – Number being drawn on left leg means one thing…it’s triathlon time. Today it was the Monikie triathlon. I was taking part in the relay which consisted of each member of the team doing a mini triathlon before the next person could go. 300m swim/5km bike/1.5km run. We called ourselves GTC + ringer with Mary, Gawain and I from GTC plus John. I’ve never done a relay or been to Monikie park but recommend both. Park was lovely with a fab coffee shop right next to the main race hub. Numbered up and there was some confusion over our order…we had girl boy girl boy but everyone else was the opposite. Turns out that if competing in the championships (we weren’t as not everyone a triathlon Scotland member) had to be the opposite way. Made racing interesting as never really knew how we were doing until the end.
Mary was first in and against the guys. A few scuffles in the mass start but she swam well, out and onto the bike then very quickly back for her run. Done in 24min. John was next to go. I saw him enter the water then decided it was time I had to reluctantly put my wetsuit on. I tried to acclimatise in the water but it was cold. Oh well. John came in, I took the timing chip and then ran into the water, I just put my head down trying to forget about the cold. Water started coming in my goggles so at the first marker I had to fix them then kept going. A few guys overtook me but that is standard when I’m swimming. Got to end and I was pulled out the water and up the steep banking by volunteers. Long run to transition then quickly onto my bike. It was raining by now (it had done a lot of that) and my hands were losing feeling so gear change was a bit hard. Managed to pass some people but, coming to the last road junction on a hill I had to stop to give way to a car. Was totally not in the right gear for a hill start. Slowed me down a bit but was only a 300m to the transition. In and nearly took a duck out on my bike. The really didn’t care and waddled about everywhere. As I ran out there was a competitor called Mike just behind me. Everyone knew Mike and was cheering him on and saying he could catch me. Well, I took that to run faster and not let Mike catch me (and he didn’t). I handed over to Gawain and off he went.
By now I was getting cold so very quick shower and change so I could see him finish. All done and as a team we finished 15th out of 27. The goody bag for us all was fab and I love the fact the beer says it’s isotonic.
