Bath Amphibians Triathlon Club

After Portland’s near perfect conditions, the 4th Endurance Life Coastal Trail series race, set to snake its way along the stunning South Devon coast line, was looking to be more of a challenge in more ways than one.  The chilly onshore wind was enough to have the competitors huddling in the oversized garden party gazebo but not enough to dry the quagmire that awaited for most of the run - whatever distance had been chosen.  The going was truly mental, the hills many and steep and the mud relentless, sticky and very very slippery.

With no Doug at this race, the Amphibs were giving the marathon runners a gift, but the club was represented in the half by both Niall and Michael.  Niall couldn’t put the hammer down as much as he’d have liked due to an injury not yet fully recovered and despite warnings from Niall about the severity of the course - before you factor in the conditions - Michael was unpleasantly surprised at how genuinely horrific the going was.  Despite not being 100%, Niall cruised in 9th overall and 2nd male vet with a stupefying time of 1:56:30 - on that terrain!! Taking this as one of his stages towards the Neolithic Marathon, Michael was never in it for a time and withdrew from the race sometime after the second timing point.

The 10k, as before was actually about 12.5 (you forgive them a one off but if all the ‘10ks’ are this long, why not call them 12.5K runs??) and the club was again well represented over this distance. Kerry, Sue, Sarah, Annie, Dan, Adrian and Mike all lined up at midday to see how much damage they could do to their rivals and themselves over the next hour or so.

Instead of the normal, sensible mass start that has served so many races so well for centuries, Endurance life adopted a wheel re-invention approach to the start of the 10k by requiring everyone to poke their silly timing chips into a dibber thing before the start of the race, to record their own start times.  This was apparently to avoid bottle necks on the single track sections that began just a few hundred meters into the race.  Of course, going off hard would have achieved the same thing, but there you go.

Go off hard is exactly what the Phibs did though and with a hovering helicopter shooting footage of the start and after nearly two years of not being able to train properly or race at all, Dan went off like a gazzel that had been caged for months, poked with a stick, fed cola bottles, skittles, and full fat coke and then let loose.  Cruising away down to the beach and then onto the climb up the headland,  Dan was making it clear that training or not, if anyone wanted first place, they were going to have to live with the pace he was setting.

Mike was full of ill placed confidence and decided to hit the start hard and ignore the pain and warning messages being sent around his body, knowing that it would start to feel right after a couple of K.  It didn’t.  For some, a week of DIY, beer, playstation and no training whatsoever, culminating in a pre race night out on the lash is perfect race prep - not it would seem for Mike though.  Aido came cruising alongside on the beach as though he was just jogging back to his car and enquired after the bloke currently sat in second - ‘is he any good?’, ‘fourth at Portland and top five in all as far as I know, but you can have him’ with that Aido was off and after a few minutes of running alongside said punter, he realised he could indeed have him - and did.

With Dan having smashed up the first hill to get a killer shot from the helicopter and pulled a kick flip off the edge for maximum style points, Aido was now in close second and for a brief glorious moment, Mike entertained the idea of Amphibs 1, 2 and 3. He was starting to real in his third place nemesis and was aware that 3 white amphibs tops in the first 4 runners looked pretty sick… but 3 out of 3 would look even better.  This turned out to be a pretty crazy notion as after about 5 k the wheels on the over rested machine began to fall off.

As was expected Kerry was on top of her game and as the race face went on, the competition knew they were there for the free t-shirt.  Strong from the start and showing no signs of fading, Kerry led the ladies race from start to finish without it ever looking like anyone else was in with a sniff of a chance.  Kerry caught Mike at the top of the last climb and gave him the option of finding something to go with her, or getting the hell out of the way.

Sarah was hoping to retain 3rd female spot but after a remarkably similar race prep to Mike and a discovery that she’s not fond of 12.5k of up hill mud, she only managed 6th female which is still an awesome result for someone who thinks they can’t run very well and when asked about running in such a beautiful location, commented on the fact that she wasn’t aware of the scenery, she just stared at mud for an hour.  The course obviously suited Sue better this time around who nipped in front of Sarah to get 5th female and 1st female vet - the challenge is on for Pembrokeshire!

Annie showed that she continues to go from strength to strength whilst enjoying the course and as she put it - the hills may have been steep and muddy, but the views were spectacular (perhaps a sign she can go harder) and the downhills were fun. Target for next race - make the top 15 lady finishers, make that top ten!

On the last climb of the race, Aido was feeling strong enough to test Dan’s Achilles and pushed it on, showing that maybe he is a mere mortal, Dan had to let him go and the lead changed to Aido, but it was still amphibs 1 and 2 and it was still master class running from both.

Not sure whether to be thankful or not for the motivation to dig in, Mike matched Kerry’s finish and the two powered onto a half decent final few hundred meters after the final downhill, now so muddy, it was more like snowboarding.

Another great day for the phibs over both half and 10 and with two golds and one silver in the 10, this series is rapidly becoming all about us.  Aido first in his first competitive run at this distance on this terrain, Dan second off the back of just swimming (swine) and Kerry first female by a country bus ride.  As Dan said - All in all it was sooooo sweet to be back smashing it up with my mates, results regardless.  No one does high fives and relaxed starting like we do, sweet to be an amphib when u r on the start line oh yeah.

Nuff said. Bring on Pembroke

Word up Thursday night speedsters, following a vote at last nights AGM, as of this Thusday - 11/03/10 - the run sessions will start at 6.45pm.  The old time of 6.30pm meant a few people keen to run couldn’t do so as it was cutting it too fine to get from work in time and many of those already taking advantage of the sets wanted a shorter gap between the end of the run and the start of the swim.

So, 6.45pm it is, meet at the reception area ready for that start time and we look forward to seeing a few more faces thanks to this new ‘work friendly’ start time.

Click here to enter:

http://www.entrycentral.com/index.php

Postal entry sheet availbale soon!

The mega manic midweek duathlon series is unique, affordable, and traffic free race situated at Castle Combe Race Circuit comprising a 2 mile run, 10 mile bike on smooth tarmac, and finishes with a 2 mile run. The MONSTER has the same distances but offers that bit extra comprising run/bike/run/bike/run! There are four races in the Duathlon series spread across the summer and one MONSTER DUATHLON; always the first Wednesday of the month. 2010 - 5th May, 2nd June, 7th July, 4th Aug, and 1st Sept.
Series prizes will be given out at the end of the September race and to qualify you must have races 3 of the 4 standard races. The monster is a stand alone event. Prizes will be top three male and female, top three male and female vet, top one male and super vet, top male and female junior (15-17yrs)

The Monster is the SW Duathlon championships and is the July event.

Each duathlon is £14 (for BTA members) or £17 (for non BTA members) with a discount to £12 (for BTA members) and £15 (for non BTA members) if competitors pre-enter. Special rate for standard races only for juniors age 15-17: BTA £8, non BTA £10 whether pre-entering or on the night.

The one longer duathlon, the Monster, in the series in July is uniquely £20 (for BTA members) or £25 (for non BTA members) with a discount to £18 or £22 if pre-entered. Relay teams are permitted for this race but not actively encouraged for the standard races. Should you wish to enter as a relay for the standard race please enter as an individual would but start your Surname with RELAY - then name (you only do this once for each team)

Half of the money taken from the entries of the monster will be donated to charity - details of this charity can be found on our website.

ENTRIES TAKEN ON THE NIGHT UP TO 6:45pm

There is a discount for entering all the races at the same time. Enter all five for the price of four (one standard race free), BTA £54, Non BTA £67 (entry must be received before the May race). Junior: BTA £42, non BTA £52.
You can enter via post details of which can be found at www.bathamphibians.co.uk.

Closing date for online entries is the Sunday before each race at 12pm. No race packs are sent out you simply pick up a number on the night of the race.
All races will be chip timed (hence why there has been a small increase in the entry for the first time in around 5 years - its still a bargin, esp if you pre-enter!)

Please note this will be the last year that we will be taking pr-entries via cheque.
Good luck and enjoy
Please refer to the BTA rules and regulations details of which can be found on our orthe BTA website.

Log into the club forum for details about the club AGM for 2010.  It will be chaired by Dan who will be in fancy dress…as if you needed anymore enticement.

The weekend before last I raced in the Wanaka Challenge here in the land of milk and honey. I will not bore you with a long-winded tale, so in brief I had a great swim (1hr), great bike (5.40), and then the wheels on this finely tuned machine fell off big time in the run and after 13km I was pulled from the course by the medics.I had been suffering from a cold all week leading up to the race and drugged myself up to a state where I felt fine. However, in reality the body was not in good shape at all. At the first two aid stations on the run I had to stop with diarrhoea and from then on I was massively dehydrated and exhausted, and could hardly walk let alone run. As my boss said to me afterwards some days you are the dog, other days you are the fire hydrant.

I will be back to race Wanaka next year and have already entered. I now expect you gentlemen to do the same (he means Mike and Dan - jog on)! There is a half ironman option too if you want to be soft J

Anyhow I wore the Bath Amphibians colours with pride though as you will see from the attached pictures the mesh panels in the back of my tri suit have left me with some rather unfortunate sunburn marks on my back! I guess sunburn is not an issue in Bath!!!!!!

So, back in action at the weekend and this time it was the 4th Helly Hansen Adventure Race of the winter season that had fallen victim to the wrath of the ‘Phibs.  Two teams: the Boys and the Girls.  And if anyone involved is completely honest, they were each other’s main rivals.  Forget the other 300-odd teams.   

Just to give you a flavour of how different it was from the last time the Phibs chicks strolled away victorious - the format had to be changed by bolting the two mountain bike loops together, to give them more time to crack the ice on the canal and as we stood around chatting instead of listening to the race brief, it started to snow!

The Girls

The Amphibs Girls had tipped themselves as favourites for the female win, having won the previous race in October (by a small margin) and also having taken out their main competitors by poaching top Adventure racer, Charlotte Maurissen. Everything was going smoothly with Char, Streety and Kez making it to the start line on time and all bikes intact.

The race started with a 4ish-km run, which was frantic from the outset and riddled with forestry obstacles.  The girls were going strong and looked to come into transition ahead of the other girls’ teams.  More importantly, they appeared to get out of transition before the Amphibs Boys!

Kez was first out onto the one and only mountain-bike leg of the race, knowing it would be a matter of minutes before Char and Streety would catch up.  With the 3-strong team re-united, the 2-lap course went frightfully smoothly.  It must’ve been those two recent muddy-as-hell Sunday training rides that made the Pirbright route feel like a couple of laps at Castle Combe.  That said, lap 2 got a bit hairy when the speed-demons caught up with the 1st-time lappers and a few sudden-stops on uphill sections of those in front certainly didn’t concur with health and safety regs. Nevertheless, the girls came into T2 together and in one piece and it was Streety 1st out this time, setting the run pace.

Char and Kez soon caught up and that’s when the good news came in.  There were the Boys on their bikes.  Still.  Ha! The Girls, boosted by this, ran strongly to the canal where the kayak section kicked in.  Again a good bit of team-work had Char and Streety powering away up the front and Kez chilling in the back seat steering the vessel.  Safely round the frozen loop and back onto the run, then came the cheers from the awesome support crew of SJ, Georgina and Ads’ Mum - the home stretch seemed all the more doable.  With Kez setting the pace and Char bringing up the rear (though far from being a hindrance to the team!), the finish line was soon in view - just a few obstacles to conquer first.

With the Geneva Airport check-in-queue-style plank walking fiasco over, then came the cargo net - probably not the most elegant exhibition of the day.  But the heavily greased near-vertical wall was a piece of cake.  In true Amphibs style, Streety threw her two team-mates up before throwing herself over.  Head first down the other side and over the finish line.  First female team - sweet result.  Beating the Boys, even sweeter?!

The Boys

The Amphibs boys had not tipped themselves as favourites, not even their mums would have entertained such a ridiculous idea and to be fair, Mike was even pretty convinced before the start that the ladies would have the measure of them - defeatist or just realist? Check out the result to help you with that one.  However, Mike and Adam had also poached a team member and also one whose very name would strike fear into the hearts of most triathletes, former pro and all round - been there, done that and used the t-shirt to de-grease his bike - Duncan McKerracher.  Of course Duncan was relying on pedigree combined with about 3 hrs worth of training in the last 6 to 12 months to be sufficient to hand it to the girls…

The lads had a pretty good start, having agreed to take it as cheekily as was required to stay in the lead pack and get to T1 before the masses of irritating London media types rocked up and spoiled everything by riding around like they had their diary produce in their shopping basket.  Anyway, back to the run.  Cheeky it was and Dunc was already hoping that this whole thing was a about an hour and a half of effort as he put himself into a painful little room and locked the door.

The boys came into T1 at pretty much the same time as the girls - so far not so good.  We might not have had a plan as such, but any we had was ‘beat the girls’ so this wasn’t going according to plan.  The boys were eventually away after a pretty amateurish transition and started to over take as many muppets as they could, whenever the track was wide enough to do so.  About 4 minutes into the ride, Adam got a flat and despite the super slick team effort in getting the new tube in and wheel back on (record timing to be fair) the boys still had to watch a parade of numpties come past them, some of whom chipped in with helpful comments such as ‘oooh, puncture’ and that sort of thing.  Having cooled down enough to start to feel stiff, it was back in the saddle and off to claw our way back through the pack like a wild beast was chasing us.  Dunc climbed like a demon, Ads kept pulling and pulling, Mike swore, tutted and gave everyone filthy looks but the damage was done, we just had too many idiots to get passed.

The second technical came in the form of Mike’s front wheel all but coming off. A degree of sabotage the night before from Streety is suspected but at least highlights how much it meant to the girls.  Flushed from this near death experience, the lads cracked on as only Amphibs know how and tried (in vain as it turned out) to claw their way back through the pack of total idiots (again).  The third technical - Adam’s crank coming loose, put the boys team so far behind the girls and so embedded in the 1st lap of the Fat Dad Wave and still behind many second lappers in the Irritating London Media Types Wave, that way before they came into transition, the girlies cruised past in the other direction on foot, looking the exact opposite of them - strong, dominant and having a good time.  It’s not possible to list how many examples of stupidity and lack of nuts we witnessed, but trust me - it was epic.

All three boys were happy to be off the bike (and amazed to have finished without stabbing someone with a multi tool) and almost looking forward to the run to the Kayak section, but cramp, general and all over body pain and quite probably a desire to kill Mike and Adam, meant that Dunc had left his best running in the first 4k (if you don’t include when he used to do this for a living and destroy everyone on fairly minimal training). As we left T2, we realised to our absolute horror, that we were in the ‘well done, you can do it group’.  I’ve nothing against people ‘taking part’ but I never again want to be in that group.  The boys were now so far behind the girls that in a perverse twist, the race started to become enjoyable again,  just because it was actually quite funny.  Fortunately Dunc was managing to keep his humour too and took the kayak section as an opportunity to stretch his legs out at the front to alleviate the cramp.  This was all fine and well but despite a way better than average paddling action from the men, we were all sat so far back that Adam got a wet arse from the icy canal every time we put the left paddle in.  In fact it’s fair to say that we were basically sinking.  This focused the mind and we rammed people out the way to get home and dry(ish) and crack on with the last bit of the run.

Cheering us into the finish was a showered, lunched, massaged and thoroughly well rested girls team, who at least got to see that the boys knew a thing or two about stupid plank walking and wriggling their way under cargo nets.  Mike and Ads launched the Cracker up the wall before launching themselves up it and down the other side to the finish. Placing unknown and I think we’d like to keep it that way.  Thanks to the girls for being such gracious winners and well done for smashing it up even more emphatically than the VO2 boys do in the mens race.  10 mins on their nearest rivals makes them peerless.  Sweet work.