Helen James and myself travelled the long winding A26 to Seaford in Sussex to again tackle the South Coast Triathlon. After last years ignominious tow to land by canoe Helen was not going to be defeated this time by the choppy seas. The weather was decidedly unsettled with stormy clouds gathering.
First the 750m swim [or more as it turned out] in the sea, the start was off the uncomfortable shingly beach. We had been warned of a strong current moving right to left along the coast. Which meant once we had rounded the first buoy, there was a long swim against the current before we could head back to the finish. Most competitors, including Helen and myself, swam yards off course and out to sea! The canoes gently pointed us in the right direction. You thought you were swimming in a straight line but lo and behold the evermore distant orange buoy never seemed to get any closer, in fact the increasing swell meant when you looked you could not see a damned thing! Of course on the way back that naughty current swept you too close to shore and we had to swim out to sea again in order to pass between the “gate” marker buoys and into the landing point. Then there was the ungainly stagger out of the water and up the beach, the run [or exhausted walk for some] to the bike and then strip off your wetsuit as quickly as possible. I was ahead of Helen at this point.
The 20k bike ride was 6 laps along the seafront on a flat traffic free road with the added delight of pouring rain. The run was 5k along the promenade for 2 laps. Very boring and therefore very tiring to complete. Helen is a master cyclist and although I was pedalling like mad she passed me in the third lap and beat me by 4 minutes. A deficit I could not make up in the run and Helen was in front by a whole minute in the final overall time. We were not last either – 14th and 15th out of 17 finishers.
Helen was pleased to complete the triathlon and had beaten the challenge of the sea this time. I was just pleased to finish. And to top it all when we had changed and were ready to go home the sun came out. We both improved our times from last year by at least 15 minutes. Roll on next year – well maybe not.
Helen James swim 29.26, bike 54.44, run 38.08, total 2.02.28
Maureen Farish swim 28.58, bike 58.11, run 36.16, total 2.03.25