Swanage Triathlon, Sunday 13th August 2006
Report by Rob Harper
Having decided that the best way to be first MTC finisher in a race this season was to do one that I was damn sure no-one else would enter, the Swanage Classic tri down in deepest darkest Dorset seemed to fit the bill perfectly. Fairly low key, 250 miles from Manchester but only a 30 minute drive from where my parents live. Result!
So, the day of the race dawned with a covering of cloud and a stiff breeze - I know this for a fact as I was already up and on the way to the race for my 0645 wave start. Gah! The swim should have been across Swanage bay to a pier, clamber out then dive back in and swim back. However, the tide was way way out so we had to make do with running out of the water at the far side and going around a cone, so depriving the spectators of my attempt at a dive/running bomb (see Peter Kay in the John Smith's ad). The swim marker buoys were a bit pathetic, but I guess one of the advantages of being a useless swimmer is that there are plenty of people to follow! I was out of the water in about 25 minutes, so either I've suddenly developed some swimming ability, or the course was way shorter than 1500m. I know which of these my money is on.
The bike course could definitely be described as "challenging". After only a mile or two to get the legs spinning it's straight up a steep hill into Langton Matravers. All those times up Brickworks over the winter certainly paid off, and I passed a whole lot of people on this climb. A couple of miles along an exposed ridge to Kingston then it's a steep descent, complete with Alpine-style hairpins, down into Corfe Castle. The next section out and back to Wareham was on fairly featureless, rolling roads, and it was a case of just plugging away as there was no-one in sight ahead to catch, although already the quick lads were on their way back. By the time I returned to Corfe Castle I could see a few people ahead, and turning left onto the road towards Studland I was bizarrely actually looking forward to the upcoming climbs as I felt confident that these would help me catch them - and I was right. Finally there are no more hills to climb and the last couple of miles is a fantastic swooping descent back into Swanage, 30mph+ all the way.
The run heads North out of Swanage back towards Studland. Now if you look on a map there is a bloody great hill in the way called Ballard Down. So do they route the run sneakily round the side of this? Do they heck - they send you right over the top, from near sea-level to 400ft in the first 1.5 miles! I managed to complete this climb with pride intact, running it all the way although at times probably the slowest running ever seen anywhere. From the top there's a long rough descent into Studland before heading back uphill (dammit!) to pick up the same descent into Swanage as on the bike (although less swooping, more staggering by now).
A really enjoyable race and all done and dusted before breakfast time. I think you'd be doing well to find better bike and run routes in any other Oly tri.
Results (1.5?/40/10 km)
| Pos | Cat Pos | Name | Club | Swim(+T1) | Bike(+T2) | Run | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1/295 | 1 | Dixon, Colin | - | 00:17:50 | 01:04:12 | 00:34:38 | 01:56:40 |
| 86 | 16 | Harper, Rob | Manchester Tri | 00:27:00 | 01:14:24 | 00:41:41 | 02:23:05 |
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