Ironbridge classic Olympic triathlon, 15th July

Report by Dave Shackley

Ironbridge is the 'home of industry' and sits 1.5 hours from cloudy Manchester on the banks of the seething Severn, near Telford. The Ironbridge classic sits alongside the Nantwich triathlon and others as part of the www.fun2tri.co.uk series.

The original plan was for there to be an Olympic distance race with a 1.5K River Severn swim, a 3-lap very hilly 38k bike course (probably climbing 150m+ each lap) and a park-based 10k run. Unfortunately, due to the rains of the last 2 months and a massive downpour on the morning of the race, there was no way any kind of swim could take place. Even canoes struggled to go up-river and the middle section was flowing downstream at 5-7mph! 200 people had signed up to do the event but only approx. 120-130 of these actually started.

The race therefore became a duathlon with an approx. 2K run, 38K bike and an approximate 10K cross country run course through swampy grass/ paths with a background of monsoon rains. There were also quite sizable distances to travel between transitions. Still as with all these things, when you're out there competing you don't seem to feel the rain (or the mud) and on the long straightish bike descent you could easily reach 45-47mph reasonably safely for a good 60+ seconds.

I was happy with my performance considering the conditions and placed 7th overall which was largely due to my skinnyness and ability to get up hills quickly on my bike. If I'd have ran at my normal 10k pace I'd have placed 2nd or 3rd overall though I struggled to get going for the first half of the run. The winner thrashed everyone by 6 minutes!

I've done a report to let people know about the event. Essentially, it's a good one for people who like very hilly bike courses as part of an Olympic distance triathlon and a good one for some of the top 5% at the club who could well win it.

Results (2k run/38k bike/10k run, times include lengthy transitions)

Pos	Name	Club	Run 1	Bike	Run 2	Total
1	Daniel Stevens	www.tricoach.co.uk	7:22	1:08:31	37:09	1:53:02
7	Dave Shackley	MTC	8:20	1:11:20	43:36	2:03:16

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