Ironman Monaco 70.3 (coming soon)

Ironman Antwerp 70.3

Very fast Race..

I was going into my 3rd traithlon now, i was very exited cause my coach had told me that it was going to be a very fast race so the training leading up to this event had alot of speed work involved!!!

The Race was only starting at 10am, quite strange cause i was used to racing at 7am..but actually it was quite nice cause we could sleep in and get some good recovery. The morning steve davies and i woke up around 7ish and it was raining, I think everyone that is racing in any sport prays that it never rains but it did that day.

We jumped on our bikes and road to the race site that morning, it was only drizziling then. It was quite wierd cause the day before the race we did'nt have to check our bikes in or our Bikes bags, only the run bags..

The swim went off in Waves and my age group was the 1st to go after the Pro's. I was right at the front and i had such a awesome swim, i think i was 2nd behind one other person the whole way threw the 1.8km swim. It was my first swim in my Blue seventy(Helix)wetsuit and it went threw the water like a knife going threw butter!!! I exited the water in 2nd position, which meant i had i very good lead on the bike in my age group.

The Bike was very fast, no one passed me the whole way threw the 90km so i knew i was just behind the pro's. There was a little bit of wind threw the harbour area but that was all. I maybe pushed i bit hard in the bike and thats where i go wrong cause i dont have much energy on the run. O the rain had stopped in the beginning of the ride, so that was very lucky but the only thing was there are alot of rail crossing and it can get very dodgy. A few people have come off there bikes crossing the rails. They do protect the rail crossing's with some sort of mat but i think they need to come up with a better idea.

The Run..

Very flat again, i think its a 4 loop run threw Antwerp city. Lots of crowd for the run which was nice and it turned out to be a very beautiful day for racing. I always seem to struggle to find my feet in the beginning of the runs but i guess it normal if you not pro hey :)

I Guess i was very happy with my overall time of 4.15hr, i was trying to beat my coaches time of 4.08 but there was no chance :)) But overall very nice race and i am thinking of doing it again next year just before Austria full ironman. I think it will be a good training session as well cause Austria i believe is fast too!

Swim 23.56hr

Bike 2.18hr

Run 1.30hr

Total 4.15hr

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Bike Repairs and New Builds by Ben Thompson

Welcome
CycleWorx was started in October 2007 with an aim to deliver the best workmanship and bicycles available.
I have been a mechanic for fourteen years and worked on every type of bicycle out there.
Apart from repairing bicycles I specialise in custom builds, and sell new bikes from a wide range of manufacturers such as Scott, Felt, Comtat, Viner.

I am Located in Wansworth right opposite the virgin gym.
My contact number is 079706151571, you can also check my site out at http://www.cycleworx.co.uk/

Thank you
Ben.

Ironman 70.3 UK (70.3 World Champs Qualifier)

Now going from a full Ironman to a half Ironman which should have been done the other way around but o well....:)

What another beautiful day for racing down in Wimbleball..

It was an early morning start waking up at Steve davies's parents house. We got up at 4am ready to cook our oats and finish breakfast before driving 45min to wimbleball lake where the contest was held. We arrived a bit late with only 30min to check our bikes and pump up our tyres, put on our wetties and head to the pack of people waiting for the swim start. I was stressing a bit cause i like to be ready and stretch and run through the race in my mind and have some quite time. But actually we did'nt need to strees at all cause the race was delayed cause of the fog by about 2hrs.....I know!!! Everyone was very anxoius to get the race going but the race organizes could'nt do anything about it cause of the fog, and obviously the competetors needed to see where they were swimming!!!

My swim was ok, not what i expected though coming from a strong swimming back round. I finished the swim in 28min and then everyone had to run up this hill to transition which i think killed everyone even the Pro's.. It was just the start of the hardest 70.3's they say!!!

The day before the race Steve and i had driven through the course wanting to see how hard the bike ride was and for about half an hour driving we were like what is everyone talking about it being hard this is easy man no probs, we going to smash this!!! Then being the co driver i realised that i had got us lost and we had only driven half of the course..woops!!! Well let me tell you thats where the hills were halfway through the 1st lap and 2nd lap........I had a very good bike ride actually knowing that my hill riding was a strong decipline of mine, nearly the whole ride i was behind Bella Bayliss and Catriona Morrison. Coming into transition was quick and i was feeling strong i think i came in 23rd overall in the bike but i knew the run course was also going to be very hard and challenging.

The 3 lap run was very challenging, alot of the run was off rode. I managed to be quite strong on the run, temperatures were reaching about 28 degrees. Spectators were awesome with loads of support for the run.

I came in at a time of 4.57hr..4th in my Age Group and qualified me for world champs in Clearwater..

Swim 28.01

Bike 2.48.57

Run 1.34.44

Total 4.57.39

IMSA

Ironman SA 2009

First Triathlon and First Marathon!!

5th of April 2009 Nelson Mandela bay hosted the 5th Ironman event in Port Elizabeth..

What a fantastic day for racing with temperatures reaching 35 degrees, A beautiful sunrise to kick off the day with the 1500 competitors standing on hobbie beach breathing down each others necks...

I was standing right in the front for the swim start cause i knew my swimming was quite strong coming from a surfing back round. There were quite a bit of nerves for me cause i have never swum with so many people in my life....I had a good start following just behind the pro's, getting out the water and running along the beach to start the 2nd lap killed me a little bit but as soon as i started swimming again a was fine..I came out the water in 52mins and i think i was the first orange cap, i ran up to transition with the crowd screeming was such an awesome feeling. My transition was really slow think it was 4min something, just cause it was my first transition ever and i also had to load the sunscreen on....My bike ride was'nt to bad finished it in 5.18hr, i just remember soaking myself with water on the bike and within 3min i would be bone dry again that how warm it was..The last lap for the bike i wanted i bar from one of the aid station but they had run out of bars so i just relied on gels for the whole bike ride and 2 salt tablets ever hour!!

My run transition again was really slow think it was 5min something...For the first 4km of the run i could'nt really find my feet until i had my first sip of coke and then it was like i was a different person again..My family was there supporting me every time i ran passed them, it was so great having them there. I remember hitting the wall around the 25km mark but my mind was to strong to give up and walk. I did'nt walk once in the Marathon but i had a really slow run finshing in 4hr....

Before getting to the finish line was the best feeling of my life, when i saw the finishing line from the road the time was 10.28.54 i just started sprinting to try get under 10.30hr. As i landed on the red carpet all you hear is people screeming and all you are thinking is wow i really did this i am an Ironman. YES

My finishing time was 10.29.34, 8th in my age group and 66th overall.

I will be in South Africa again next year to better my time and quilify for Hawaii. Look forward to it.

Swim 52.53

Bike 5.18.21

Run 4.06.59

Total 10.29.34