Off road triathlons

I helped photograph a local Tri event this weekend near Cranleigh[/url].

Having covered loads of Tri’s over the years it was nice to have a go at something different, namely a cross country one.

Dunno why but it seemed quite odd shooting people in tri suits on MTB’s in the countryside, and this from a full on roadie who doesn’t own any clown shorts.

The full competitor galleries aren’t ready yet but here’s a selection of press stuff we sent out – http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.278501158922789.53770.220066218099617&type=3

Not done off camera flash work for a few years so took a bit of a punt on set up and looked to have got away with it 😉

The bike leg was one or two 10K laps and was an ideal cyclo cross course, with just enough gloop to cause a me a few probs when I went for a reccie.

I personally detest swimming but I have to say this looked to be an excellent crack if you like multi discipline races.

Definitely worth a go if this is your sort of thing.

Richard Stannard still winning cross tri races – wow!

There’s a reason you see less and less white trisuits these days 😀

I did that, can’t see Facebook here, was number 237.

The bike was meant to be 30k, bit of a pain it was so much shorter, I’d have gained more places, as I really cannot run for s**t! Shame it was so muddy too, hadn’t expected that!

Nick

All the shots will be up on SSP[/url] as soon as.

I know the organisers and after my reccie, I said to Mark D that the bike leg was only 10K. He said they had tweaked it down but Mick D, the other organiser wasn’t aware of this……..

I rode my brand new full susser on Sun and literally made a right mess of the muddy bits 2 miles in!

Yeah I know Sam G designed the course, he DNF’d and went home before I had a chance to lambaste him for the shortness!

Thought the course marking needed to be better too, particularly those bits where you were running and riding in both directions, a couple of people waving arms and shouting ‘keep left’ wasn’t ideal with 4 streams of people!

Good event though I thought, nice to race 5 miles from home!

Raw Energy Pursuits are a good crowd and this event did appear to go well. Whether it makes any money is another matter.

Can we post pics of you here when they’re live? 😉

Very definitely, my vanity enjoys such things, we have to laugh at:

1) my horrendous tan lines from spending so much time cycling
2) my complete inability to run, and the fact I look like a complete goon whilst attempting it

I’ll get the ball rolling with some of Mike Adams’ photos! ME! 🙂

Nick

How did we manage to make a 1ft high hump look like a rad gnarr downhill?

http://gallery.sussexsportphotography.com/a.tlx?l=euIWeawG&pictureid=12476689499

Was it your awsum bike skilz or my photographistery 😉

I reckon it’s the power of the elbows, makes anything look gnar! Combined with a bit of MBUK camera angle. Good shot!

Doing my first off road triathalon on 9th sep in Scotchland ,any tips ,swimming will be ok ,bike no problem the run is scaring the life out of me its only a baby but its mainland to an island swim,then twice around the island bike followed by once around run what tips you got ?thanks

Wanted to get up and do this event; but other commitments (but managed a local sprint tri instead)
The results seemed to give some very quick average speeds for the bike leg when I looked, I worked them out based on the expected 30Km – makes more sense now! How off-road was the run? Your trainers still look nice and clean njee!

Run was fine, was just around fields and on the Downs Link, it was just part of the bike where it went down by the lake, it was a properly squelchy bog! Shame really, the dry bits were quite fun, twisty in the trees stuff, interspersed with some very hard fields, just to ensure the bike really clogged up!

Could’ve done with the extra 10k though to get a bit more of a buffer for the run!

what tips you got

Go for a run straight off the bike. I did two 5k runs before this tri, and was pretty comfortable doing sub-8 minute miles, then on Sunday just found my legs really wouldn’t work, and was closer to 10 minute miles!

I put socks on too, heinous crime in tris, but I get really bad blisters otherwise, 10 seconds in transition makes it worth it! Put Vaseline or anti-chafe gel on your neck etc too, your wetsuit can really rub if you’re not careful.

Otherwise enjoy it, all the ones I’ve done the standard of ‘mountain’ biking has been really poor, it’s good for the ego!

Does the Plas y Brenin mountain tri still exist? That was fun to watch with masses of runners trying to stay upright in some super fast/unstable race canoe.

Fuzzy

I reckon Vachery was more or less perfect for such things.

Swim, run and cross bike leg in a private estate and loads of things for family and spectators to do in the arena.

Pretty sensible start times (for the competitors :wink:)

Dunsfold Airshow on in the background, complete with Vulcan and Red Arrows fly pasts 8)

Run and cross courses were pretty flat and as I said, it made a good cyclo cross course.

Only real downside was the couple of quagmire muddy sections which were a shame, especially with the cracking weather.