The final BUCS race of the year, and a smaller crew than usual heading to Whitlingham Country Park, Norwich for BUCS Standard, but don’t worry… the fan favourites were all accounted for. A lovely lake-side setting and lovely weather made for a great final outing of the year, especially for those looking to complete their first ever Olympic distance tri!
Starting off with the 1500m swim, the return of mass starts was glorious to see, although not so glorious for those racing. The lack of racing through COVID left its mark on this race, with the bruises from fists and feet on show post-race. Once everyone settled into their groups, the swim did thankfully calm down. Thomas was the first out of the water with Ollie coming in 10s behind, a smaller gap than predicted pre-race! Josh surfaced a few minutes later, with James and Patrick following, club swim caps gleaming in the afternoon sun. Although, there was a 5-minute period where George, the emergency contact for the team on the day, thought he’d be getting a call from the race organisers with some not so good news. HE WAS WRONG. Suddenly bursting from the water rose Aaron! Looking stronger than I think even Aaron himself expected, a perfect way to mark all our athletes being out of the water…. that’s leg 1 done!
Next came the 38km bike leg which was QUICK, and over the leg there was some shuffling of team positions. Ollie overtook Thomas in T1 and so was the first back into T2, rather elegantly at that 🩰. Josh also pulled off an overtake and so arrived second, with Thomas not too far behind in third. Patrick, rocking the vintage club tri suit, came in next, getting ahead of James. Aaron completing the pack, however gained SUBSTANTIAL time to James over the bike leg 💪.
Finally, the 10km run which was split into two 5km laps around the lake. James secured an overtake on Patrick, which honestly is what you’d expect from the ex-WUAXC president. Apart from that, no major excitement, all of that was provided by some questionable marshalling which caused many athletes to miss the finishing straight. I’m legally obliged to not hide any facts, so sadly I do report that James did try to cross the line after 5km. Worth a try, but he did have to go and properly complete the race!
All athletes over the line, our finishing order was Ollie, Josh, Thomas, James, Patrick, Aaron. They were all quick to replenish the sugars with some generic gummy sweets (not sponsored) and some generic cola-drink (not sponsored). Smiles all round, definitely a great day out!
Thanks again to BUCS for the event, the SU for their help with logistics and of course Jason and Tracey at Phoenix coaches. Live updates were posted on our Instagram story throughout the event, so be sure to go follow us ahead of future races!
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