Bananaman Team Triathlon 2008

It doesn't seem that long ago that we were at the Bananaman in 2007 when our Thames Turbo/Sigma Sport team kept the long standing record alive winning the Team Time Trial (TTT). This weekend we went back to defend the record with myself being the only constant in the team that romped home to a 5 minute win last year. If I am honest, I was pretty nervous going into the event this year, I knew that I was riding pretty well, but having only swam about 4k and ran less than 10k in the last month, I knew that this was going to be tough. I had visions of me not being able to maintain a good pace on the run and subsequently watching another team fly by to take the crown.

In the nick of time, we all managed to get our kit all sorted out, well, as organised as we could...this looks a mess...but it seemded to be okay in the end.



I think that I was rushing around all the way to the start, especially after having got to the water without my goggles and having to go back and get them. Anyway, the wind was howling on the day and this made for some interesting swim conditions out on the rowing lake. On the way out, it was more akin to a sea swim with waves coming at you, at least this meant the way back in for the two lap race was a lot nicer. My swim was totally pants though...never got in to it at all and just hoped that I was not making that much of idiot of myself. At the end of lap 1, I was pleased to see one of my team mates, I now knew that I was at least not that far off.



Round the second time and it was time for my favourite section.



The wind on the bike was certainly going to make things interesting. On the way out, we were struggling to hold a good speed and being on the front of the train certainly made life pretty hard. Coming back the other way was loads of fun however, 65kph on a narrow smooth road with the wind behind you.












We were not the first team out on the bikes, but we soon made it clear that we were the fastest team out there. We passed the winning team in style and then went on put a pretty sizeable margin between us and the chasers. This was exactly what I wanted, basically to not get caught up in some running race with another team...I knew my running legs were not what they were and that the run was not going to be much fun.

On the first of the 3 lap run we all knew that this would be the first glimpse we would have of how far ahead we were. I was so pleased when we turned at the far end and ran for quite a while before we saw anyone else - I was quite sure now that we had done enough to be able win.














The run was not much fun, but I made it round. Thanks especially to Guy and Roger for blocking the wind on the way out and then the helpful hand on the back on a few occasions. Also, thanks for not pushing me past the crowds :)

In the end, we won by 5 over 5 minutes again....another good day in the office and back to the podium days at least.