Race report by Rachel H:
Southport Triathlon – Standard Distance 1500m Open water swim, 40k bike & 10k run 🏊🏼🚴🏼🏃♀️
up at 5am to head over to Southport and register for the race, lots of walking to registration then transition, I was in wave 4 (ladies & relay wave) as this is a qualifying event for GB triathlons there were a lot of serious athletes about. Headed to the swim start for the briefing, 2 Laps round the bouys then out near the transition area, I placed myself near the back so I wouldn’t get jostled, started by doing breaststroke and dipping my head to acclimatise, the water was cold, stinky, dirty (duck & geese poo 🤢) and almost zero visibility, this panicked me a bit so I muddled my way round with a mix of breastroke & crawl, the water got choppy towards the end so I swallowed more water than I really wanted too as my mantra for the day “was don’t drink the water” 🤣 I was glad to get out but really pleased I’d made it round. It was a long way to transition and it’s hard work getting a wetsuit off but I was soon out on the bike. Turning left out of transition straight into a head wind was really tough, I never knew two sides of the same street could feel so different, headwind and cold going out and tailwind and sunny coming back, I battled the winds and did the 2 laps. Glad to be on the run, the run was a lovely 2 lap route round the marina, my feet took a lap to thaw out so first I ran on numb feet then tingly feet then eventually normal feeling feet, all part of the fun I suppose 😂 overall I am very pleased to have survived today and it’s been a good training session, feeling slightly more ready for the IM70.3 now 🏊🏼🚴🏼🏃♀️
