BRW Triathlon

Last Sunday I took part in the BRW Sprint Triathlon in Sydney. The chance to swim in the harbour under the shadow of the Opera house was just too good to turn down.

The course was generously measured as a 400m swim, 8km bicycle ride and a 4km run. I don't think the actual distances were anything like as far, but in a fun event it allows everyone to be flattered by their times!

I haven't done any serious swimming since I was eighteen years old so was a bit worried about the first leg. Before the day I'd done four training sessions in my local pool, but I was still a bit nervous treading water on the start line. Luckily the harbour wasn't too cold, but it was a lot murkier than the crystal clear pool I have been used to.

The swim felt like it took an eternity and I wasn't too excited about all of the splashing and nearly being kicked in the face. However, I kept on plugging away and although it felt like I exited the water near the back of the pack, I'm told I was comfortably in the mid field.

After the swim it was a long jog to get my bike. I quickly slipped on my shoes (I'd gone to the nerdy extend of buying some elastic laces to make it quicker) and pulled on my top before heading out of the transition zone with my bike. I was fearing that I'd have a lot of people over taking me on the cycle leg, but I was actually one of the quicker ones. The course was quite crowded and had a couple of sharp bends which made it tricky.

Back in the transition zone I couldn't find where to put my bike! I eventually worked out that someone else had stolen my rack! I shoved their bike out of the way and headed off on the run. I still had a horrible salty taste in my mouth from the swim so was grateful for the water station where I could try and rinse my mouth out. The run should be my strongest leg and I'm pleased to report that no one overtook me and I did quite a lot of passing of other people! I ran the supposed 4km run in just over 10mins. They either grossly exaggerated the distance or I just set a new world record!

One of the things I hadn't realised about the triathlon was all the hanging around there would be. We had to drop off our bikes before 7am. I had a three hour wait until my start time and then had to hang around until nearly midday before we were allowed to pick up our bikes again. I'm pleased it was a nice autumn day and we could hang out at the Opera Bar in the sunshine!

I was pleasantly surprised at my total overall time which saw me in the top fifteen per cent of finishers:
Swim Time: 0:06:52

Ride Time: 0:18:34

Run Time: 0:10:44

Total Time: 0:36:10

A fun day, but I don't think I've been bitten by the triathlon bug. There are some photos of me in my swim shorts from the day, but they're not something the blogosphere is ready for....