I left Mallorca after racing Mallorca Olympic triathlon, a draft legal fast and furious race. On the start line was some big names including Will Clarke so i knew it was going to be a very hard race! I had a really good swim and onto the bike i caught a large group to ride with, myself and another guy more or less controlled the bunch and just tried to make everyone work, unfortunately they were pretty lazy and just didn't want to work hard! I spent myself on the bike trying to ride as hard as possible and constantly trying to break away! Fortunately onto the run my legs were there i dropped the group and set off for a fast 10km! I was extremely surprised to cross the line 9th with such a strong field including a lot of fast German elites! First draft race, first Olympic of the season and a sub 2 hour success!
I more or less then left Mallorca to move back to Edinburgh for the UK race season and to pick up some money in the bike shop for Summer. My first race in the UK would be the Little beaver triathlon, a chance to qualify for the Worlds in Chicago and a time to see where i was at compared to the UK scene. I didn't really enjoy this race, the swim was stupidly and unnecessarily agressive with guys kicking punching ripping googles off etc. I don't understand why some guys delibratelly try and swim like this and it pisses me of. My goggles were ripped of twice and i got dunked under quite a lot. Somehow i survived the swim and just set out to hammer the bike. After one of my shoes coming off i had a really strong bike and the hills suited me. The run was 2 5km laps with a beast of a hill, again i set out to really push it and dually did so. I had given the race everything and was extremely happy to finish 3rd in age group meaning i had qualified for the worlds!! A massive thanks has to be said to my friend Will who drove 3 hours to surprise me and watch the race. What a guy!
Onto the next was my first race in Scotland and actually the Scottish Olympic distance champs racing on the commonwealth games course! I was really excited or this race, a chance to compare myself to some of the top guys in Scotland and on a 7 lap hilly bike course, a dream for me!! The swim was good and no troubles there apart from it being stupidly cold! Onto the bike i knew i was in a good position so just tried to hit every lap very hard, its the kind of course you don't settle into you just give it what you can and see what happens! Onto the run i had a couple of guys i knew ahead of me so set out to catch them and try and drop some others. Onto the second lap of 5km i really pushed hard i had someone on my shoulder for a couple of km but wanted rid of him. I pushed again and was across the line 6th! A result i was over the moon at! A really good race for me and a strong performance.
A weekend later and it was another long drive to England for Nottingham sprint triathlon, a chance to qualify for the Sprint world champs along with the Europeans in Lisbon next year! This was a race i had done last year and knew it was fast, hectic and a risky course! It must be the English triathletes because the swim was again nuts, only a couple of seconds in and my face was kicked and lip burst, pretty painful at the time. A sprint is so fast and hectic that every second counts so i tried to limit my losses and pushed on and actually had a reasonable swim in the end. The bike course doesn't really suit me too much, 4 laps of a pan flat course but its a good course to just hammer and see what happens. It gets very crowded around the lake so you have to be very switched on and shout at people every so often! I had a reasonable bike, quite strong but i feel it could have been stronger had i not been so tired! The run was fantastic i felt really strong and my running has been great recently, i caught a few more guys on the run and was still catching guys right up to the finish line. I crossed the line sub an hour and 4th in age group. It was a great result and i made the qualification but i was disappointed not to podium! If the run was maybe a few more hundred meters i may have made the podium but thats a sprint! Fast, furious and every second counts!
After racing Nottigham on the Saturday i made a risky decision to race Montrose sprint triathlon on the Sunday. This was a local race just down the road from home and the organizers are keen to promote triathlon in Angus so i thought it would be good to race! When i woke up my legs did feel okay and all that was really putting me off was the pissing rain and howling wind! The triathlon was another sprint and a pool swim! Joy at least that meant no kicking or punching! I basically knew if i swam biked and ran as fast as i possibly could i had a strong chance of a win. And essentially thats what i did, i was in the fastest swim wave and a few of us did come out the water around the same time, but onto the bike i just hammered it trying to sit at some crazy watts! I couldn't see anyone behind me so i knew i was on for a good race, after quite a tough but great bike i just ran as hard as the legs still had and crossed the line first winning by 4 minutes! I was stoked, my first win!! My Mother was also there and that really meant a lot to me.
So apologies for such a long report but that's how things are looking at the moment! 7 races into the season and things are going really well. My form feels great and iv'e got some results i am really proud of as well as some big qualifications! This weekend i have a weekend off before heading back down to England next weekend! I'm building towards the Europeans in July and just hope to keep this form going. Thanks to my parents for their continued support, to Graeme for his coaching, to Angus Council for some funding and to everyone that is supporting and following my progress!
