National Cross Triathlon Champion 2010

A surprise and a springboard to what has become something of a golden period. On July 14th I became the official British Cross Triathlon Champion.

After a period of absolute woe I had a stellar 4 weeks of training courtesy of that man with the plan: Sportstest's Dr Garry Palmer. He has turned some of my previous ideas on their head this year and now his methods are paying big dividends. June and July saw him put me through more interval sets in a month than the whole of last year. The net result was something of a comfortable win.

Cross Triathlon has been sanctioned by British Triathlon for 2010 as an official Championship event and the Durty Tri in the borders region of Scotland was the venue for the inaugral championship. I heard about it a few weeks before and decided that it would act as a good lead in event for the XTERRA World Tour Race in the Czech Republic a week later.


The first issue as ever would be getting to the event as once again I would be subject to old school Swedish travel! Packed to the gunnels I have finally started to get this going to races thing dialled. In this instance though one extra thing was essential; with the Scottish propensity for deep fry it was mandatory that I go to town on the pre-made pasta.

I decided to cruise slowly north to both save energy and catch up with friends and family. First stop my Dad's in Peterborough and then onto my old friend and ace downhiller turned soundsystem junkie Robin Hoffmann in Manchester. After catching up with the old man and having our usual good natured political tete a tete I made my way to Rob's via the Peaks and a scheduled dip in the Ladybower Resevoir.

I haven't been swimming anywhere near enough and thought that the cold Northern water of Damnbusters fame would act as the perfect acclimatisation for the Championship Loch. But once there I stood shivering like an idiot acting out what can only be described as a Ladybower Cower... I got back in my car and made a beeline over the snake pass for warm Boddington's.

Now when I say soundsystem junkie I really mean it - Robin's lounge set up looked like this.. and those are my big 29 inch wheels!

A nice catch up, more pasta cooking and a glass of red before bed and then come morning a break for the border. The North lived up to its billing - Preston looked a touch grim, Gretna grimmer and then I lost my indicators. These quick exchanges with the AA are a common theme in my life and in some ways I rather like them. I am learning more and more about the makings of my early 90's vehicle and this time I had a big hand in fixing the mechanism with zip ties and not a not inconsiderable amount of force.

By the time I turned for Selkirk and St Mary's Loch, July had turned into January and I wished the heated seat I had disconnected for France had been back in play - it was Lord of The Ring's eery outside - but inside anticipation was beginning to build as I was feeling sharp.


When I finally reached the event the location was fantastic. A cold loch surrounded by the greenest of hills, heather and thistles. I set up a Lochside camp alongside other like minded people and then checked the bike course. the verdict; although a little short on technical stuff in places it was actually pretty good fun.

After a surprisingly good sleep the morning time was whiled away with last minute bike checks, shoe choice deliberations, rain dodging and err BBC Interviews. The BBC were there as part of the Outdoor Show to film the event and also to talk to the leading runners and riders. I was a little nervous at first but within a few moments I found myself reaching for painful cliches.


So to the race. The water was cold but not freezing and the start was a deep water one. I noticed that all the main protagonists were waiting until the last moment to take to the cold and therefore I decided to follow suit. This actually almost caused me to miss the off but once it was go I found that I was swimming better than usual. After a few minutes I decided to look right as I hadn't in some time. I subsequently found that I had swum way off course - Idiot. Immediate annoyance and panic ensued and I cut back hoping I hadn't lost my chance in the first few minutes. The learning curve at the moment is a steep one and I am certainly finding that you can bring it back in a multi-eventer and when I rejoined the group I was next to hot favourite Sam Gardner. I shadowed him into transition and knowing he would be slicker than me in the change I sprinted out the water.

Transition was confused and my high heart rate coupled with too many white saddles caused me to lose my bike. Like an amateur I turned to the watching crowd and suggested that it had been stolen. I finally mounted and buried myself up climb one about 40 seconds down on Sam and in about tenth place.

The course was open, beautiful and on the outward leg extremely steep in places. Soon I realised I was actually pulling Sam back and within ten minutes it was a two horse race. I had ridden very badly in France and this was much closer to my best. I decided to mark Sam at 20 seconds and save myself for the run.

Transition 2 or T2 was my slickest ever - my new Sidi Terra shoes resplendent in their patent white were off in seconds and my unique choice of track spikes with lock laces tightened up double quick. At last a proper change over!

The two weeks since France had seen me running properly again and I was way smoother. I was certain that I could win and before the climb I caught Sammy G and immediately dropped the hammer. I went away quickly and comfortably maintained a lead of two minutes to run in the surprise champion!

What a confidence builder. Sam is someone who has really taken the fight to the best for a long time and my aim for 2010 was to get close to him. To take the top step in my 4th event and 20 minutes inside the course record made all the bad stuff fade away. It didn't feel like a win at a big bike race does as my passion is only just developing but this and subsequent results have made me realise that I can really be one of the best on the big stage if I play my cards right.

Thanks this month go out to Simon for sorting my living arrangements.