Yes it’s been ages since we’ve updated the blog! Everyone seems to have been busy getting down to racing and flying the Driven to Tri flag. There have been some great early season performances and the past weekend saw a massive D2T turnout across the world including athletes at the European Champs, Ironman Austria and Frankfurt as well as plenty racing on the domestic scene.
We’ll start in Austria where the Irish contingent of Joyce, Katie and Sean were looking to post fast times. Austria is a relatively fast course but the substantial climbs on the bike make pacing even more important than normal. It was also reported to be up to 30 degrees on some parts of the course. Joyce had the 10 hour mark and Irish record in her sights and didn’t disappoint, putting together a perfectly paced race. Out of the swim in 1.02 followed by a solid 5.16 on the bike set her up to run through the field. Fortunately she’d brought her running legs with her and the 3rd fastest run of the day (3.20) saw her finish 7th overall (including Pro’s) and just 48 seconds outside the Irish record in 9.46.43. A massive PB, Hawaii slot in the bag and great reward for all the hard work.
Meanwhile Katie and Sean were both putting together very strong swim and bike legs with Sean riding over 30 minutes faster than last year and Katie coming off the bike in the top 20 women. The tough conditions began to take their toll but to both of their credit they stuck to the task on the run with Sean posting a PB of 10.25 and Katie coming home in 11.13 for 16th in her AG. Frankfurt hosted the 2nd big Ironman of the weekend with Jacqui heading over the Germany to race and finish in 13.38 with a very good swim and bike and what looks like a very painful run!
At the European champs in Athlone Abey, Nicci and Becki were representing Britain in the Olympic distance race. Nicci and Becki finished 10th and 12th in the most competitive of the female age groups whilst Abey put together a storming performance to cross the line 2nd in the 30-34 age group. Kyle was the sole male representative from D2T and finished in 2.07. Also a big congrats to Amy Wolfe who although not a D2T athlete finished 2nd overall and has shown great improvements this year and came to visit us on our Dulwich camp.
Closer to home Sonja had her best race of the season at the Cowman whilst Harry biked 1k at Bournemouth Tri before puncturing, returning to T1, grabbing a spare wheel from the car and heading off back on the bike!
We’ll hopefully update the blog with other race results later in the week. Now I'm off to watch the Tour kick off on the cobbles!
Pete
Harry went to see Andy at Bike Science in Bristol yesterday.