On May 22nd, D3 members took part in the Swashbuckler, a middle distance triathlon in the beautiful new forest, near Southampton. Everyone did very well, here are the results…

D3 at the Swashbuckler

It was all setting up nicely on Saturday afternoon with registration, briefing and reccing the cycle route. Beautiful sunshine, a few scares at the possible amount of current and jelly fishes in the tidal river the next morning, and some interesting ideas on how difficult the climbs were. Nothing really major, but enough to get the heart pumping those little butterflies!! Race start was very early. Wayyyyy too early if you ask me, but it’s been dictated by the tide of the river being as weak as possible, while coinciding with a morning start, and leaving enough time for everyone to make the cutoff later on… Organisers didn’t have much a choice on that one: canon was to fire at 5:15am…

Waking up to a beautiful (and typical) New Forest drizzly fog, some of us really though that it was going to be a repeat of last year’s One Last Tri which we’ve raced in the most appalling conditions; and the weather while arriving in transition only reinforced this thought when the heavens opened!

But after this wet setup, the rain stopped and it was time to get in the river. The tide was already going out and we could feel the effect before the start as the marshals had to ask us twice to swim backwards behind the start line while people where getting in. Eventually we got underway.

Everyone swam well and showed the long hours in the pool paid off! No one left behind after the cut off. Transition by then was a bit dryer, but kit and roads were really wet, and it caused numerous punctures, counting at least 15 in the first lap alone! There was a bit of wind at the start of the bike leg, but it picked up a lot during the race and we all finished in a very strong headwind, getting blown around on the last straights.

Matthew and Ian were powering ahead while I got stuck with a tubular puncture, eventually seeing Gaby and Sarah passing, while Christine and Martine were going strong on their bikes not far away behind.

Coming back to transition through the last snappy hill and the long drag to the line, there were no cows/horse/sheep/sunday-drivers left on the way, and it was time to discover the run route.

2 laps of the circuit in the wind and along the little hills of the forest made for a great diverse run which, as we discovered later on, bunched all the guys up within 4min of one another. Nice grouping on such a long race as we must have been within 1km of each other! The girls were not far behind and have taken again some of the top spots in the women categories! Sarah, Christine, Gaby and Martine were respectively 2nd, 3rd, 2nd and 5th in their categories!

Well done to everyone! I’m sure we all enjoyed it despite the initial weather and will be back next year!

Matt

Official times are as follows (individual disciplines include transitions)

Photos

D3 at the Swashbuckler