Race Report View

Four Bromley Veterans competed in the 21^st Whiteoaks triathlon; Linda Grey, Les Humphreys, Helen James and myself. Weather conditions were very good; the heatwave had cooled a little and helpfully the start  was scheduled for very early in the morning – 6.30am. But there were a few problems for three of us.

The swim was 400 metres in the pool, 27 k on the bike in a big circuit of Swanley, Dartford and Bexley and 8k mainly cross country run in New Barn park. Les Humphrey had the first problem. He was convinced he had completed the 12 lengths of the pool but the official maintained he had swum 10. Les showed the official his stopwatch which showed his usual swim time for 400m – 10 minutes - and he was given the ok to continue out of the pool and onto the bike. Later Les found he was not listed in the results and thinks he was probably disqualified for allegedly not swimming the required number of lengths. Hence his times are based on his own watch times.

According to Linda her triathlon was not up to her usual standard; Linda passed myself and Les in the run, gasping out to Les as she disappeared into the distance, that she was not running very well that day. Linda easily won her age group and her times are excellent for a 60+ athlete. Of course times are relative and each competitor has their own standard to achieve.

Helen was not feeling well that day and unfortunately did not finish the run section. This was the first time Helen has ever dropped out of a triathlon and she is now very keen to come back next year and try again. Despite finishing second to last I had a good triathlon, only a few seconds slower than last year. In fact the 8k run in the park was exactly the same time as last year – to the second.  Well done to the Bromley Vets Tri team because at whatever level the athlete competes, triathlon is a tough sport.