Welcome to ITCH - the Ipswich triathlon club hand-out - for June 2008...

This month's main feature is a "June-ior special" but, first, two reminders

1. Norwich triathlon is next week.

This is the race we've adopted for our club championship.

Already shown as entered for Ipswich triathlon club: Greg Allen, Jason Baillie, Nik Bestow, Antony Birt, Mark Bowditch, Jackie Chubb, Heather Collinson, Dave Copland, Iain Downie, Matt Dye, Joseph Goddard, Julia Green, Mark Hird, Amanda Mallett, Brian McGeeney, Mark Newman, Simon Palmer, Robert Peevor, Clive Quantrill, Wendy Quantrill, Adam Ramsey, Charlie Stannett, Kate Stannett, Mike Stollery, Nick Stonehouse, John Wankowski, Graham White, Julia Yelloly.

Also spotted but shown as "unattached" - Jason Battle, Lucy Bowditch, Sue Rule.

There were still slots available when I checked today - 28th June - but tomorrow is the closing date so ACT NOW.

2. If you are thinking of doing an Ironman next year, 2009, you need to be making some decisions now.

A lot of the official Ironman races have been filling up within days and, in some case, within hours of entries opening - and entries for 2009 normally open the same day as the 2008 race. In the case of Germany, they are taking registrations for 2009 already, ahead of the 2008 race.  I have compiled a list of dates and interested parties which you'll find just after the Captains' Corner.

But, now, over to our development officer Adrian Green...

Charlie Stannett - itch@ipswich-tri.org

Our men's captain is Steve de Boltz

Just a few words of encouragement to you all as I won’t be present at Norwich. I’m off to a wedding in France, so while you’re all slogging round the course, I’ll be taking in the sights of Mont Blanc.

Good luck if you’re racing at Norwich in the club championship, I know from the previous couple of years that it’s a great swim, speedy bike and challenging run. Let’s hope it’s not too windy. Every time I’ve raced this year, the wind seems gale force. Keep an eye out for a big red and black flag as it can be used as a general meeting point for the club.

If you’re wondering what happened to me at Harwich, I picked up an injury so pulled out of the super sprint on Saturday and only did the swim (shortened to 900 metres due to strong winds) and bike on Sunday which was very frustrating as I was going well. Thanks must go to Mary Lumkin and Mike Stollery for stopping me as adrenaline had taken over and I wanted to head on out on the run which would have been a foolish mistake.

Again good luck in your racing they’re coming thick and fast now.

Good Times.

dB
Steve can be contacted on 07795 564322 or steve@ipswich-tri.org

Our ladies' captain is Kate Stannett.

Nick (Collinson), Charlie (Stannett) and I have just got back from completing the Ironman70.3 UK at Wimbleball. You can read Charlie's race report later.

I've been training harder than ever before and managed to improve my PB for Wimbleball by 14 minutes. Last year I came 4th in my age-group and this year's time would have have given me a 2nd last year. But this time it only warranted a 5th - something which has reminded me of a few things.

• Wimbleball's reputation as THE 70.3 to beat is beginning to spread, and some really good quality athletes are coming over from mainland Europe and elsewhere to tackle it.
  Which I think lays down the gauntlet to our own good quality athletes - that's you - to enter next year and show them how it's done.
   
• One should never be complacent.
  Yes, I've been training and training, and improving as a consequence.  But so are the other people.  If you are aiming for a place, then you can't afford to play ostrich - you have to look at how other people are doing.
   
• But don't get too hung up about it - remember why you're doing any given event.
  I still race because I truly enjoy the sport but I had to remember that, large an event as it was, this was really a training event for me - my main "A" race isn't until September. So, for example, I only tapered a little bit.
  I didn't qualify for the world championships (albeit by just one place in the roll down) but I still enjoyed myself - and made new friends, some of whom I hope will soon be joining the club. And I did manage to beat Nick's time - for T2.

I also scared the wits out of one poor girl who had all but given up on the run - in tears and completely exhausted - when I cajoled and bullied her into carrying on. She grabbed me later to thank me profusely, but only after she had been heard sobbing to a friend "the people wouldn't let me stop"...

Ironman events in Europe - taken from http://ironman.com/events/ironman

It is worth noting that, with most of the European events, you can get most of your money back if you withdraw reasonably early, and some events even offer a cancellation insurance.

Also - I am working on a "bike profiles" comparison chart (stretching the various maps to get the same vertical scale) which I will send out to my Ironman aspirants e-mail list in due course.  At first sight, Germany looks the flattest, Lanzarote has some relentlessly long grinds, the others have some sharper stuff.

If you want to be on a ring round list for notification of changes at short notice then let Steve dB have your number. Steve is on 07795 564322.

Sessions start at 18:00, cost £3.00 to non-Cambridge members, and is in the Histon Lake just off the A14 at the Histon roundabout.

See http://www.mapmyrun.com/run/united-kingdom/cambridge/655112130

I didn't receive a race report for Fritton but have extracted the following

Full results and some photographs from the Fritton website - see http://www.fritton-lake-triathlon.co.uk/

See race report below.  Two new names - Bill & Anthea Watson asked to join the club at swim practice at  Wimbleball Lake! (They had spotted us in the red & black.)

Full results at www.ironmanuk.com.

If you competed and can't see yourself here, then let me know a.s.a.p. - let me know your race number and time.

Junior kit - Adrian Green has agreed to look after the distribution of junior kit so, for smaller sizes, please contact Adrian direct on 01379 388855 or e-mail: juniors@ipswich-tri.org .

Senior kit - John Wankowski has offered to take over distribution of all other kit from Heather Collinson later this year.  For the time being continue to contact Heather but please remember that although club kit is ordered through Heather, she does not run an "open all hours" shop, nor does she hold unlimited stock.

E-mail orders to kit@ipswich-tri.org or ringing 01473-620651. You will need to confirm your order by sending a cheque (payable to "Ipswich triathlon club") to Heather at 14 Spindler Close, Kesgrave, Ipswich, IP5 2DA.

We have had to introduce "payment with order" as one or two members have let the side down by not paying up promptly - the committee is discussing what sanctions to apply.

Graham's friends Amanda and Glenn Rossell died within two years of each other. Amanda lost her fight with breast cancer aged just 34 and her husband Glenn died a year ago in a freak motor cycle accident.

"They were both very special friends and are deeply missed by everybody that knew them" says Graham. "After Amanda died Glenn raised several thousand pounds for Cancer Research and I just want to try and do something worthwhile in their memory."

On the evening of 19th July Graham will set off from Hackney, London and cycle through the night 120 miles and arrive in Dunwich the following morning for breakfast. "The thought of doing it for them will help me keep going and if people could sponsor me too, it would be a great way to support such an important charity".

If anybody else would like to join Graham and/or raise money in memory of Amanda and Glenn, call him on 07879 414249. Sponsor money can be donated on-line at www.justgiving.com/london2dunwich

Also, please contact Graham if you have a set of Halogen Beam lights (with an 8 hour charge)  you could lend him!

(See http://www.ipswich-tri.org/ITCH/ITCH-07-08.htm for a report of last year's Dunwich Dynamo.)

Former Olympian, and Broomhill Pool Trust President Mike Read is seeking sponsorship for an attempted swim across the Gulf of Toroneos (Greece).

On July 19th 2008 Ipswich’s “King of the Channel” Mike Read will attempt to swim 27 km across the Gulf of Toroneos in Northern Greece from Kallithea to Nikiti and hopes to raise funds for the Broomhill Trust in support of the restoration of Broomhill Open-Air pool.

For donation cheques (or to receive a gift aid form), please contact Mrs Janet Adams, 18 Dales View Rd, Ipswich, IP1 4HL Tel: 01473 742721. For copies of the sponsorship form or questions please email Mark Ling on info@savebroomhillpool.org.

Stannett fails to remember that the zip fastener is at the back..

...Nick Collinson overtakes one of the older age-groupers.

Ironman 70.3 UK - 15th June - Charlie Stannett

I've been banging on for ages about how difficult this event is but I always guessed that most people - quite understandably - put my slow times down to my all round ineptitude. Give me a kick float and I swim backwards; I still need stabilisers on my bike for windy days; and I've spent years learning how to jog long and slow. Very slow.  I'm not very good at getting in and out of clothes quickly - and don't even start on the nutritional value of beer, crisps and peanuts...

So I am really happy that other people are beginning to notice the undules. This stuff is lifted from http://www.insidetri.com/article/71513/fraser-cartmell-bella-comerford-win-uk-ironman-703

They call this race the “World’s Toughest 70.3,” and Ironman UK 70.3, with 52 hills in 56 miles of the bike course, more than lived up to its moniker Sunday.

Giving a clue to the difficulty of the course, Fraser Cartmell’s winning time was 4:17:39, about 20 minutes slower than America’s toughest half Ironman – Wildflower. Likewise, Bella Comerford raced her brains out and it still took her 4:49:44 to finish the job – 20 minutes more than Samantha McGlone’s Wildflower course record and 42 minutes slower than the Ironman 70.3 world best set by Mirinda Carfrae in Clearwater on a flat course.

Closer to home, our respected chairman Nick Collinson, who thinks nothing of doing l'Etape before breakfast, found that he had to stand in bottom gear, and he failed to break five hours for a middle-distance the first time ever.

But ironically it wasn't the bike or run that caused most difficulties. It was the swim. Or rather the mist, which mistook the starting horn for the mating call of a foghorn and, as a consequence, suddenly blew in across the lake.

I had taken my usual stance at the back of the field, took a last look at the tree line 700-800m away, then readjusted my goggles. "Hawooger" - I look up and the trees have disappeared, as have all the buoys. No matter, I'll follow the consensus - and I see over 1,000 hats going in 1,000 different directions.  Finally, about 200-300m out, the mist clears enough for me to start seeing things - and I see a bright green-hatted novice clearly treading water rather than swimming. My killer instinct never has really developed so I stopped: he was panicking and trying to pull his wetsuit away so I talked to him to help calm him down and called a boat over.

Needless to say my swim wasn't a PB but I did make the cut-off. However, mindful of my collapse in T1 last year, I did take it very easily up the hill from the lake to transition - net result being that I was, in effect, five minutes into the bike time allowance before I'd even started pedalling.

By the time I got to the end of the first of the two loops in the bike leg I was struggling with the "is it worth it" arithmetic - not helped by walking up one of the hills a bit early on loop one but that was purely to avoid riding over the woman who had just come to a halt in the saddle and fallen over in front of me. However, coaxed on by my badgering coach (the stuffed toy I have on my aerobars - I don't feel as silly talking to a toy badger as I would talking to myself), I decided that provided we worked a bit harder we would just make the bike cut-off.

I had a couple of incidents on the second loop. A chap from JAFFA dropped in beside me to have a chat. I had to persuade him to either overtake me or drop back. (He then dropped back very suddenly when it started to rain a bit.) And there was a rogue cyclist who wasn't racing and so ignored the "No overtaking" warnings just before the death descent.

With six miles to go the mental arithmetic was going into overdrive and I was giving "gee up or you'll miss the cut-off" warnings to people as I overtook them. The chap I felt most for was somebody whose pedal fell off with just four miles to go. I told him to try and run the next mile - the final three were mostly down hill - but I think he timed out.

No matter, I made the bike cut-off - just. Then it was just a case of breaking out the Polos in T2 and beginning the trot up, down and around the fantastic Wimbleball Lake park area which, by now, was bathed in sunshine. I was more disciplined than usual and held off the Polo-distribution until my third and final lap by which time some of the marshals were actually waiting for their mints!

But the grand finale goes back to the weather. Just as I started the final sprint for home, a hail storm let loose. I was only just able to hear Don the commentator announce that I had a 10 minutes PB...

Cranks - Shimano Ultegra Chainset Double 172.5 mm with chainset 39-52. Nearly new, small scratch. Any offers considered.  Julia 07901 781308

Garmin 205 - "Continuously monitors your speed, distance, pace and calories burned and tracks your every movement with GPS. Receive detailed post workout analysis on the PC with the included Training Centre. Multi Sport capability lets you switch between sports without having to reset the unit so can easily be used on the bike too."
Brand new in the box. Bargain at £90 o.n.o. Contact Laura on 01449 771274

New Balance W834GR "D width" UK size 7 - test-driven only, never even got hot let alone sweaty! Still in box and going for the "small ads duration" records. £20 or offer - Kate Stannett - e-mail shepherdess@btinternet.com or ring/text 07729 318844.

Massage - Jackie Chubb has a regular room at Rede near Bury St Edmunds, available any time.
Open to members & non-members but booking is essential on 01284-789576 or 07985-496918.

Race reports - thanks to everybody who has written items. Please continue to send them in, to itch@ipswich-tri.org - thanks.

Somebody, anybody, to show some interest in those New Balance W834GRs...

The London Triathlon still has some charity places available, although all charity entries will close on July 1st. See  http://www.thelondontriathlon.co.uk/LTcharity.html .

Runner's World have started test-marketing a new magazine - "Triathlete's World".  As far as I know it's currently only available bundled in with Runner's World and/or available to existing subscribers. You can see a preview article at http://www.runnersworld.co.uk/news/article.asp?UAN=3477 - or you could always try ringing the subscription people on 01858-438838 and asking them for a copy...

Another "exciting new website", www.reviewmyrun.com is "a new website dedicated to giving you guidance on local races (East Of England to start....and then the world!) - providing reviews, pictures and information including entry fees, car parking, organization, course information and general atmosphere for races your members are running. This site will build into the local runners (and organizer's) bible for finding that 'great race' to take the family, run a P.B. or just fill a date in the  running calendar."