Welcome to ITCH - the Ipswich triathlon club hand-out - for July 2009...
(It might be thin but I did promise a July edition!)
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Norwich triathlon... Well done to everybody who raced at Norwich on Sunday 5th July. As promised, Steve dB took the gazebo and the club power flags which provided a good club HQ - complete with lashings of carbohydrate. We even had some East Essex visitors looking on a bit enviously. Various things overheard:
As you'll gather, it was day of real highs and lows for club members. On the "lows", Cath (Brooks) had a self-confessed "startled rabbit" moments; Brian (McG) found himself not seeing things - neither progressed to the run. Dave (Husband) had some technical issues:
Danny also had a flat, but a disagreement with a CO2 cylinder left him limping home on the bike with a very soft tyre, only slightly inflated with his lungs. On the "highs", Neil Catling had a fantastic run. John W reckoned it was at an average pace of 4:34 per mile and that Neil should give up the day job. Neil owned up, and has now been removed from the lists, although not actually DQ'd as such: As much as I’d like to claim that fantastic run, I can’t. Between myself and being directed wrong I missed roughly 2 miles of the run, I did own up to this to the race director but... Mary (Skelcher) had her my first injury-free Olympic tri EVER; and did I mention that the Stannetts both managed PBs? But big "well dones" and chapeaux go to Dave Copland with a category win, Lucy Bowditch, Mark Bowditch & Julia Green with category seconds, and Joe Goddard, Alison Hamilton & Julia Yelloly who all got thirds.
Norwich was also the race which we adopted this year as decider for our club championships and, subject to confirmation by t'committee, this year's champions are:
Congratulations one and all. If the current trophy holders could find where they've stashed them and eventually get them back to Simon for engraving, the trophies should be awarded at the AGM, usually held in November. The club's results, and ITCH league points:
For full results, see http://www.tri-anglia.co.uk/NorwichTriathlon/MainPage.html For next year, the committee has agreed to consider shuffling which race we adopt for our championships so that we spread our support for local events. If you have a strong candidate within the same kind of distance as Norwich - e.g. Cambridge or Gosfield - then please let a committee member know.
While most people were up at Norwich,
reports Moira Pinkney, the breakaway pair of Sarah Miller
and Moira did the Southend Triathlon. Sarah put Ipswich
Triathlon club again in the news by winning the Over 40s
section (even though she's a lot over 40) and coming 2nd
overall among the women. Moira puffed along behind and came
23rd out of 49 women, not bad for a Very Old Lady (her
words) doing her third Triathlon! Next month London - Will Pryke writes:
I've not heard yet from anybody else about which particular races they are in but, if you are doing it, have a great time but also think about... Simon Bourne - doing Ultraman Canada Rob Peevor and the Stannetts - sampling the elephants, Warburtons and other delights of Bolton for the UK Ironman Dave Copland - Norseman Xtreme (ask him nicely and he might let you read the newspaper article) Matt Dye & Rick Berry - IM70.3 in Germany And our very own
Framlingham Junior triathlon - incorporating the club's
junior championships. Notices: Duathlon 20th September now open for entries via http://www.entrycentral.com/index.php?raceID=100079 Swimming sessions - as announced on the main website and in e-mails, these are now all at the open-water venue for the summer, on Tuesday evenings and Saturday mornings:
Thursday evening sessions - STOP PRESS Due to logistical issues, the scheduled sessions for tomorrow and next week will be swapped. The programme is now:
Junior swim-training - Wednesday evenings at Eyke Pool (IP12 2QW); 5:00 - 6:30. Contact Isabel via juniors@ipswich-tri.org or on 01394-460288/07970-937899 ITCH league - see individual race reports below; click here to see the full spreadsheet. Charlie Stannett - itch@ipswich-tri.org |
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Long 'uns...
At least four members embarked on long course events during July: Paul Strelitz (IM Germany), Mike Stollery & Derrick Smith (IM Switzerland) and Ross Welton (Roth Challenge).
First - and thanks to Ross with triggering this - a quick bit of clarification.
In the same way that the word "Olympic" should strictly speaking only be used for standard length triathlons run under the auspices of the IOC and associated bodies, the word "Ironman" should strictly speaking only be used for long course events run under the auspices of the WTC. Indeed, like the IOC and its five rings, the WTC have now trade-marked the word "Ironman" in this context and own the "M-Dot" emblem as their logo.
As most of you know, the original Ironman was in Hawaii but, with limited places available, the WTC now uses the Hawaii as its "world championship" - and you have to qualify for Hawaii places by competing at one of a series of WTC-sanctioned events around the world, although mostly in the USA. For example, the "TriUK.com Ironman UK" (or "IMUK") in Bolton is this year's only WTC-sanctioned qualification race in the UK.
Paul, Mike and Derrick raced in WTC-sanctioned "Ironman" long-course events. You can read more about the WTC's Ironman at www.ironman.com and see the full series of events at www.ironmanlive.com .
But clearly there are more people interested in completing the distance than the WTC can accommodate, and there are people who don't necessarily want to complete the distance in Bolton, nor do they want to support the WTC, nor are they worried about having an M-Dot tattoo.
So a large number of independent long course events have grown up - the "Longest Day" being a prime example in the UK - and also at least two alternative series of events: "Challenge" and "K226".
Ross raced in the "Quelle Challenge Roth". 220 Magazine has recently put it at number three in a list of "Top 20 race to do before you die". Although there are some minor variations in rules, Roth is a full Ironman-distance long course event which has been running since 1984. Indeed, from 1988 it was for a while the main European Ironman qualifier before becoming independent in 2001 when the German Ironman licence went to Frankfurt. You can read more about the history and histrionics at http://www.challenge-roth.com/en/history.php?navid=35 and read more about the "Challenge" series of events at http://www.challenge-family.com/
The "K226 series" is more or less a website of "Ironman-alternative" events which takes its name from the distance of an Ironman when expressed in kilmometers rather than miles. Next month, Dave Copland will be racing in the Norseman Xtreme which is an independent event but which is listed as (apparently) one of the K226 series. To see more about the Norseman, visit http://www.nxtri.com/ and to see a very long list of other independent long course events, including the Challenge series, see www.k226.com
Right, enough of the history...
Ironman Germany (Frankfurt) - 5th July 2009 - Paul Strelitz
Last year I had just finished Windsor Triathlon 2008 when I met a certain William Catchpole around a friend's house and it did not take long for us both to realise that we had the same mutual (and painful) interest. After a while William told me about his Ironman exploits and said "You should give it a go. Just enter". After a few more glasses of red wine I had convinced myself that I would. And I did.
I entered online a few days later and tentatively told others in the club about my plan (or should that be, mistake?). Everybody was very encouraging and it was good to hear from people who had done it before that they thought I should be OK at getting within the cut off time of 16 hours. This was, after all, my main concern.
The reason I am writing this is not to talk you all through how I did blow by blow, but for those of you in the club thinking, can I do an Ironman? The answer is: yes you absolutely can if you are prepared to do a bit of training for it, and 'stick at it' even when you think you should probably give up. I tip the scales at 108kg (16 and a half stone in old money) and am by no means about to qualify for Tour De France (that weight after all does NOT assist with hills) but perseverance got me over the finish line.
There are many tales out there of people doing 16 hours a week training and cycling 50 miles to the start line of an olympic distance triathlon as a 'warm-up', but it certainly is possible to have a normal job and social life as well as running down the finish chute of an Ironman. I have undertaken (to varying degrees of success) about ten 100+KM bike rides in the last 6 months, ran approximately ten 12+ mile runs (with the longest being 20.1 miles) plus the usual training that we all do to keep ourselves 'ticking over' for triathlons in general. This meant that on average I was doing about 8 hours of training per week, which, when you think that your Saturday bike is four hours is actually not that much of a commitment during the week. You also don't need to lose the will to live simply because you have two weekends in a row taken up with a stag do and maybe a wedding as well, it really will not result in a DNF as I had convinced myself that it would!
The race itself is a bit of a breeze. You will never have had people shouting your name whilst training (unless you are a celebrity in Ipswich, or your wife drives past you when you are late for dinner) and that will make a huge difference in getting you round. Be prepared for everybody on the start line to look as though they are on the cover of Men's Health (or FHM if they are a lady) and for there lot be a lot of Carbon-Envy, but have confidence in your leg muscles, the training that you have done, and keep plodding. 'Do not worry, if you keep going ze right way you have to get to ze finish line in ze end', were the words of one of my fellow competitors next to me in the swim in strong Germanic English. He then kicked me in the face as he swam off with the sound of the start gun!
So for those of you who are regularly enjoying sprint triathlons and are thinking of doing a few olympic distances this year, seriously consider it for 2010. I hope that I have shown above that even without Armstrong's legs and Radcliffe's running ability anyone can do it and, after all, the feeling of sheer pride passing over the line is overwhelming for almost every competitor and something that you will remember forever.
And yes, I made it in under the cut off time that I was so worried about and still pinch myself with disbelief.
Paul Strelitz
Quelle Challenge Roth – 12th July 2009 - Ross Welton
Running since 1984 (see above), Roth has always had a reputation as a fast course, with both mens and womens iron-distance records being held there. Roth is also renowned for having the greatest number of supporters on the course. Each year the list of pro’s racing has got longer and is now only second to Kona. Roth is located about 20km south of Nuremburg in Bavaria, Germany. They love triathlon there and even the road signs announce that you are now entering a ‘triathlon region’.
The race took part on Sunday July 12th and I flew out with my bike on the Thursday. Just over a one hour flight, pick up the hire car (upgraded, great start) and I decided to go straight to registration to get that out the way as early as possible. I stood in the queue 2 places behind Pro’s Gina Ferguson and Ain Alur Johansson, it did cross my mind that I might have been in the wrong queue!! Once registered I used my time wisely to wander round the Expo looking at obscene bikes and lycra ‘bling’. Pretty much the whole pro field was there wandering around including Chrissie and they were all more than happy to stop and chat – which was nice! Once registered I had nothing left I need to do, officially, until Saturday, so I went to the hotel and ate for about 30 hours or so. The Friday morning I went for a 30min swim in the canal where the race would start and Saturday morning I had a 30min ride to check all was well. Bike racking was on Saturday afternoon followed by the briefing. Now all that was left to do was race.
Sunday, race day, I got up with my ‘support crew’ of Emily and Dad at 4am did some more eating and headed straight down to the race start. When you see all the bikes and people walking towards the start thats when you remember how big these events are. Roth has 7 waves set off at 5 minute intervals once the pro’s have gone off. My wave was at 7:10am. The atmosphere at the start is brilliant, Europop, hot air balloons etc..The swim on the other hand was pretty boring to be honest. A straight canal, 1400m one way, turnaround, 200m back and then 400m back again to the exit. 2km in a straight line takes a long time and isn’t very interesting. I didn’t really get going but was happy enough to get out after 1h3mins.
Now the fun starts, through T1 and out on the bike. My understanding was that essentially the bike was a fairly fast course with 3 big climbs and about 1600m of total climb which would put it along with Switzerland from last year. However, I hadn’t considered just how much difference riding on immaculate roads would mean. When I say immaculate I really mean it, my bottom was most grateful but more importantly so was my average speed. The climbs didn’t really feel very hard, I just tried to stay in a rhythm up them and then keep good consistent power down on the rolling sections. A key part of the day is bike comfort breaks, after much deliberation I decided that I would basically keep pedalling if you know what I mean....thats about 12mins saved I rekon!! Coming to the end of the bike I felt great and was looking forward to the run. I had managed to hold an average of around 21.5mph and a time of around 5h11mins I honestly didn’t think this was possible. The highlights had to be the Solar climb which is a 1km hill which is totally covered in people, you cant even see the road! As you cycle through them they part in TDF style, which just doesn’t happen to normal people!! The Beer mile was also great, a straight road, mile of tables covered in Beer for proper Um Pah Germans to drink an cheer!
Through T2, Ipod on, perhaps thats another debate ‘should they be allowed?’ etc, but I was, so I did. I set out fairly fast and then settled into my rhythm. The plan was to hold 7min20sec miles til about halfway and then let the natural slowdown take effect. I pretty much stuck to the plan. The run is along the canal before heading off into some rowdy villages with street parties before turning round back on the canal and into the woods for more rowdy (woods!)parties with BBQs and huge amounts of Bavarian beer! I felt fine until about 17-20miles where it really started to feel tough and I knew I was slowing down gradually. Once back on the canal path I was back in my rhythm and with 3 miles to go I was doing the maths and knew that even if I slipped to 9 min miles I would get under 10 hours, way ahead of my target time of 10:30. The finishing chute is about 500m long with so many supporters, before it opens out into a horseshoe area with stadium seating. Fortunately when I got there people where still there, the sun was still shining and the support was fantastic, the best feeling.....ever! I saw Em and my Dad did my mandatory double high 5s and crossed the line in 9:50mins, 3h 29mins run. I was delighted, surprised, starving and thirsty!!
I absolutely loved the race, so much so I entered the next day for next year. I know we have about 4 others in so far but it would be great to have a full outing.....so get involved!!
Ironman Switzerland (Zurich) - 12 July 2009
I don't have a race report for this one but the ITCH league numbers show some interesting pointers for Derrick!
| IM Switzerland 100 | Male | Female | ||||||||
| Number of finishers | 1748 | 231 | ||||||||
| Ref pos | 700 | 93 | ||||||||
| Ref time | 10:56:14 | 11:52:13 | ||||||||
| Pos | No. | Name | M/F | M/F Pos | Swim | Bike | Run | Total | Pts | Notes |
| 1 | 1 | Ronnie Schildknecht | m | 1 | 0:52:49 | 4:34:44 | 2:50:36 | 8:20:00 | 131.2 | M winner - Thalwil, Swiss |
| 58 | 41 | Sibylle Matter | f | 1 | 0:52:52 | 5:07:50 | 3:11:56 | 9:14:35 | 128.4 | F winner - Plaffeien, Swiss |
| 741 | 1070 | Matthias Maier | m | 700 | 1:23:43 | 5:11:22 | 4:15:46 | 10:56:14 | 100.0 | M reference - Lahr, German |
| 1,201 | 1889 | Heike Scheef | f | 93 | 1:21:15 | 5:50:51 | 4:34:02 | 11:52:13 | 100.0 | F reference - Zurich, Swiss |
| 1,202 | 2396 | Derrick Smith | m | 1109 | 1:23:25 | 6:01:42 | 4:14:50 | 11:52:18 | 92.1 | |
| 1,816 | 2467 | Mike Stollery | m | 1631 | 1:22:33 | 7:01:07 | 5:23:33 | 13:57:00 | 78.4 | |
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If you look very closely, you'll see that Derrick (left) was faster on the swim and on the run than the male 100 point "reference" finisher. Derrick was also just five seconds behind the female 100 point "reference" finisher. So either Derrick takes some cycling lessons from Ross, or he considers a gender change...
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Culford sprint - 26 July 2009
No race reports yet received but here are the club results:
| Culford sprint 80 | Male | Female | ||||||||
| Number of finishers | 115 | 66 | ||||||||
| Ref pos | 47 | 27 | ||||||||
| Ref time | 1:03:00 | 1:11:55 | ||||||||
| Pos | No. | Name | M/F | M/F Pos | Swim | Bike | Run | Total | Pts | Notes |
| 1 | 187 | Glyn Williams | M | 1 | 4:36 | 32:40 | 14:11 | 0:51:27 | 98.0 | M winner - Born2Tri |
| 14 | 175 | Neil Catling | M | 14 | 5:59 | 34:55 | 16:18 | 0:57:12 | 88.1 | |
| 24 | 173 | Julia Jepson | F | 1 | 4:45 | 38:12 | 15:56 | 0:58:53 | 97.7 | F winner - East Essex tri |
| 46 | 174 | Rick Berry | M | 44 | 5:22 | 41:23 | 15:58 | 1:02:43 | 80.4 | |
| 47 | 177 | Andrew McFarland | M | 45 | 4:38 | 40:42 | 17:27 | 1:02:47 | 80.3 | |
| 51 | 161 | Neil Lynch | M | 47 | 5:06 | 39:06 | 18:48 | 1:03:00 | 80.0 | M ref - East Essex tri |
| 110 | 100 | John Moody | M | 85 | 6:20 | 45:05 | 19:42 | 1:11:07 | 70.9 | |
| 115 | 90 | Mandy Smith | F | 27 | 6:27 | 46:00 | 19:28 | 1:11:55 | 80.0 | F ref - East Essex tri |
| 129 | 122 | Emily Carter | F | 35 | 6:51 | 46:42 | 19:56 | 1:13:29 | 78.3 | |
| 159 | 150 | Jacqueline Riley Chubb | F | 51 | 6:08 | 53:37 | 21:05 | 1:20:50 | 71.2 | |
Note that not all members will have these points counted - Culford is only eligible for the league the first time you do it.
Ultraman Canada - 1st, 2nd & 3rd August - Simon Bourne
"Ultraman Canada" is a 318 mile 3 day swim/bike/run challenge held in Penticton, British Columbia over the period 1st - 3rd August. It is a combination of a 10 km open water swim, 260 mile bike and 52.4 mile double marathon. It is a pre-qualifier for the Ultraman World Championships in Kona Hawaii.
A maximum of 30 athletes from countries all around the world race in this prestigious ultra distance race after being invited to compete. This years itinerary is:
Day 1 - 10km Swim - 90 Mile bike
Day 2 - 170 Mile Bike
Day 3 - 52.4 Double Marathon
During the race I will be representing Ipswich Triathlon Club at a high profile international event that will push me to the limits of endurance in 3 seperate disciplines. My aim is to qualify the Hawaii where I will again represent ITC. Training has gone extremely well with over 2000 miles of cycling, the Bungay Marathon, the Bury and Wymondham 20 and 5 mile river swims in the CAMM and Great Ouse. I am now in to the last 6 weeks of preparation with the Norwich 100, Bury 100, Dave Lloyd Mega Challenge 155 and the Devils Ride 100 left to go!! Follow my race progress on line at www.ultramancanada.
I will be raising money for two separate charities: "Cancer Research UK/Help For Heroes - www.justgiving.com/sbourne
Club kit
These are the prices for club kit confirmed for 2009:
| Airlux cycle shirt short sleeve | £45.48 | ||||
| Airtherm cycle shirt long sleeve | £55.92 | ||||
| Technical T-shirt polylight short sleeve | £35.52 | ||||
| Technical T-shirt polylight long sleeve | £41.52 | ||||
| Duathlon top + pocket | £29.52 | ||||
| Almelo Triathlon top men | £28.32 | ||||
| Running singlet | £26.16 | ||||
| Tri-suit Men + pocket | £59.04 | ||||
| Tri-suit Women + pocket | £61.08 | ||||
| Bermuda running shorts | £29.52 | ||||
| Winterjacket thermo-actif | £79.92 | ||||
| Cycling Comfort jacket | £62.40 | ||||
| Knossos gilet | £47.52 | ||||
| Cycling time-trail suit | £73.56 | ||||
| Cycle shorts | £35.52 | ||||
| Cycle shorts with braces | £38.02 | ||||
| Thermal winter cycling long tights | £44.76 | ||||
To order kit, contact John Wankowski on club nights, by e-mailing him at kit@ipswich-tri.org, or phoning him on 01473-711592.
Spiuk tri-suits
Reminder - Ross is STILL looking into the possibility of a one-off order for club tri-suits from Spiuk - assuming enough people are interested to support making an order. These would be more expensive - probably the better part of £100 based on 2008 prices - but possibly heavier duty than our usual tri-suits.
Please let Ross know if you are interested at ross@ipswich-tri.org - you can see what we are talking about on the Spiuk website at http://www.spiuk.co.uk/custom.htm
ITU in London
BT members will have seen this already but "the new ITU World Championship Series is coming to London on the 15-16 August 2009. Triathlon enthusiasts will have the chance to see Olympic Champions, World Champions and the best of British competing head-to-head in the heart of London. And the best thing about it is that you can compete the day after the elite on the same course and in front of the same crowd." See www.triathlon-wcs-london.org
Swim 400m, bike 23km, 5km - first swimmer off at 7:30.
This new event could be a good one especially if you're new and missed getting into one of the longer-standing events in the area. But don't leave this one too late - it's already half-full!
Further info at http://www.dunmowtri.co.uk/ and entries via www.entrycentral.com
Time trials
The local bicycle club time trials continue but with the location varying:
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5-Aug-09 |
6.45pm |
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12-Aug-09 |
6.45pm |
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Further details: http://www.ipswichbicycleclub.co.uk/events.html
| Calendar of events |
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You should look at sites such as www.britishtriathlon.org and www.ebta.co.uk for triathlons, and for local running events, see www.suffolkathletics.org.uk - most members are eligible to enter for "county championship" events. (Remember to tick the box, and to wear your club kit. We have had quite a few age group podium places over the years - especially in the longer events. We also usually do fairly well as a team in both the cross-country and Friday Five series.) Events which are eligible for the ITCH league are followed by an "ITCH" number, which is the weighting or tariff for that event in the league. 2009
JULY 09
AUGUST
09
SEPTEMBER 09
OCTOBER 09
NOVEMBER 09
DECEMBER 09
2010
FEBRUARY 10
APRIL 10
MAY 10
JUNE
10
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For Sale
Crane mens cycling shoes as bought from a well-known discount supermarket in anticipation of winter training but, although a size 8/42, a tad too accommodating for my little feet (now THERE was a band) so unused. I reckon they'd probably suit either a wide-footed person or a 8.5/43+. Velcro straps; vaguely club colours black/red/silver; sole tread, will take SPD cleats; perfectly adequate; RRP £19.99. Any offers - charlie@stannett.com or 01206-298888.
Swim-coaching
- Matt Claydon at Framlingham College/Framlingham
College Swimming Club runs adult and child swimming
coaching at Framlingham College Pool.
For more details you can
call Matt Claydon on 01728 727223 or 07824 385991, or e-mail
mclaydon@framcollege.co.uk
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.
Wanted
Visit www.justgiving.com/sbourne to sponsor Simon; click on the picture to get a poster.
Race reports
- thanks to everybody who has written items. Please continue to send them in, to
itch@ipswich-tri.org - thanks.
The Olympic Park webcams - see http://www.london2012.com/plans/olympic-park/webcams/index.php
Articles are welcomed from all members - e-mail them to itch@ipswich-tri.org or send them in the post to
Charlie Stannett, Red Lion Cottage, East Bergholt, CO7 6TB.