Dorking Bacchus Marathon 10th
September:
The first of my
challenges for my 50th year was the Dorking Bacchus Marathon, this
is a marathon that is run around the Denbies wine estate in Dorking. Being run around a wine estate it is not
unsurprising that along with the water stations around the course they have
something a little stronger to taste! 6 wine tasting stations per lap and for
the Marathon it was 2 laps so 12 chances to taste the local produce.
Amanda dropped me
off nice and early, note I wasn’t driving! Having found my way to registration
and picked up my number, chip and t-shirts I was ready to go! I was quite
pleased that I did arrive in plenty of time as there was quite a queue a bit
later.
I dropped my bag an
made my way to the start, due to standing the wrong side of the start initially
I ended up quite near the front. As we started it was a bit congested even for
me being near the front but this soon thinned out as we ran through the
vinyards.
The course was
largely off road and has some rather large hills in it but it was an enjoyable
run (walk). As I approached the end of the first lap my garmin was showing less
mileage that the boards at the side of the course but really this run was not
about the distance and time more about having fun.
At mile 17 a fellow
runner asked me if I would take his photo next to the 17 Mile marker,
transpires that he had a bad experience of a marathon once at mile 17 and now
likes to get a photo at that point on his runs.
Coming to the end
of the second lap and the 13 mile board for the half marathon and the 26 mile
board for the full marathon were attached to the same fence, now as it was the
same distance from this point to the finish I was a tad amused as to how this
was possible.
After crossing the
line, collecting my medal and retrieving my bag it was time to partake of the hog
roast and wine, by now it was starting to rain a little so I was glad to be
under the shelter. At this point my fellow runner from mile 17 came up to
congratulate me on finishing, he had finished somewhat earlier.
Now I had to wait
for Ed to pick me up and take me home for George’s birthday meal!
Swim Serpentine 16th September:
This was an event that I hadn’t really heard of much before
but when it appeared in my twitter timeline as part of the new London Classics
I just had to enter (Thanks Sophie Raworth and Susie Chan for bringing this to
my attention)
I was in the first wave of the classics swimmers at 10.40 so
it was an early train to London and a walk over to the Serpentine to get
changed into my wetsuit ready for the start.
There was quite a bit going on with all sorts of different
events happening from elite swimmers at one end to people like me who struggle
round a swim at the other.
Having changed and registered it was time to wait for the
start, a briefing on the pontoon before we entered the lake for a 2 lap swim.
On exiting the swim we were checked as being a bona fide
classics person and then presented with 2 medals one for the 2 mile serpentine
swim and the other for the Classics, which I think was also supposed to test
your ability to stand up given the size and weight of it.
William decided to demonstrate the size
Having changed out of my wetsuit and had a brief look around
the activities going on it was time to head back to the station and get home.
The Gauntlet 24th
September:
A couple of years ago I was lucky enough to win a place in
the Bastion triathlon, I say lucky this is a full iron distance triathlon based
at Hever Castle and part of the Castle Triathlon Series. It is without doubt
the hardest of the iron distance triathlons I have done.
The Castle Triathlon series is a fantastic series of events
and great organisation, so having taken part in one I felt that I should give
something back, so last year I volunteered at the Hever Castle weekend,
marshalling on the bike course for both days.
In turn Castle Triathlon donated me a place in the Gauntlet this year to
add to my year of challenges for the Rockinghorse appeal.
The Gantlet is a half iron distance around a similar route
as the Bastion, so again quite a tough course.
I drove over on the Saturday evening to register so that I
wouldn’t have to worry about this on the morning, I have plenty else to worry
about on race day!
Sunday morning arrived and an early drive to Hever to rack
the bike and get sorted into my wetsuit and down to the lake for the briefing
by Brian the race director and explanation of some of the rules by the BTF referee,
amusingly this was Jamie who was also the ref at the Lakesman!
As soon as the formalities were out of the way we were into
the lake and ready to go. The swim at Hever is quite a nice swim up the lake
and then back round a river section to the finish, then it is a bit of an
uphill run (well walk) to transition and time to change into bike kit and head
out onto the roads.
Amanda, George and William were waiting in the ice cream van
car park when I got there for my second lap. I then saw them a couple more
times around the course, amusing William by throwing a bottle at George. Amanda even managed to capture a picture of my best side!
Back into transition and time to change into my running kit
for the half marathon, I had completed the whole bike section with a funny
feeling under my foot, I had assumed it was my socks that were causing a
problem and was quite pleased that I had a spare pair with my running shoes,
however even changing socks didn’t make the feeling go away, I found out later
when I got home that I had cut under my big toe!
I set off on the run but was soon walking up the hills,
coming round towards the end of the first lap the 2 runners in front of me went
across a bridge and were promptly attacked by wasps with one of them getting
stung twice on the head. I managed to get through without getting stung but was
thinking about it all the way round, by the time I crossed the bridge on the
second lap there was no issue!
I crossed the finish line relieved to have come to the end
of the event, I then found Amanda before heading off to transition to reclaim my
bike and kit. At this point I saw one of the most inspirational people I have
seen at triathlon, young Bailey. He was clearly in the zone for his event so I
left him to it but it was quite humbling to be in the same transition as him.
Now I am preparing for my next event which is Abingdon
marathon on 22nd October!
Please don’t forget why I am doing all of these challenges,
I am trying to raise as much money as I can for the Rockinghorse Appeal who
support the Royal Alex Childrens Hospital in Brighton
Thanks
Andy
