Mounts Bay Harriers

The classic surfers Tri:

and some thwarted surfers:

In spite of the distinct lack of pumping surf, Brooksy (109th - 2:23:28), Kyle (14th - 2:06:50) and Shay (50th - 2:14:43) look to have enjoyed their day at the beach!

Well done also to Carlos (16th - 2:06:53) and Gus (23rd - 2:08:55), who were racing for Queen and Country on Sunday as Team RN…the splitters!

Some of the prize winners at the Probus 10k - Jamie, Sue, Tim (1st & team), John (1st MV 50-54 & team), Yvonne T (2nd FV 45-49 & team), Yvonne W (team), Tammy (team), Dave (3rd MV 60-64), Taiyo (modeling team hat), Mark (3rd MV 45-49 & team), Ian (team), Karen.

Rob Cockings, who organises the Probus 10k, was so worried that there wouldn’t be a good turnout this year that he had decided that there wouldn’t be another one - until 121 competitors turned up to take part and make all his efforts worthwhile.

MBH ended up walking away with arms full of prizes starting with Tim Drew, who came home in first place in a time of 36:20 - a good minute and 20 seconds ahead of his nearest rival, Nick Chislet from Plymouth Harriers.  After the long opening downhill stretch, Tim held a narrow lead over Hayles’ Michael Robinson and the Plymouth Harrier, Nick Chislett, but once on the level, gradually drew clear of his opponents.  Over the ensuing miles, he continued to pull further and further away, before breaking the tape with well over a minute in hand. (from NRR website)

The next MBH in was John Doyle in 6th place picking up the prize for first male vet 50-54 in 40:14.  Sam Hill is amazing all of us with his continued improvement (and he’s only been running for a couple of months!)  This time he finished just behind John Doyle in 7th place with only 10 seconds separating them in 40:24.

Ian Matthews still can’t break the 40 minute mark, but today’s course wouldn’t have been the place to do it.  The course is hilly - not extreme hills, but long ones, and lots of them!

Kyle Kearey decided to cycle to Probus from Penzance (as you do) and then run the race.  He kept with Tim for the first mile before his hamstrings decided that running wasn’t a good idea after cycling there.  He still finished in 16th place in a time of 43:03 and then he cycled back home again.

Mark Omori finished as 3rd MV 45-49 in 44:38 despite developing a huge blister on his foot due to a stone in his shoe, which he stopped to take out and examine before continuing on his run.

Jess Turton is just coming back from injury and picked up the prize for second senior lady in a time of 48:00.

I had both Jess and Ian Gronwalt (48:44) in my sights most of the way round but just couldn’t catch them.  Given another mile I may have caught Ian, but he actually ran a more sensible race for him today (and he didn’t throw up - there’s a first!)  I finally crossed the line in 49:23 and picked up second in the FV 45-49 category.

David Marston was the next MBH in picking up third MV 60-64 in 51:02.

Other MBH finishers were Jamie Matthews (52:39), Tammy Rosewall (55:39), Yvonne Watkins (56:03), Karen Thomas (56:20), Sue Matthews (58:23), Nicky Wright (1:03:00), Steph Leyland (1:09:05).  Well done to all who finished.

MBH also picked up the first team prizes for both male (Tim, John, Sam, Ian M, Kyle and Mark) and female (Jess, Yvonne T, Tammy and Yvonne W) - nice yellow fluorescent hats all round!!

Results are Here

Now if I said Fowey Tri to you, what would you think? Allowed only once a year swim the 600m across the river? The off road section of the run? the fantastic finish on town quay? NO OF COURSE IT AINT it’s that bloody great hill up from Polruan, straight out of the swim, no run up, narrow road and it goes on and on - So with this in mind four brave MBH (or those who had managed to get a place) ventured to Fowey early on Sunday morning for this years annual triathlon - We all had our excuses ready, me, just back from a boozy weekend in London and still hurty knee probs, Nige, just come off night shift, so was more used to going to bed at 6 not driving to Fowey, Gus, just returned from 2 weeks relaxing and drinking in Spain and Don, still tired from last weeks St Agnes and all the gym sessions he’s been putting in. The weather had cleared nicely, and there was this strange glowing object in the sky not seen for a while, debris was everywhere though as the previous days weather had blown and rained a lot of leaves and twigs over the course - the organisor even warned of knee deep mud and a fallen tree on the run route - for those who have done this event before, you know the bit that takes you down the river bed, narrow lane? Fowey Tri reputed to be the Cornish Ironman - so onto the race………………..

The swim is great, although I was a bit concerned as the colour of the water was a bit ‘brown’ and the continuing arrival of septic tank lorries emptying manually into the sewers right next to the swim start didn’t fill me with excitement for jumping in the water - apparently SWW had problems with the pump underneath the quay!! Around the grey bouy and through the moored boats to the slip at Polruan - pretty uneventful, managed not to head butt a canoe so all in all a good swim for me 7th overall - a little over 10 minutes, winner was a young girl of 15 who swims for GB in about 9 minutes and then into transition…………..

I was debating with Gus before the off about wearing socks this year so I had placed them by my bike shoes ready to make a decision when I entered transition - Fowey Tri is not BTA sanctioned so I presume all the normal rules and regs don’t apply as right in front my eyes was a woman completely naked changing out of her swimsuit into cycling shorts - and I mean naked and she wasn’t shy! I think I now know what a Brazillian is! I put my socks on - took me about 10 minutes! just as she pulled her cycling shorts up I was ready! Looking up the hill it was carnage - being in the last wave of the swim enabled me to have a good look coming from behind - (ooohh errr missus) Answer me this - - why don’t people practice hills, if you can’t ride hills very well, why clip in? There were people falling off, pushing up in cycling shoes, slipping all over the place - well it doesn’t get any easier - so why oh why do people pick this as their first triathlon and then never return saying it’s too hard a sport? The bike was windy! marshalls were excellent and slowed or stopped the traffic when they could, roads got a bit busy on the way into Lostwithiel but all in all OK - 10th overall for me - Nige had a blinder - 2nd fastest bike split and Gus not to far behind with 3rd fastest.

Onto the run………that first hill is a killer! always is (my 5th Fowey Tri) always will be - it really zaps your leg speed and energy - you have to just try and get into some sort of a rhythm, use those elbows and do the best you can! Keep climbing and then it’s a steep down hill - terrified to slip on the debris of mud and branches left from the previous days storms - now some ‘nice’ person decided that it would be a good idea to turn one of the run arrows the wrong way - so instead of heading up another hill, Don, Gus and a few of the other first starters turned right and into a farm, and a few hundred yards in, realising the error turned back onto the correct route - but precious time lost………….the run then continues onto the ‘off road’ section - this year complimented by 2 feet of mud and newly fallen tree to bend knees and back to get under! not ot mention the 3 foot crevice gouged out by the rain - and then onto that lovely grass field - it’s not only bloody steep up but also has a nice camber to the left, and my hurty knee was telling me ‘I’m getting too old for this’ - I was determined not to walk and only just made it to the top as I ran out of energy (so I didn’t walk!!) - lots of people did walk however - more hill training required for them in the winter!

From then on in it’s all down hill, but by this time I was shattered and although I thought my leg speed was good I reckon it was diabolical - into the town - down the high street and into the finish - lots of support and again the marshals were excellent in keeping the crowds out of the way - a little over 2.03 for me, 3 mins slower than last year but no where near my 4th in 2006 with 1.56! Nige we reckon did about 1.55, Gus 2.03 and Don 2.09 - At the time of writing run splits or overall positions and time were not available but Nige picked up 3rd overall and an excellent 1st vets prize - the winner was Matt Lewis in about 1.46 - how would we fair in the team prize?!? We had won this 4 years on the trot but their seemed to be a lot of teams in this year, BAD (Bristol & district) POT (Packet of Three) Torbay Tri, amongst others - but the award went to…………….Camel Valley - I’ll say that again Camel Valley!! Little did we know that Matt Lewis now races for them! this gave them a 9 minute advantage straight away (first 3 finishers times added to give a total) - we did however finish 2nd - so a little surprised but then we will have to try a bit harder next year (and there’s Wadebridge and Bodmin)

A point to the organisors - why only awards for 1st place? They call out 2nd and 3rd - the athletes go up, get a round of applause and just stand there like lemons only to be told there’s nothing for them! Also the wearing of ipods today on both the bike and the run was a widespread - I nearly got taken out a couple of times on the bike as athletes were too busy listening to music when they should have been concentrating - and finally, as a BTA and UKA coach - the youngest finisher today was 12 years old!! some where along the lines this cannot be right - although highly commendable and a hell of a feat for a 12 year old, the parents should be called to task and told of the risks - why do you think the governing bodies don’t allow children of this age to compete at such distances? WORK IT OUT - now what’s that childline number? (RANT OVER)

Well Done guys - great result - get those entries in for Wadebridge or Bodmin!!!

GS