David Lloyd Lincoln Sprint Tri, Midlands Series Round 1 – 22nd April 2012

On Sunday 22^nd April 2012, James Bray, myself, Ryan Hepworth, and almost 500 other competitors competed in the David Lloyd Lincoln Triathlon. This was the 1^st event in the OSB Midlands Sprint Triathlon Series, and as always, the facilities and organisation of the event by One Step Beyond was second to none. This event consisted of a 400 meter pool swim, followed by a scenic 22km loop of Burton Waters finishing off with a 5km run. This was the second race in both of our triathlon calendar and both were keen to continue on from good performances three weeks earlier (Apollo @ South Hunsley). This was also the first triathlon of the season where James would be racing on his new Orbea Ordu, the WLM Tri Teams weapon of choice.

I completed the 400m swim in 5 minutes 45 seconds, which felt comfortable, however turned out to be the highlight of my race. It was one of those races where my legs, for no reason whatsoever, didn’t fire. After a battle with Pete Shuttleworth from Sheffield Tri Club on the bike leg, I arrived in T2 with the 6th fastest split of the day, however around 90 seconds slower than my target time. A time penalty in T2 for a technical error while racking my bike, and a slower than anticipated run meant I finished in a time of 1:04 hr, 6th overall and 2nd in my age category (25-29). A good result, but a disappointing performance. For myself it’s back to the drawing board before the Driffield Triathlon in 4 weeks time.

James was a little unlucky with the weather after coming out of the pool in to a traditional April shower or two. The bike course was fast and predominately flat with the exception of what appears to be the only hill in Lincoln. The run route also boasted to be a fast one running alongside the river finishing to the back of the David Lloyd leisure complex. James was the first of us to race and put in a good performance finishing in a time of 1:10 hr. This placed him 8^thin his age category (25-29) and 34^th overall. James will be looking to back up this solid performance in the next race of the OSB Midlands Sprint Triathlon Series in Southwell, Nottingham, in 3 weeks time.