The Bastion - Take Two

Doing the Castle Triathlon Bastion once is certainly a challenge worth being happy about, but why settle at doing it just once. I had aimed to target this as an "A" race, but after the struggles of Ironman South Africa and how long it took to recover both physically and mentally it turned into bit of a fun event for me. I just knew my bike and run fitness weren't where they should be, and although with years of cycling behind me the bike leg wasn't ever really going to be an issue, the run was going to be a get through it in one piece type run.

As before the Castle Triathlon put on a great event, and as last year the briefing was very comprehensive and the walk round of the site was very informative especially for the novices of the event. Considering it is such a challenging event I always find it heartening to see how many people are doing the Bastion as their first iron distance race, I know exactly how they feel.

As we did last year, the family and I camped on site and had a really relaxed Saturday, bike racking was swift and painless. I met up with a friend of Joe Skipper, Lee Cook, who was doing the Bastion as his first iron distance race, like me he was a winner of a competition (always nice to win a prize that means you are going to hurt yourself).

After a glorious Saturday, Sunday dawned cloudy and wet though it wasn't too cold to be honest. After sorting the bike out and trying with no joy to get my Garmin to talk to my powermeter, I got all wetsuited up and made my way to the lake for the pre race brief. Luckily with 4 previous swims of the course I was pretty confident of a good swim.

Having a pre race chat with Karl and Lee
Courtesy of Colin Baldwin Photography

And we are off

Courtesy of Richard Campbell - BeyondGoingLong

The swim went pretty good, sighting was great and for once I seemed to swim pretty straight down the lake. I had aimed to try and keep on the toes of Karl Alexander and Darren Jenkins for as long as possible, but that wasn't for very long in the end. For a lot of the first leg down the lake I was swimming on my own and whilst the clear water was nice, having toes to follow would have probably helped with the swim speed. As we entered the river section the first time I suddenly found feet and this section went very smoothly and before long I was on the second lap. The second lap again went well with swimming alongside  faster swimmers. I did try and work out where I was but as ever there always seems to be more ahead of you than you realise. I got out of the water in 1:09, and although faster than last year I was still a bit disappointed, open water swims had suggested nearer the hour, but hey ho it is what it is.

After a bit of a long run to transition it was out on the bike, I did hear a shout of "Go Catch Darren" and I did set off with the intention of doing a hard bike. Now things would have been easier to judge if my Garmin had displayed power but again I am pretty of good of going by feel so I just settled down and rode to HR instead. I tried to keep the effort down at first and just get into a good rhythm, or as best you can when you are either going up or down. My legs didn't feel that great, well not as good as I was hoping, but I was still getting a decent average speed so I didn't worry too much. I started feeling better after a few miles and with little wind the first time up to the top of the Ashdown Forest went very smoothly. As I descended towards Maresfield I saw Karl was leading and on the return I worked out I was about 12-13 mins down. I hadn't seen Darren, so I presumed he was on the Maresfield loop. Now before the event I did have a little joke with Karl and Darren about smashing the bike leg, I was hoping I could keep up with them.

I did the first lap faster than I did last year and I still felt OK, not as great as I wanted to in all honesty but still going at a decent effort. The next time up to the forest top the wind was picking up and there were a few showers, not too bad but enough to blunt the speed a little. I also noticed Karl had pulled out a bit of time on me and also I saw Darren for the first time, he had obviously pulled out some time as well. I really wasn't sure where I was position wise and just carried on riding as hard as I dared. Coming to the end of lap 2 I heard the commentator say I was in 4th place, so that was Karl and Darren ahead, but who else. I had completely forgotten about Matthew Dowle, and although he seemed to be falling back from Darren he was having a very good bike leg.

Typical Kent Scenery
Courtesy of Colin Baldwin Photography

On the 3rd lap the wind at the top of the forest was quite strong now with a fair bit of rain, now rain and a visor is not the best option and once covered in rain it did make the descents that little bit more difficult and I had no option but to ease off and take them at a steady speed, there is no point coming off to save a few seconds. I did catch Matthew with about 5 miles to go, and knowing he is a far better runner than me I just tried to put as much time between us before T2.

Coming into T2 I saw that I was slower than last year, but considering the harder conditions I was pretty happy. Once the bike was handed over to a helper I made my way into the tent to get ready for the run. As I had decided to take the run as it comes I enjoyed a bit of a drink and some food before going out onto the run. Matthew had pretty much clawed back the time I had made on the bike and he was past me before 1km into the run.

First km of the run, struggling a little

Courtesy of Colin Baldwin Photography

The first few kms felt horrible as per normal, but I soon settled into a good pace, I was very mindful not to attack the run as I had in South Africa, and just took things steady. The first lap went to plan and I was thinking if I can maintain this pace it will be cool. As fatigue set in however and the legs started getting sore I eased off a little more and walked some of the hills, even so I came though half way just over 2 hours so not too bad. On the third lap things were really starting to get tough, I walked more of the hills and it wasn't long before I started slipping down the leadboard. I got passed twice in quick succession by Andy Cox (finished 5th) and Lee Cook (6th). Onto the 4th lap and although I felt like walking the whole lot I still just walked the hills and made sure I kept up a fairly decent pace at other times. I would rather have run the complete distance, but with the ETU Long Distance Champs in 8 weeks and without the best run fitness I did what I thought was the wisest option.

I crossed the line in 11:24, so 20 mins slower than last year, and in 7th overall, I was also 2nd in the 40-49AG so not a bad day at all and one where I got another iron distance event under my belt without causing too much damage to my body. Pleased to see Lee Cook got 6th place in his first long distance race and seem to be relishing his next one.

Photo Courtesy of Colin Baldwin Photography

Massive congratulations to Darren Jenkins on winning the event, and to Beth Fowler for winning the ladies. Also congratulations to Karl, and Matthew for making up the podium. Thanks to Darren, Karl, Matthew, Lee and everyone else for being a good laugh throughout the weekend. Again a massive thanks to my wonderful family for the support both in training and the race, I had additional support this year from my Mum, Dad and Auntie, it all helps on such a tough day.

Another fabulous event from the Castle Triathlon team, they really have worked hard with the course and it was in fantastic condition. A big thanks you to Brian and the team as well as all the helpers, marshalls, supporters and anyone else connected with the event.  I really do recommend these events for anyone, be they novices or experienced triathletes. If you don't want to do a full iron distance race then they put on a series of events at all distances across the UK, check out their website www.castletriathlonseries.co.uk for all the information.

Quality Momentos