Llandudno 29th June – SPRINT Qualifier for London 2013 World Triathlon Champs
Although the start wasn’t until 2.30 on Saturday I wanted to be at Llandudno the night before the race, so contacted Conwy Car Parks Dept. and also the Leisure Dept. It turns out there is a car park where motorhomes can park – even overnight. The girl at the Parking Dept. stated, “on no account can you sleep in the vehicle”. Would I? The Leisure Dept. took a different attitude, “no one ever checks the car parks at night so please yourself”. I chickened out in the end, parking while I rode round the bike course and then going to a campsite overnight – I didn’t think I would sleep well if I was expecting a ghostly car park attendant to knock on the windows of the van in the small hours.
It’s an open water sea swim at Llandudno, the temperature was 12 C so a hoody was worn – it turned out to be a good job since many were stung by jellyfish – its not so bad on your hands but the face and neck are more sensitive! The sea was fairly calm but a gentle swell made the three legs of the swim very different.
Transition was well organised and laid out except the bike out was a 400 metre run and very narrow – overtaking was impossible and those who tried it came to grief.
The bike course round the Great Orme was beautifully scenic but is not for either a TT bike or the faint hearted. The descent section is 2k long, quite steep, and on a narrow road with a stone wall on one side and a cliff face on the other.
As always, for me, the run felt like a matter of survival, a nice out and back course along the sea front with a bit of a hill before the turnaround point. Out and backs are always good since it allows you to keep an eye on both your club-mates and your opposition. In my case John Shelton-Smith in 60/64 and the top guys in 65/69, Richard File and Al Churcher. They were both 3 to 4 mins in front of me – almost all of it gained on the bike. Run time not as bad as it felt at 23.28.
A successful day out since having failed to qualify at Nottingham both John and I qualified for London in our respective age groups.
Alex Heron
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Llandudno Results: 2 MVH-er’s qualify for LONDON 2013 – SPRINT!!
Sprint
| Name | Position in age group | Swim 750m | Cycle 19km | Run 5Km | Total Time |
| John Shelton-Smith | 5th | 18:52 | 41:50 | 23:26 | 1:27:23 |
| Alex Heron | 4th | 16:10 | 44:53 | 23:28 | 1:28:17 |
Olympic
| Name | Position in age group | Swim 1,500m | Cycle 36km | Run 10Km | Total Time |
| Ian Burrows | 3rd | 29:05 | 1:16:07 | 43:36 | 2:33:14 |
