Ironman Weymouth 70.3 - Team Newham relay

So it was was agreed and the deal was signed back in May time to bring back Team Newham and have a go at the 70.3 Ironman in Weymouth, Dorset. fast forward a few months and we were ready and in good spirits to make the five hour trip down to the south coast for a weekend of Ironman fun !

Pre race

We camped at Portesham Farm campsite which had all we needed. Dave chose the van, and I slept in the pop up palace. Portsesham was only 20 minutes from the car park at Weymouth so as good as it gets. from the car park its about twenty minutes walk to either of transition or registration at the Pavillion. We hadn't figured they would be seperated by around two miles so learning no.1 is to always read the race pack!

Registration at the Pavillion was easy and the usual, and then it was through the merch tent, before back to the van to sort the kit and sticker up, and then the walk to transition to rack the bike. 2 more miles and we were back at the Pavillion theatre for the race briefing to put us in the mood.

Race day 

I was awake before two and provided butler service to Dave , providing coffee and porridge for his 4.20 wake up. It was surprisingly easy to park at Weymouth and we had plenty of time to walk to T1 to do the final touches to the bike. I was beach front ready to watch the pro's go off early then it was a nervous shuffle for a rolling start from 7am. I think I entered the water at around 7.28 finally.

Swim 55.39

I have bad memories of sea swims having not enjoyed my last one at tenby very much indeed. This was a shale beach start so I had an unimpressive start tip toeing into the water !  The first ten minutes were purgatory as I couldn't get my stroke going and had to adjust for the swells. Each marker bouy seemed to take an eternity and I knew it was slow. Also, it was very cold and my borrowed wetsuit seemed to be a very thin racing one so did not retain much in the way of body heat. I stuck with it though, and toughed my way through a personal worst swim performance and a 13 minute T1 where I was a shaking cold mess !

Bike 2.40.17 

It took around a further ten minutes to warm up and the bike was a case of a knife through butter as I went on an overtaking mission. I tried to keep a power of between 240-250W and for most part I did okay. I must have overtaken hundreds without reply and really enjoyed myself. The bike really is my section and I loved every minute of the rolling countryside.  My average of 21.2 was fantastic considering how I felt after

the swim, the course which had 3700 ft of climb overall, and the traffic from being so far back out of the water. My T2 handover to Dave was 3 minutes because I made the mistake of not running in my shoes and there were stones everywhere !

Run 3.13.55

The run at Weymouth is a well supported seafront run which is basically 3.5 loops of the aforementioned two miles between the registration Pavillion and just past the transition area. Dave did a great job of knocking out some consistent miling and he was pleased with his half marathon return of 3.13. I met him just before the finish, and we ran down the red carpet together happy to complete the event in 7.06.35.  A great weekends work where both of us overcame different challenges to put away a fantastic event finish.

Team Newham rocks on !