Report from the front line:

We achieved a combined time of 1hr. 16 mins 54 seconds, which placed us second in the Sprint relay event.

Two comments before the start told us that we had the sympathy of the crowd - as we gathered around the registration desk before the start, the middle aged lady marshal looked at me like a sympathetic ward sister and said " Oh, and you're having a go too, well done you." It made us feel like deluded geriatrics. As I pushed my sturdy Claud Butler towards the transition area I heard someone say "Blimey, that must be a steel frame, well fair play to him for having a go!" In that classic British Bulldog moment of being motivated against the odds, I decided I need to get a better bike.

Mark got us off to a great start with the swim, during the 750 metres of which he claims to have used every stroke in the Amateur Swimming Association Handbook to cover the distance. His motivating war cry of "I can't see, I think I'm going to puke!" was just what was needed in the transition area to drive me to give the race my all. The immediate problem was that neither of us could see well enough to get the transponder band transferred from Mark's leg to mine, so a moment's panic.

The bike ride was 20 kilometres on familiar roads, and went better than I could have expected, playing cat and mouse with a couple of riders which kept the pace up, and benefitting from some welcome rain which was a good time to "attack." A very welcome sight was a huge banner stretched alongside the road where we turned left back down the A38 "Come On Grandad." with family standing yelling encouragement and insults, and the grandchildren wondering what sort of rugby match this was. The handover to Grant for the run came at the end of a red-mist sprint from the A38 to the Marina, resulting in me throwing the bike at Grant by way of handover and a repeat of not being able to see the velcro band for the transponder, but we managed and Grant was off.

It seemed like very little time before Mark and I saw our man heave into sight on the final run in towards the finish, so we decided to accompany him in to the line - it seems like Grant heard us but didn't actually see us at this point. Grant had attacked for the whole of the 5k, picking off about twenty shirts and only being overhauled by one or two. Thanks for the free mobile bar; excellent team backup.

It was a really good event to be involved in, and brought a bit of interest for the club, so it looks as though the challenge will be going out for next year!

Results: Click here.