Ironman Leeds : An Unexpected Journey

When Leeds was announced as the new venue of Ironman England 140.6 it was an easy decision to make this my tenth long distance triathlon. Having studied and worked in Leeds in the twentieth century when my only sporting interest was golf and having recently moved back to Yorkshire it was as if it had been written in the stars! Within easy reach for training on the actual course and the offer of being hosted by friends, I was excited at the prospect of racing the inaugural Ironman Leeds. The announcement having been made there was feverish speculation about the route of the bike course, with the Yorkshire Dales on the doorstep, the prospect of riding the roads that had been the route of a stage of the Tour de France in 2014 was very enticing. The only certainty was that the course would be hilly! In the end the bike course route when unveiled was somewhat underwhelming, a three lapped course of North Leeds on sketchy potholed roads, there was little that was noteworthy apart from from “that hill”, the infamous Black Hill and the small matter of 2500 meters of elevation!

During the intervening months with an hours drive from home to Leeds I was able to ride the course on numerous occasions as with a short out and back to Roundhay Park a loop of the bike course was approximately 55k. Riding it the first time the road conditions were shocking but on subsequent rides potholes were being filled in, some of the sketchier stretches resurfaced I began to like the planned route, it would be a slow course but in terms of the oft asked question ‘road bike or TT?’ it definitely favoured the latter. The frequent recces of Black Hill convinced me that whilst I could cycle up it, three times would burn a whole box of matches on race day, so in order to ‘spin’ up the hill I had the cassette changed to 11/34 and Black Hill was suddenly a lot less daunting.

In addition to myself SEC athlete Andrew Sellar had entered the race and then SEC Pro Danny Bluff having been sidelined for weeks with his bike damaged in transit from Ironman Texas, announced that he too would be racing Ironman Leeds. Being on the doorstep so to speak, I offered to host Andrew, Danny and Coach Paul the weekend after the Lakesman enjoy a nice meal and then head over the following morning to do a double loop of the bike course and a lap of run course.  Before the meet-up Danny was involved in a terrible RTA which has ended his season (fortunately he is on the mend and is back to running and cycling as he continues his rehabilitation), so in the event it was Andrew and myself who did the SEC recce. It was on the first lap of the bike course that a major change to the bike course came to light. Andrew was following me as we turned off onto a rough farm road when his bike computer started to protest and Andrew shouted to me that the route required us to U Turn. Andrew had downloaded the route from the Ironman website the day before the ride, which unannounced had been updated to avoid the road I was leading us along towards a very dangerous narrow 1:5 descent. The organisers had obviously taken onboard athletes concerns about this section of the course and changed the route to avoid the sketchy descent. After two laps of the bike course, we jogged around the run course with Andrew nursing a troublesome achilles.

On the Friday of race weekend Kate and I set off to Leeds early for registration and merch acquisition so we could then head over to our friend’s house and enjoy the rest of the day relaxing. Already busy there was an excited buzz around Roundhay Park which would be hub of the event. The layout of the Ironman site was well planned out, parking up at Soldier Field you walk down towards the park at the Lakeside Cafe entrance, aptly named as it looks out on Waterloo Lake where the swim would take place, then heading up a path with a not insignificant incline towards transition and bike racking on the Cricket Oval. In no time I was donning my very fetching new transition bag filled with my Ironman Leeds branded merch and heading off for a very chill afternoon and evening of good company and excellent food (Thanks John and Karen).

Saturday morning, I headed out for my scheduled 40 minute bike check and a whooping 249m of ascent in 14k! After somewhat flatter run intervals done, we headed over to Roundhay Park to rack the bike and drop off the transition bags. The weekend itinerary provided for an official swim practise  between 11.00 am and 13.00 pmwhich I thought would be beneficial. Ordinarily you are not allowed to swim in Waterloo Lake although on my various recces I did see people swimming in the lake but had not felt the need myself. The official practise was a small loop of approximately 400 meters as you were not allowed to swim the actual course but it was still very useful as you could practise the start and exit. Swim done, it was time to head back to our friend’s house to chill, have my weird pre-race meal of tuna, savoury rice and mashed sweet potatoes and an early night.

Ironman Leeds Race Day

The usual preamble, up at silly o’clock, breakfast, mobility and activation, prep bottles and an eerily quiet drive through the city. Arriving before transition opened, I was able to orientate myself with the swim run and bike exits, chat with some of the other athletes and just enjoy the calm before the chaos to come. Once transition opened, straight to the bike to load up the nutrition (270ml flask of PF&H Flow Gel, 5 x 60g with one extra in my trisuit) the XLab torpedo and bottle of PF&H 1500 electrolytes infused water) pump the tyres and then into the transition tent to check my bike and run bags and finally put on my wetsuit. I was feeling unusually totally zen, a brief chat with coach Paul, final wave to Kate and off to the swim start. Here I was joined by the equally zen Andrew Sellar, chatting and laughing we enjoyed the increasing hyperbolic build-up from the MC and then it was time to race!

Swim

The two lapped course of Waterloo Lake is without doubt the roughest full contact swim I have been a part of. Diving off the pontoon the swim up to the first turning buoy was a narrow channel, a maelstrom of too many bodies and too little clear water, I was grabbed, punched, kicked and banged into. Although dead straight, I had to take frequent evasive action to avoid the zig-zaggers who would impede your progress and try to swim over you. After the melee of the first turn, people seemed to calm down a bit and I could focus on navigating the course instead of trying to protect myself from potential grievous bodily harm. With no Australian exit for the second lap, you had to swim under an inflatable ‘bridge’, it looked so incongruous and small, and the perfect opportunity to get dunked as swimmers funnelled into its narrow confines, I locked arms with another swimmer and we momentarily stopped as we couldn’t complete our strokes, shocked at this coming together we burst out laughing and went our separate ways. The remainder of the lap was uneventful but coming to the swim exit I knew that it had been slow but I was just happy to be back on dry land and charging up the long uphill run to T1

Bike

A smooth transition, I was out onto the bike course for what would be the best part of seven hours. Based on the course profile and having ridden it frequently I knew that the bike would be at least an hour slower than a more typical Ironman bike route, the key would be sensible pacing and putting the ego to one side, as smashing it on the bike would mean a slow painful death march on the run. I settled into an easy gear and spun up the hills seated keeping the watts as low as possible, to conserve energy. Any flat, downhill or gently rolling section it was full gas on the bars but otherwise, it was glacially paced climbing up the hills of North Leeds. On an out and back section at the village of Thorner I saw Andrew Sellar flying along the road ahead of me, disappearing into the distance to become self-proclaimed champion of the self-created Ironman Aquabike! Given his troublesome achilles, Andrew had decided not to run and treat Ironman Leeds as a training day for his A race at Ironman Wales, I would see Andrew later on the run course offering voluble support and encouragement with his wife, what a guy!

Three loop and three times up Mount Doom aka Black Hill, this is where Ironman Leeds exploded into life! Up until the first ascent support around the course had been excellent, cheering crowds, banners and good humour but Black Hill was of a different magnitude entirely. As turned onto Black Lane you could the hear the noise, then as you approached the corner of the climb where the whole extent of the ramp would come into view the cacophonous din in anticipation, and as you turned the corner and came onto the climb proper your senses were assaulted by the sight of hundreds of athletes grinding up the hill and the wall of sound of these toiling cyclists being roared on by throngs of spectators up close and personal screaming encouragement. There was the spectacle of the Mexican wrestlers in their Lucha libre masks (obviously hyped up on too many cups of Yorkshire tea) providing the on course cabaret and calling out your name as you smiled inwardly as you cycled by but focused on reaching the summit one pedal stroke at a time. Second time round the crowds were bigger and more raucous but the racing reality jolted me back to my senses when a touch of wheels caused one athlete to go down and the other who had caused the incident to swerve and almost take me out also. The third time and I was eagerly anticipating the Black Hill climb and the phenomenal support. I felt good, I was cycling within myself and as I sped towards T2 I knew that the race in reality was just about to start!

Run

At my previous Ironman races at Cork and Vitoria Gasteiz I had placed in the top ten in my Age Group but my goal at Leeds was to get on the Podium and possibly secure a slot at the World Championships at Nice. Lofty goals, delusional hubris on my part, maybe, but I had called my shot and I was going to go for it! Running into T2, Kate shouted to me that I was in 6th place and having for once not had a picnic (SEC code for not getting a wiggle on) I emerged from T2 in short order to the news Kate that I was now 5th! Settling into my 9:1 run/walk strategy I was carrying a 300ml soft flask of PF&H gel to sip during my walking breaks. The initial part of the run is steep as you run up the park and do a short trail round the small lake and then out onto the 4 lap course which takes in the suburb of Roundhay and a section of Roundhay Park. I was not interested in running a time as such, for the first time ever I was focussed on the competition and gaining places in my Age Group. To this end Coach Paul and Kate would keep me appraised of the state of play via the Ironman app tracker. On cue, part way round the first lap I could hear people shouting my name, the SEC posse of Coach Paul, Bex and Louise cheering me on and letting me know that I was in 3rd place with 4th just behind. The next update was not so welcome, I was down to 4th but hot on the heels of my nemesis. Whilst I was in full race mode, I was sticking to my pacing strategy and loading up on electrolytes and water at each aid station, I never look at the watch on the run I judge my effort by RPE and I knew I would be averaging 5.30-5.40 per k factoring in the walking. By the third lap, I appeared to be on target for the podium, Coach Paul telling me that I had built a 10 minute buffer and that the other guy was ‘broken’. Thereafter the instructions were just to keep going and I had the feeling that either the guy behind was not broken or that another athlete was coming up on the rails. At the start of every lap you received a coloured wrist band which provided a brief surge of motivation, the on course support was amazing and particularly around the entrance and exit of Roundhay Park vast. Although focused I would power up on the hand-made signs waved by the children acknowledge the support and high 5 all the proffered hands. 

By the fourth and final lap I was really starting to feel the effects of the run, the amount of elevation saps the legs (over 400m) athletes all over the course seemed to be walking but even in their own struggles they found the energy to offer encouragement as I ran by. One particularly memorable moment which made me smile was as I ran past two big burly athletes, one remarked to the other “that old bloke got 4 bands! He’s as fast as whippet!” I was running consistently just holding pace, I knew 2nd was not attainable as Coach Paul had told me that the athlete was 20 minutes up the road but reassuringly, I still had a 10 minute buffer in third. I couldn’t ease up but I was secure in the knowledge that it would take a phenomenal run to overtake me. Entering Roundhay Park for the last time I felt spent but elated and then the welcome sight of the sign directing me towards the finishing chute. Steeply downhill you barrel along a narrow corridor with the crowds at your shoulder, the finishing gantry tantalisingly still out of sight, rounding the corner, the finish ahead I sprinted to the line and my race was done! Everything that I and Coach Paul had planned and strategised for and when it mattered to execute on race day had manifested, the podium secured, sense of accomplishment and gratitude was overwhelming.

Award Ceremony

It was fun to step onto the Podium, to receive the third place trophy, meet the amazing athletes who had taken the steps above me. That said, the primary business was the award of slots to the final World Championships to be held at Nice on September 14th a few short weeks away. In my 60-64 Age Group category there were to be only 2 slots, according to Coach Paul 1.6 slots to be exact and when the winner of the AG duly took his slot I fervently hoped the  0.6 slot would roll down to me. When the second athlete was called out with the offer of a place at Nice, no reply or acknowledgement, a second and third call and then my name was called and I replied in the affirmative. Hell yeah, I’m going to Nice!