Outlaw X - A spectator's view

So, spectator boots on again, missing the 3rd of my September 70.3s due to the old COVID, we headed off to Outlaw X.

This would be Danny Bluff’s first race under his sponsorship deal with Raceskin, and Mark Colman, Alan Cornthwaite, Chris McKee and Vernon Anderson were all using this as an end of season blow out.

Preparation had been interesting…..

Danny had come off his bike at Geordieman and injured his hip - cue another 3 weeks of no running

Vernon completed his season at Almere racing Team GB, then woke up on his 2nd day of “off season” and entered Outlaw X??

Alan disappeared to Portugal for a lad’s weekend on the beer the weekend before

Chris and Mark, did at least give the race the preparation it deserved 😊 😊

I rode the bike course gently on Saturday afternoon – it’s a lumpy one for sure, and there’s a lot of road damage which OSB had diligently covered in orange paint again. Not a fan of the feed station location – a big detour into a layby with a very sketchy road surface to it, but there were certainly some stretches on the course where some speed could be gained.

I got back to a few messages about the temperature and the swim. The thoughts were that with the predicted air temperature being 5 degrees at 07:00, the start had been pushed back to 08:00, and that had lead to a shortened (750m) swim to get the roads open again. Alan was delighted, Chris gutted!! Anyway, a bit more of a lie in for everyone!! Race day dawned as it tends too – lots of activity on the (excellent) temporary campsite and off to transition…..it didn’t feel as cold as we expected, but it was very still. The usual morning transition activities ensued (including some media duties for “Face of Raceskin” Danny). The swim start is not accessible to spectators at Outlaw X, so I waited as close as I could, and chanced upon race ref Jamie Gordon, who explained that it was a combination of water and air temperature that had caused the changes….the water temperature being 13.1 degrees – I have no idea how it had got that low. That was a big shock to everyone, as the race start is a pontoon dive, so the first you know……is when its too late!

Anyhow, all SEC athletes were out of the water as expected, and after the 700m run to T1 were off on their bikes. All 5 of them are good bikers, and I expected them back with splits of between 2:20 and 2:45, so I headed over for a chat to Colin McNeill (the main man at Raceskin) to thank him for the great work his team had done on the SEC kit, and then off for breakfast.

The bike course was uneventful for all athletes, although the tracker and website crashed, so we had little idea where anyone was, but they all arrived back into T2 in good time. I never really realised how good it was to see people safely back off the bike – I don’t spectate enough, and as a competitor, you just get your head down and get on with it!!

I found a good spot on the run course to watch the action unfold, soon after the feed station, close to where the laps come round, and the athletes join from T2. It’s a 7km run loop, so there’s not a lot of chance for athletes to see each other, and the order was maintained as they came passed me – Danny, Chris, Vernon, Alan……no Mark (Mark had recently invested in an SEC trisuit, and I was sure I couldn’t have missed him twice, so began to get a bit concerned.)

I headed to the finish line to watch Dan come across and then back in time to see the others start their final lap…..still no Mark. Now the mobile phone signals are not great at Thorsby Hall, but I must have walked passed a bit of 4G on the way from the finishing line, as I suddenly received a flood of messages…..one of which was from Mark, to say he’d had a recurrence of a hamstring injury coming out of T2 and had withdrawn. Gutted for him, as his run has been on fire over recent weeks.

Chris came across the finish line as expected, with another stella 70.3 run – he’s really worked hard on his run pace off the bike this year and it showed on a run course with 200m of elevation and multiple run surface changes.

Vernon was next, collecting as many of his 3 kids as he could carry to run the quite substantial “family distance” which must be 150m. Fair to say he had a little of the Almere marathon still in his legs, but another credible finish under his belt

Alan was last over the line (by virtue of starting the swim well after the others) in a smidge over 1:40.

Summary of Outlaw X – the swim is often shortened due to temperature, and if you get the full distance can be a bit weedy around the edges. The bike is slightly long (91.5km), mostly aero with a couple of short climbs, but lots of longish drags and some poor surface. The run is not a PB course, and will find out any weaknesses you have. In summary, it’s a tough old event, and kudos to the guys for putting in big shifts to get the job done.