SEC Takeover at 255 Festival of Endurance

Credit to SEC founder member William Galvin for the report and to his wife Kate for outstanding logistics management and an awesome pasta party!

On the day when England claimed gold at the Commonwealth Games Mixed Relay Triathlon, Sellars Elite Coaching Athletes were claiming major honours at the Goodwood 255 Relays The winning England team in turn swam, biked and ran 300m, 5k and 2k in a cumulative time of 1:16:40 the SEC teams completed a 5k swim, 200k bike and 50k run over the course of a hot long day. From one extreme to the other!

Team SEC Blue : Danny Bluff and Richard Benson finished second overall and Male Pair Winners in a time of 9.50.37

Team SEC Yellow : Lindsay Straughton and Helen Pickett Female Pair Winners in a time of 12.17.37

Team SEC Green : Paul Sellars, Louise Ireland and Mark Taylor finished third in the Mixed Trio in a time of 10.59.58

Long in the planning, the personnel for the three teams entered changed variously due to injury (broken clavicle), other commitments (new baby), the teams were going to make a weekend of it with a pasta party (Friday) at the home of SEC athlete Bill Galvin. With his wife Kate acting as unofficial logistics director, a well appointed campsite was located for easy access to the event venue and on Bill’s "go to" bike loop round the Witterings to do the obligatory Saturday bike check and run intervals to ease out the stiffness of the legs from long journeys to the South Coast.

The Festival of Endurance is primarily based at Goodwood Motor Racing circuit with the swim taking place nearby at Chichester Watersports, Westhampnett Lake.

Four 1.25km laps of swimming (with an Australian exit), followed by 52 traffic-free laps of the circuit on the bike, and then 13 x 3.8k run laps around the inside edge of the circuit. The second year of the event, in addition to the multiple format relays, the 255 could be entered as a solo athlete at the ultra, full and half distances. It is fair to say, the primary USP of the 255 is the multiple relay format with all manner of permutations for completing the laps and has in the two editions of the race attracted multiple entries from triathlon clubs with both highly competitive experienced athletes and those looking to go longer for the first time. With the central grandstand and paddock populated with teammates and supporters each lap is cheered enthusiastically.

Although, intended as a fun outing, Coach Paul’s elite mentality meant tailored interval sessions were inserted into training schedules prior to the event to ensure SEC athletes were prepared for the stop start nature of the event with consistency of effort at a premium. Also in blending teams and playing to individual strengths, tactics were a major consideration. To add to the mix, local knowledge of the track conditions and prevailing winds was factored in as part of the informal race briefing during the Pasta Party. Let it be put on record that Bill was of the opinion that with a fair wind Danny Bluff could average 45 kph on the bike around the 3.8k track, looking at STRAVA that prediction was pretty adjacent!

As the event organisers did not have access to the circuit until late Saturday afternoon, registration was not until 5.00pm, and with the split transition at the lake opening at 4.30am on the Sunday, collecting numbers swim hats race chips, pre race meal and putting to bed at the campsite was fairly rushed. Alarms set for 3.00am the forecast for race day was for fine weather but ominously gusting winds was expected and a 40% chance of rain in the early afternoon.

The multiple race format of the Festival of Endurance meant that athletes would be either racing the 225 as a solo competitor or as part of a relay, or racing as individual competitors at the traditional Iron and half distances. Essentially throughout the swim, bike and run athletes would be going round and round in circles, and without scrutinising the live tracking it would be near impossible to work out how individuals and teams were doing in comparison with the opposition. In the makeshift SEC trackside HQ Coach Paul could keep abreast of the state of play and strategise and amend team tactics on the hoof and it would be fair to say that Mr Sellars was in coaching heaven!

The 255 distance race was scheduled to commence with a deep water mass start for the solo and lead off relay swimmers with Danny, Helen and Paul doing the honours for SEC Blue, SEC Yellow and SEC Green respectively. Four laps of 1250m after each Australian Exit the timing chip would swapped to the alternate team member for SEC Blue Richard SEC Yellow Lindsay and SEC Green Mark. The prevailing wind meant that there was some chop on the water but sighting was straight forward and the lake was a balmy 20 degrees. Danny and Helen would do the first stint of the bike leg and had plenty of time to change out of their wetsuits dry off and wander down to T1 and check their bikes in readiness for the chip handover. The lead off rider for SEC Green Louse Ireland was co-opted on to the team at the last minute, having travelled with Lindsay for a bit of a jolly to support and cheer on the SEC athletes. In blending and utilising the individual strengths of team members, Louise would augment the the cycling and running potency of SEC Green and given the permutations afforded by the format she did not have to swim and in consultation with Coach chose to start the bike leg fresh and well rested.

The 5k swim splits for the SEC relay teams were very competitive against the opponents in their various categories SEC Blue 1:24:51 SEC Green 1:32:23 SEC Yellow 1:53:05

Marginal gains are important and one small but significant factor for the speedy transitions of the SEC teams from swim to bike was exiting the water and putting on running shoes to run the not insignificant distance from the lake to T1 whilst many other athletes picked their way hesitantly barefooted. Richard running at full pelt from the lake handed over the timing to chip to Danny who was standing besides the bike, then helmet secured ran out of transition to the mount line and expertly dodging the speed bump headed off the 1.5k to the Goodwood Motor Circuit and and 52 3.8k laps that would be split into 4 turns with Richard. In short order Mark followed into T1 for a rapid handover to Louise. A strong performance by Helen and Lindsay in the swim meant that all SEC teams were already well placed in the hunt for podium places.

Goodwood has long been a Mecca for petrol heads and speed demons, a fast flowing 3.8k circuit of pothole free pristine road surface and a unique and enticing venue to stage a long distance triathlon. 52 laps 200k and the opportunity to lay down consistent power and impressive kph. The track encloses an airfield and there is the added thrill of seeing WW2 airplanes such as Spitfires coming in to land and taking off as athletes fly round the circuit. The open aspect of the Goodwood circuit means that the track characteristics are affected by the prevailing winds on any given day and fortunately although cornering around the Woodcote corner before the chicane was initially tricky with buffeting crosswinds, once lines were learnt it was possible to hit the apex of the corner sitting on the tri bars carrying speed from the strong tail wind down the back straight. Bike changeovers would be effected at the end of the pit lane, the dismount line coned off from the main track was relatively short and easy to misjudge, but all SEC handovers were to be slick, polished and uneventful, unlike some of their competitors efforts!

Third out of the water of all the 255 Relays and second in the Male Pairs competition, SEC Blue filtered into the race traffic on the circuit comprising the half distance athletes. Danny and Richard would each ride two stints of approximately 50k. Having done specific interval training to replicate the efforts required Danny was holding an average 260W and 44+kph around the circuit and Richard averaging 37.5kph. Such phenomenal consistency equated to a 5:02:12 bike split but the leaders in the Male Pair category had gone sub 5 hours and a comfortable 12 minute lead at the start of the run leg. Danny and Richard would have to get a wiggle on in order to claw back the deficit.

Team SEC Green as a three would be doing shorter rides and more frequent handovers. A bike split of 5:38:54 characterised by consistent power and fast average pacing with Louise averaging over 33kph, Mark over 36kph and Coach Paul metronomic power and pace for over 37kph.

Team SEC Yellow equally strong on the bike leg, Helen and Lindsay divided the ride into six efforts for a 5:59:59 bike split. Their relentless pacing placing them ahead of the chasing pack in the standings in the Female Pairs competition.

The state of play at the start of the 50k run was SEC was leading in the Female Pairs, second in the Male Pairs and in the mix for honours in the Threes. With laps of 3.8k to run the racing would be more frenetic as teams fought to improve their race positions but the wearing effect of the hot conditions and the stop start nature of the run meant fatigue would become a factor and race strategies would have to be reformulated as the run efforts took their toll. Although relatively flat the Goodwood circuit has biting inclines and constant wind gusting along the back straight which saps the legs and the will.

SEC Blue were going to have to force the pace from the get go in order to chase down Tri Surrey Team Alpha. Danny despite a scintillating run at Challenge Roth earlier in the month was still unsure of his running form after a period of injury. Richard an A&E Consultant in the NHS had finished a 12 hour shift on the Friday, travelled from the North the following day and was anything but rested going into the race. Electing to run two laps at a time Danny was comfortably averaging sub 4 Ks for his first three runs. Richard after an initial two lap stint, ran 2 individual laps and handed over to Danny with a deficit to the leaders just over a minute. Having been over 12 minutes down at the start of the run Team SEC Blue had turned themselves inside out chasing but in the end the final runner for the Tri Surrey team only had one lap to run as opposed to Danny’s two and the gap remained stubbornly at the minute mark to the finish. Second relay overall Team SEC Blue were awarded first place in the Male Pairs competition, a fitting reward for a brilliant effort by the lads.

Team SEC Green elected to run single laps alternating between Louise and Mark with Coach Paul running every fifth lap for the first ten laps and then rotating through the team with Coach bringing the team home. The lap splits were consistently strong with Mark averaging sub 4.15 Ks, Louise sub 4.50 and Coach Paul sub 4.35 Team SEC were aiming to go sub 11 hours and managed it by 2 seconds! The third placed mixed relay team SEC Green finished 13th relay team overall, a great result!

Team SEC Yellow leading onto the run had a target on their backs but with a healthy lead, Helen and Lindsay could execute and adapt their strategy to suit the circumstances. After Helen leading off with a two lap effort and Lindsay following up with another two laps, the hot conditions predicated a change in strategy with them alternating single laps. Helen’s run splits consistently fast averaging approximately 4.45 per k and Lindsay running strongly and continuing her impressive improvement in run speed since joining SEC around 5.50 per k. Finishing in a time of 12:17:37 SEC Yellow were over half an hour faster than the second place female pair Tri Surrey. A stunning result by Helen and Lindsay.

Home and hosed the SEC crew headed off to a local Chichester hostelry for a post race meal, all bar one, Richard Benson had to pack up and leave straight after the race to get back for his Monday morning 12 hour hospital shift.

This was a fantastic event in so many ways - aside from the flexible format, it give SEC athletes the opportunity to spend 3 days together, enhancing "on-line" relationships, and of course chatting "Tri" continuously. The race day experience was very different and there were gaps in the individual racing that allowed for discussion, support and comradary as well as rest. A great event to do as a relay, in so many ways, and another very successful weekend for SEC