A welcoming club on the North West of Edinburgh
“Double Standards”
By CoachKev | Published | No Comments
Knockburn and St Mary’s Loch Race Reports
Often triathlons are like buses – none for a while and then two good ones come along at once. Knockburn Standard and St Mary’s Loch Standard are two such races , this year held on consecutive Sundays. Against my better judgement, I entered both.
Knockburn Loch is in Aberdeenshire, very close to Banchory and the venue is picture postcard Royal Deeside with a small outdoor centre next to a purpose built loch, trail runs, tarmac cycle/run circuit with showers, changing rooms etc – a Tri Club’s dream training facility!
I stayed in Banchory the night before, however, with a relatively civilised start of 10.45 you could drive up early on the morning of the race.
The water was a balmy 14 degrees and with a tight startline it was quite difficult to get to my favoured edge – the loch is only 2m deep at its maximum and I reckoned swimming on the inshore edge could see me running out of water so opted for the deep side. Off we went, a fairly busy first 200m but with no one on my outside I was able to minimise contact. The swim soon settled down and I found myself drafting someone going at the perfect pace so the rest of the swim was pretty relaxed.
T1 went well – elastic band practice paying off! The bike route was a three lap circuit on quiet undulating back roads through the most stunning scenery. A regular road bike wasn’t too much of a disadvantage as there were a couple of short sharp hills and some quite tight fast turns that slowed the TT guys down. I had a good T2 although unbeknown to me one of my shoes came off the bike after I’d dismounted (more of that later).
The run route was a two lap easy trail route around the loch and up a gentle hill. The first 5k was a bit of a slog but found my legs for the second and managed to pick up a couple of places finishing in 2.25.33 , 16th overall and 2nd Vet. I was well chuffed although I was well beaten by both the first placed Vet and 1st placed SuperVet – there are some seriously fit old guys out there!
I had an interesting debate post race with a rather officious official we told me that I was lucky not to be penalised for not going back to pick up my shoe which “I must do if it happened again”. I had the opportunity to check BTF rules the following weekend and was vindicated as the rules quite clearly state that if a shoe is lost in the mount/dismount area it will be dealt with by an official as they expressly do not want athletes messing around in that area from a safety perspective – so if it happens to you , forget the shoe and keep going!
This has got to be one of the most stunning venues for a triathlon , well organised and with great facilities. It would be a great event to target for the club next year.
A week later and with my body still feeling the effects of Knockburn I found myself questioning why I had entered St Mary’s Loch Triathlon. Still, we had a decent entry from the club so should be fun. Like Knockburn this triathlon has a mid morning start so no need to have breakfast in the middle of the night!
St Mary’s Loch is in quite a remote and bleak part of the Borders and the weather was a fairly typical Scottish summer’s day – damp , muggy and midgy!
St Mary’s loch has a reputation of being cold and it didn’t disappoint – 14 degrees? Aye, right! Once you were in it was ok though – the only problem was getting in! Wading in, the rocks were super slippy and it was easier to crawl in on all fours!
The swim was in two waves and us Vets were in wave two so we were able to see the first wave complete the swim. Mark and Sally were both smiling when they came out the water – judging by the difficulty they had getting out I decided it would be best to try beach myself rather than wade out on the slippy rocks!
A deep water start ensured plenty clear water to play with and I was able to get a fast start for the first 200m (I have found that breathing every second stroke for the first 200m is a good way to start fast without blowing up). With tall thin buoys sighting wasn’t easy (maybe it’s just my eyesight!) so found myself following the crowd and at the start of the second lap felt settled enough to step up the pace. Wobbly exit but happy with swim in 22.30.
For some reason I had thought the bike route was flat – I soon found out that I was wrong. The route follows the A708 along the Yarrow Valley towards Moffat and starts with a steady climb up pass that forms the border between the Borders and Dumfries and Galloway. Just before the top I passed Dave Smith going like a train in the opposite direction. The weather started to close in now and the long fast descent towards the Grey Mares Tail was exciting with rain smeared glasses, a couple of slow going caravans and random sheep to negotiate! As the road flattened off I tried not to think of climbing back up that hill on the return leg! The route then followed the undulating valley floor up to the dead turn at the halfway mark. By this time I was on my own but soon was able to give a wave to Colin, Roy, Will and Euan going the opposite way to the turn. The cycle back was not as long as I feared it would be but nearly came a cropper twice ; first when I had my head down and looked up to see three sheep crossing the road then secondly when approaching the turn off the road a red squirrel darted across the road. I just about managed to avoid both and arrived back at T2 with a bike time of 1.13.
My legs didn’t feel too bad starting the run but I quickly realised I had made a bad shoe choice – the run route starts along a sheep track along the hillside bounding the loch and in the mud my road racing flats were sliding all over the place, Thankfully the path improved as the route joined the Southern Upland Way but you still had to pick you footing carefully – soon after meeting Sally (still smiling) on her return leg a lady passing me the opposite direction stepped to one side and disappeared into a ditch! (she was ok). Shortly afterwards I met Mark who I think was suffering as he wasn’t smiling like Sally!
Soon after the turn I passed Colin hot on my heels and definitely catching me. Knowing how quick Colin is I decided not to look over my shoulder but just dig in. My legs started to feel it on the return and I just managed it across the line before they gave up in a total time of 2.21.41 , three minutes quicker than the weekend before so very happy. Colin had done a fantastic run and was only 20 seconds behind and not long later followed by Will, Roy, Euan and Noel. Mark and Sally had already finished in the first wave. Great results by all and in particular Will and Euan who were 1st and 2nd Junior respectively. Dave unfortunately could not do the run as he has a stress fracture in his foot but he managed a blistering bike time of 1.09 which was about 5th fastest overall – what’s that bike called again Dave?!
Both Knockburn and St Mary’s Loch are great events to do, not least because of their spectacular locations. Next year, let’s hope they are not on successive weekends!
