Blenheim Palace Triathlon

 On the 9^th of June I was competing in the Blenheim Palace Triathlon. This is a two day event over a weekend, which has a range of different competitors from Age Group to Elite.  I was racing on the Sunday at 8.30am in the Youth Elite Super Sprint. This is the second triathlon race of the Super Series and I was hoping for a good result. The distance was 400m straight swim, 12km hilly bike and a 3k run.

After a good warm up I was ready to go. The water was 15 degrees so it wasn’t as cold as previous weeks. I got quite a quick start but soon found myself boxed in by two other contestants who I couldn’t get passed, the pace felt slow because of all the argy bargy  but with 100m to go I found my way through to get clear water. I was out of the swim in 4^th place but with a below average transition found myself 20 seconds off the lead group of two.  

The bike course was a bit more technical than any of the others in the super series containing 3 gradients which felt would be to my advantage. I worked hard on my own and after half the bike I was back with the leading two and still pushing on. I attacked every hill on the bike to try and get away from the other two athletes and on the final hill I had a small advantage. Going in to transition I had a gap of about 7 seconds but another below standard transition wasted this advantage.

Onto the run I felt strong and knew I had to keep up the pace as there were fast runners behind.  I was over taken buy two runners half way round the 1500m loop. Bronwen Owen broke clear, but i managed to hold a 50m gap behind Eizabeth Hood which on the last uphill section of the run i managed to close and overtake. However this effort was without reward as Elizabeth passed me once again in the finishing straight with a very strong finish.  After being out sprinted I finished in a close 3^rd place to Elizabeth Hood in 2^nd and Bronwen Owen in 1st.

Overall I had a positive race but there are lots of improvements to make and take away from the race. Like my swim positioning and faster transitions. These lessons will be taken on board and hopefully will improve by my next race.

Megan McDonald