Going into the race, with the help of Tim and his training plan I was feeling confident with where my fitness levels were and felt ready to race. I had done a fair bit of training over summer as well as more recently getting back to routinely training at University.

The day started off with a short drive to Mallory park in Leicester. I was in wave 1 so was first to go which I didn’t mind as this meant I could get my race out of the way and support the others. Pre-race the nerves hit hard. I hadn’t raced at Mallory before so I warmed up on the run course and sussed out the few technical corners on the bike course, as well as picking up some arm warmers and HR monitor battery from Tim!

Before I knew it, it was 10:30 and I was off to the start line. It was a fast course and I went out hard on the first run which was 4 laps and just short of 5km. I managed to keep a sustained pace and felt good getting onto the bike. The bike was 7 laps with a mix of technical corners and fast straights. Up to 4 laps in was feeling really good and had clear runs on the corners. The last 3 laps got a bit busy and there were a few corners where I was stuck behind people which slowed the pace. There were some other Loughborough athletes in my wave and it was motivating racing with them. In addition, with the race being so close to Uni, there was a lot of support out there on the course which kept my motivation levels high and made for a great race.

Transition 2 went smoothly before heading back out onto the race course one final time for 2 laps of the run. I ran well off the bike and finished strong and was happy with my performance, coming 1st Loughborough out of my wave. Overall it was a good race and has provided me with motivation and a benchmark for fitness going into winter training and the 2024 season. After my race there were two more waves to watch where I supported fellow Loughborough triathletes. There were some amazing performances from all and very inspirational. After an action-packed day it was time to head home before going off out for a wild pub golf social.

Ceri Davies

BUCS Duathlon, 18 Nov 2023

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