Woodhorn Museum Sprint Triathlon AG Qualifiers, 8 Jul 2023

European sprint qualifiers normally attract a decent field, so I was sure that it would be stiff competition and a top 20 overall would be a good result, especially since the bike leg was long. After a long day of waiting for the late start, it was time to rack my bike in the pouring rain. Looking at the calibre of bikes in transition, it reinforced my thoughts of a strong field.

After the standard distance and sprint women's wave was off, it was our turn to brave the murky water. A fast and furious start start to the swim and I managed to get myself in a good position on some feet, but could see one swimmer (Commonwealth athlete Daniel Dixon) charging off up the lake. Eventually the pace settled and I started passing the competition. I got into a bit of a scrap at a turnaround buoy and after several attempts to distance the guy, decided it was best to let him go and overtake on the other side, which I managed during the last 50. I came out of the swim in 10th position, but knew I had work to do to hold this.

I knew it would be a busy bike course with the previous waves setting off first, and my fears were quickly realised. I spent a lot of the bike course either passing slower riders in a continuous line or stuck behind cars who couldn't get past slower riders. This was highly frustrating and worsened by the number of right turns, roundabouts and the wet conditions. Surprisingly enough, I don't think I lost any places during the bike leg, so I was pleasantly surprised.

A small group arrived back into transition together, so knew who my immediate competition were. Knowing the run course was 6.4km instead of 5, I tried to be a bit more measured than normal, but still take places as I went. At one point, a regional junior came flying past and I tried to sit in. I quickly realised I was going to burn all my matches, so I had to reign it back in. Halfway through the 2nd lap, I could see the junior was starting to tire, so that spurred me on and I finished just 13 seconds behind him. Annoyingly, it turned out that this 13 seconds was the difference between 3rd and 4th overall, but far higher than I thought I'd place. I still got 3rd place senior though and shared a podium with a Commonwealth medalist, which was pretty cool! I also got 1st in my age group, so an easy qualification for the Europeans.

David Shepherd