BUCS Sprint Triathlon & Team Relay, 5 May 2023

I was in great fitness leading up to BUCS and was hopeful for some PBs. The swim got off to a hectic start - 400m in a hot pool where my lack of pre-planned strategy showed. I was a bit panicked and had lots of adrenaline which meant I didn’t swim with as good a technique as I’d hoped. T1 was fairly smooth and I picked off a few other athletes on the 500m run there. Onto the bike, and the rain started pelting down hard, limiting visibility. Luckily athletes were quite spread out so there wasn’t much danger. I was going at a similar speed to another athlete, and we overtook each other multiple times on the course whilst trying to avoid drafting. This was useful as it kept me pushing hard to keep up in front. Coming into T1 my legs felt pretty spent, but I got out onto the run and after about 1.5km my legs felt okay. I didn’t run at the pace I’d hoped, hitting 4:00/km rather than 3:45-50/km, but the course had a few sharp turns and the fields had turned into soft mud which slowed things. I still managed to chase down quite a few athletes and didn’t let any others overtake me, so it was relatively a strong part of the race. I finished in the 17th percentile of females, which is an improvement on the 24th of last year and cut 5:21 off my finish time.

Then it was onto the Mixed Team Relay, where I was leg 3 for Durham. I set off into the pool and did a decent but not amazing 150m. Then onto the bike, which initially went well, until I hit a pothole-y corner in the rain and crashed. I managed to fix my bike within about 80 seconds to get back on the road for the last 1km, which was at a slow but manageable pace. As I dismounted my bike, I swung my right leg over the saddle and felt something go in my hip, it was quickly apparent I wouldn’t be able to run. With a mission to get the chip for the final athlete to complete the relay, I shuffle-walked the mile to the pool. Despite this, our team still came 12/15. Not great to end the day in the paramedics’ care and it will be a long road to recovery, but a good solo race performance at least.

Ophelia Vesely