BUCS Sprint Triathlon, 6 May 2025

Going into sprint I wasn’t feeling super fresh, whether it was nerves or lack of sleep leading to the race.

I visualised the race, as the swim being my warm up then race the rest! The swim was tough as I’ve always struggled with swimming, but I kept a steady pace and tried to keep my breathing regular.

7 minutes and 30 seconds later out of the pool to T1.

On the bike I felt strong but the hills on a very tough bike course dragged and made the ride feel slow. This wasn’t helped by being stuck in the large front ring for most of it. I passed a few people on the flat which helped to keep me motivated though.

I came into T2 having completed the 18km course in 38 minutes.

The run was straight into an aggressive uphill with many people around me walking up. I did a few strides of walking until I realised I only had 5km of pain till it was done. More of a shuffle than a run round the course, a with limited flat sections it made it hard to hit my goal race pace.

I finished the run in 24 minutes, definitely not a course for a PB!

My chip time was 1:12:31 putting me in the top 24% for the woman’s. I was also very pleased to see my bike time was 24th!

Into the summer season I know I need to work on my run off the bike and possibly some more hills on the bike. I’m also very motivated to keep working my swim, so let’s see where it takes me.

A BIG thank you to Tim for all the help and coaching leading up to BUCS, I’ve definitely seen an improvement in my bike strength in the last few months and it’s so exciting to show it.

Zoe Palmer