Blenheim Weekend Warriors 2018

Blenheim Palace – June 2017 11:13

I’d somehow dragged myself over the hump of my first few triathlons and was starting to feel like I knew what I was doing – I was still finishing towards the back, but was steadily climbing up the order. As a result I was in the starting pen for my first properly ‘iconic’ triathlon – Blenheim Palace. An incredible stately home where Winston Churchill was born, showing it’s class with a transition area decked out in glorious red carpet and completely enfolded by the wings of the palace itself.

With over 7,500 athletes competing over two days this is an event that’s epic in every way with a spectacular swim, a brutal run uphill to t1, fast rolling ride through the landscaped grounds and a run that’s just that much longer than usual to really make you feel the pain at the end.

The launch team had just started their safety briefing when the announcer stopped mid sentence. We all looked up as he shouted ‘Ok Everyone! Clear a path, Weekend Warrior coming through’ through the megaphone. A hill packed with people watched, bemused, as a late middle aged guy, small and wiry, came running down the hill putting on a swim cap, flipped the number on a scoreboard from 98 to 99, jogged down the path we’d made and along the pontoon to the swim start with three hundred of us watching him in silence before launching himself into the lake and swimming off by himself.

With no idea why this guy deserved such special treatment all I could think about at that moment was that I wanted special treatment too. I didn’t know what was going to be required to get it, but I was determined to find out.

Weekend Warriors

About nine months ago I tackled what was far and away the best and the toughest sporting challenge I’ve ever attempted… And its fast coming around again.

We were quickly able to find out what the weekend warriors challenge was. You start with the first wave of the weekend and at the end of one of the toughest sprint tri’s I’ve ever done, as you exit the finish funnel and everyone else is having medals put round necks and chips removed from ankles, the Weekend Warriors grab their medal and water, turn left through a half hidden exit, run back to the start and redon their wetsuits, throw themselves in the lake and start again… and again… and again, the idea being to do as many as you can over the course of the weekend.

It’s not unlimited racing – there are only 6 hours in which you can start further triathlons on the Saturday, and 4 on the Sunday. The record currently sits at a total of nine triathlons over the weekend. I had much more everyday targets – in 2017 one Blenheim triathlon had left me limping for three days – maybe I could do five over the two days in 2018? I’d done my homework and in 2017 a couple of athletes only managed a couple – for most I think this was due to injury, for one pair I think this was because they’d booked it thinking one on each day was what was required.

The median number of finished tris seemed to be six – being able to do six basically means you have to have finished three sprints (bearing in mind it’s a tough course – the ascent from the lake, 230m of climbing on the ride, a 5.4k run with about a full additional k run back to the lake, plus several minutes to get a wetsuit back on and take on food and drink) and started the fourth on the Saturday within the 6 hour window, and something similar is required to do three on the Sunday. I knew five was doable from a timing point of view, you just need to be able to keep going.

Stu and Barney were also lured by the idea of a special challenge. Blenheim tickets tend to go on sale around October time and the weekend warriors go fast – in 2018 there were only 113 weekend warriors out of the nearly 8000 taking part. Blenheim is one of the most expensive tris around and actually, the weekend warriors makes it remarkably cost effective, providing you manage two you are quids in. We grabbed our slots early and knew that we were going to face a challenge like no other – I was doing my first half ironman a month later, but was pretty sure that Blenheim was going to be tougher.

As the results kept coming in for other events, and my times steadily fell, I started to wonder if I could actually hit six, or even seven – I kept quiet about this as it would be a big ask but I absolutely KNEW if there was an extra fifteen minutes in the racing day, I would be in with a shot – as it was, it was probably a step too far; but the thought wouldn’t go away, it kept niggling.

Keen to maximise my chances as 2018 came in I started increasing my distances – running a few halves and 10ks and riding some 60m sportives. I also stepped my tri distances up to Olympic in order to try to start bridging the gaps. By the time the Weekend for Warrioring rolled around, we felt we were in as good a shape as we could be, barring a persistent and irritating ankle problem for Barney that he knew was going to slow him down.

12 Months later, Blenheim Palace – 2nd Jun 2018 9:13

We were certainly getting special treatment. The warriors had been collectively fundraising for the Bloodwise charity and as a result everyone had been issued with a Bloodwise branded trisuit at registration. I’d slipped into a toilet to change into it, and as all my trisuits had been rear zip couldn’t work out why it was such an odd fit until I got out and realised I had it on back to front. One superman style change later, and everything felt a lot better.

With the matching suits, stick on race numbers on our arms and the backs of our legs and a solid blue background to our numbers it was easy to spot other warriors over the course of the weekend, and every couple of minute you’d get a grunted ‘Go warrior’ from another member of the team as you passed. You’d also get asked on a fairly frequent basis ‘Are you one of those nutters going all weekend?’ from other competitors.

The Warriors had their own transition area, their own toilet cubicles, their own water in transition, and most importantly we were allowed helpers to reset the transition area for us throughout the day; this was huge as they were able to top up our food and water, and turn our wetsuits right way out before taking them down to the start lake. I’m not sure how you’d manage solo, and our support teams were immense all weekend, even if one of them managed to take the wrong wetsuit down to the lake after one of the tris – fortunately the error was spotted before it was a problem for either competitor.

As we hit 9:30 we were off; Barney and I quickly found ourselves in a rhythm – I was swimming much faster than him, so would exit the water in front; he would then steadily break down the gap on the bike with the result that we found ourselves on the run together; normally he would have been quicker than me running, but the dodgy ankle meant we were able to use each other as company, which became increasingly important as the day went on. Stu was a machine, finishing the first tri five minutes in front of us then getting faster and faster. The run was only a little longer than standard, but you really felt it and then the slog back to the lake just seemed to be enormous.

Blenheim Palace – 2nd June 2018 11:24

Having finished the first tri in a time I was very pleased with, jogged back to the start and slipped on my spare wetsuit (still dry, which helped), I had my special moment. As I ran down the hill and flipped over the number, the announcer asked everyone to make room for me and the tape securing the starting pen was drawn back by the marshal like a bouncer with the velvet rope at the VIP door of a nightclub. I trotted down the pontoon, flung myself in and swam off on my own. It was the most peaceful swim leg of a tri I’d ever had. I felt strong.

Blenheim Palace – 2nd June 2018 13:35

I’d finished the second tri only 3 1/2 minutes slower than the first. I was still on track to finish the third and start the fourth (I only had about five minutes of leeway, but once I was in the water having started the fourth I could ease up). On the swim I spotted someone panicking in the water -he’d frozen and was clearly not able to call for help while struggling to keep his head out of water) who had not been noticed by the safety team in kayaks, and lost a couple of seconds yelling for them and making sure the competitor stayed afloat until they got to him.

The hills were getting tougher, but I still felt strong. I was drinking a lot of water, but knew I probably wasn’t eating enough. It’s hard, because your body just doesn’t want food when it’s working so hard to pull in oxygen. I knew I was behind on my feeding schedule.

Blenheim Palace – 2nd June 2018 14:10

Suddenly I was in trouble. Although I felt more and more tired I thought I was still doing ok –I was on track to get back to the start and get in the water before the 14:30 cut off. Then, halfway round the second lap of the third run with about a mile left to go it all fell apart. It felt like my brain was too small for my skull and my vision started to tunnel. I knew if I didn’t ease up I wouldn’t finish the third, let alone start the fourth. By the time I was back to the start area I had missed the cut off by about five minutes.

I’ve discussed the collapse with a nutritionist friend and we think I probably was suffering from low sodium levels due to extensive sweating over time and not enough rehydration salts.

I was done, the day was done… we headed off home to rest and recuperate and stuff down as much food as possible.

The race organisers had a water and gel station around half a k into the run, and another water and energy drink station another k or so further on so you had two chances each lap, for four in total to take on water and fuel. I also had Jo prepping loads of food and water for me for the bike – any fuelling issues were definitely self inflicted, but the ride is quite lumpy and I got carried away chasing people on the flat bits which meant I definitely hadn’t made the time to eat enough. Knowing how tight the timings were meant the pressure was relentless to just push that little bit and keep it all on track.

One thing I saw loads and loads of people getting wrong (I think, and no ones told me off yet) is that the swim is a straight shot out to the furthest turn buoy, then the turn, then another straight run back to the exit; for some reason a lot of swimmers seem to think you have to come inside the turn buoy for the supersprint, then swim for the Sprint buoy turn, adding a load of distance. You don’t; although don’t get too close to the right hand bank as it does get shallow.

Everyone knows that the hill up to T1 is savage – it’s also worth knowing that there’s over 500m to cover before you hit transition so don’t expect a T1 PB.

A lot of the ups on the ride reward attacking the downhills – with enough speed descending you can neutralise a lot (and in some cases all) of the grinding that would otherwise be required to ascend. Obviously this gets a lot harder on as the day goes on.

There are a couple of tricky points on the course – the most awkward is a sharp zig zag at the bottom of two hills that also takes you across a grating and a bridge with stone walls on either side. It’s important to get this right, but (this is your decision to make) I found I could hold pretty much all my speed from the descent, make the bridge and then roll up most of the ascent. Anyone who’s ridden Blenheim will know exactly which corner I’m talking about.

The spectators are particularly brilliant on the ride course (and coming into T1, weirdly) and make a lot of noise each time you hammer down the ‘start/finish straight’ finishing off each lap.

T2 also has a long run out to join the run course proper, and it involves going up a ramp and over the bike course. Its nothing to cause a problem on the Saturday morning, by Sunday afternoon you’ll feel more of an impact.

Blenheim Palace – 3rd June 2018 10:00

The Sunday of the weekend warriors was much the same as the first – as the elite races went off first thing we were able to start later at 10:20, but were able to watch the elite athletes from our special transition area. We only had 3 hours and 55 minutes to the cut off this day so Barney and I knew even making a third tri was going to be phenomenally hard. Stu had completed four the day before and we knew he’d be able to get another three done – but we both looked at each other and agreed we’d take it easy and make sure we finished the two.

There was a glorious moment at about 10:10 when all of the 110 remaining Weekend Warriors were sat on the bank by the lake waiting for the restart. The single greatest thing about the event was that it didn’t matter how many we’d done the day before, we were all collapsed on the ground, equally broken. Every single one of us was sat there wondering how we would get up and do it all over again. 

Blenheim Palace – 3rd June 2018 13:00

I was stunned to finish the first tri with Barney alongside me only 20 seconds slower than the initial tri on the Saturday. Terribly, irresistibly, I knew the third tri was still possibly on. Once again, we started the swim and pushed hard. The bike really hurt this time and once more, the second lap of the run had us both feeling terrible. Even as we finished the second tri, mathematically, another tri was still within grasp, but there was a real risk I wasn’t going to finish it. Feeling pretty much as unwell as I had at the end of the Saturday I couldn’t muster up the reserves to run back to the start and as we trudged back to the lake we watched the final chance to go again slip away.

I felt massive shame for giving up and a equally huge bout of relief that finally it was over.

I knew I was being an arse but I proudly put on my five collected medals as we made our way back to the cars. There were a load of double takes as triathletes who like me a year earlier had just flogged themselves through a single tri did a quick count. I tried to make sure I wasn’t standing too close to Stu with his seven medals.

We all loved being Warriors. It was brilliant being some of ‘the few’. The sprint distance meant we were constantly changing disciplines which kept things fresh, and knowing which athletes were going through the same grinder made a huge difference.

We’re all going back in 2019, all trying to do that little bit better. For the last nine months my mantra every time I’ve been training has been ‘All I need, over three triathlons, is to find five minutes and I can do another’. Despite an amazing set of scheduled races this year Weekend Warriors is 100% my ‘A race’, and I’ve banged on about it so much there are going to be a lot more of my friends there this time. There’s even a couple of amazing athletes who did it last year that I didn’t know then, but will be willing on this time. If you are about to do it for the first time, I hope you love it as much as we did. If you haven’t signed up for it yet keep an eye on the Blenheim tri website around October time for the 2020 race. I don’t think you’ll regret it.