Dorney Season Finale Review 2019

”It’s only Dorney’ I’d told myself when I let Matt badger me into an Olympic distance at the 2018 Eton Dorney Season Finale triathlon which I knew would be my last Tri of the year. ‘It’s dead flat. How hard can it be?’

Five laps into the eight lap bike I was starting to realise the sheer relentlessness of the flat out course meant I’d badly overcommitted myself and was already in trouble. I’ve never wanted to throw my kit into the car more at the end of a bike leg, and I hadn’t even started the four long straight legs of the run yet.

The only thing keeping me going at this point was that I’d seen the medal from a distance, it looked decent and I wanted it.

September 2018 Season Finale

Pain is a good teacher, and I learnt from last year. Having decided that a flat Olympic is actually tougher than a hilly one, I signed up for the Sprint distance this year. I was in the ‘Mates Wave’ with Chris, who had gradually worked his way up to this, his first full sprint distance. My younger and faster brother Matt was racing in the U40 wave thirty minutes after us and Dom, my twelve year old was racing in the kids triathlon forty five minutes after that. This was a proper full on family affair.

If you’ve not raced at Eton Dorney, the 2012 Olympic rowing venue, then you are probably missing out on something special – with clear water, closed roads and some lovely scenery, Dorney is not just a good place to race, it’s a pretty good place to spectate as well, with most friends and family placing themselves on picnic rugs on grass where they can see swim start and exit, transition, racers on all four laps of the bike and four times on both laps of the run – there’s always something going on.

I’d paid £5 extra for the mates wave – it’s a nice idea which meant I could choose to start with Chris who although the only one who thought he might not complete the race was vibrating with positive nervous energy, rather than nerves.

We arrived with plenty of time and parked up – with this being one of the bigger events of the year the cars were actually a good twenty minutes walk from the transition area, so anyone competing shoud leave plenty of time; but as we drove in admiring the spectacular views we could see bikes already circulating on the course, and a solid stream of runners going out and back along the lake towpath.

We collected race packs and stickered up the bikes, were given clear and helpful guidance to our racking position and were told which way to rack relative to the clubhouse, Its a shame some people think the rules don’t apply to them, but with the exception of the guy right next to me, every one of the hundreds of bikes I could see were immaculately racked in alternating fashion. There was enough space, but the all day nature of the event meant there were a lot of arriving triathletes not realising just how ‘live’ transition was as racers tried to get in and out around them.

It was scorching hot so as I climbed into the bottom half of my wetsuit I told Chris to leave the top half off until we had the safety briefing. Completely focused on getting ready, he ignored me and suited all the way up and then I watched amused as a couple of minutes later he climbed back out of the arms of his suit. We did a proper walk round of transition – making sure all of us knew what the path was from each of the ‘In’ entrances back to our bikes, then headed off to swim in for the safety briefing. Dom was nervous as he’d done a couple of races with me alongside him – this was the first time he was doing a grown up course on his own. He seemed quietly determined and racked his bike and laid out his gear all by himself.

I like the human race briefings – brisk, efficient, a little humour then straight into the water with plenty of time to acclimatise.

As the swimmers in the mates wave lined up in rows, I found myself in about the third rank of eight or so, off to the far left which normally works well for me here. The water temperature was a tropical 17.5 degrees, and visibility was probably close to four meters. The starting horn went and I did take a moment to watch in disbelief as two ladies in the front row launched into a leisurely breaststroke. I doubt they enjoyed what I know happened next as eight ranks of swimmers raced over them. This lack of experience showed with a number of swimmers displaying a marked inability to swim in a straight line – I had several veering off to the left in front of me, and cutting around them meant this was always going to be a disappointing swim time.

One of the things I like about swimming in Dorney lake is that on the out and back, you can align yourself with the cables used for the rowing lane floats and swim without needing to sight very often. I took full advantage of this today.

Flying back down the final stretch, sighting visibility was poor due to the low sun over the clubhouse, but you could pick out the large inflatable exit arch from quite a long way out.

Soon, I was crossing the mount line and leaping onto my bike to start the first of four laps of the full Dorney circuit to give a distance of 21.2k. As always, there was a headwind for most of the course, today pushing especially hard down the first leg of the track as you rode away from the clubhouse. It was a relief to turn left at the head of the lake and suddenly pick up a lot of additional speed as the wind dropped away. I was pleasantly surprised to see some other members of the club supporting from the grass – I got a lift at the unexpected cheer from them in addition to the roars of encouragement from our friends and family each lap.

Continuing the confusing mix of abilities, there were all sorts out on the bike – from MTBs and hybrids all the way to full carbon solid disc wheeled TT specials – this meant there was a wide range of speed and capabilities on show. I was careful to give people a wide berth when I passed them into the chicane on each lap. Again, despite us being repeatedly asked to keep left while riding, a significant minority decided this didn’t apply to them and a lot of the faster riders were forced into undertakes despite yelling ‘Coming through on your right’ from quite a way back. There were plenty of riders two abreast and chatting, which wasn’t an issue, but a few pairs were in the middle or over to the right hand side of the track which also caused a few hair raising moments.

When Human Race run the full course this way, the route is a lot easier to understand and has gentler curves than on some of the shorter options, which I think makes it all safer. Some of the sharply acute corners the slightly shorter routes have would have caused carnage with all of this going on.

On the final lap of the bike course, I knew that a combination of the heat and too much powder in my drinks bottles meant I was getting dehydrated despite drinking. I wasn’t looking forward to the run. I did manage to catch and overhaul Chris, who was making progress and tucked into a creditable aero position but really looked like he was both enjoying himself and suffering – the perfect triathlon mix. All of the marshals knew their stuff and looked like they were happy to be there which is always helpful.

Out on the run, which I’d gleefully described to Chris as ‘soul destroying’ as we arrived – with one and a quarter of a km straight out and back, it’s a hell of a long way, but you can see to the turnaround point from the start and seems like it takes forever to get there. Sore legs meant I was running slowly, but I could see Alys, the other club triathlete in front of me. Patiently working the gap, I eventually caught her and we were able to pull each other on for the second leg of my first lap. Alys peeled off for the finish, leaving me with the second lap to beat by myself.

As I ran I was constantly looking behind me – I could see the first of the cyclists from the kids triathlon and soon Dom came powering past; I was able to yell some encouragement at him and he looked both pleased and surprised as he took off for his full lap of the course.

I crossed the line hot and bothered, but was then able to cheer Matt, Chris and Dom over the line in rapid succession as the timing of all the waves worked out really well for us. Grabbing a swift Erdinger at the finish line (It’s perfectly isotonic apparently!) we regrouped and crashed for a late afternoon picnic before heading back to the cars. I was hugely proud of Dom and Chris who’d both smashed their races and were keen to do more having really enjoyed it and Matt who’d managed to come 2nd out of 226 in his age group. He’s going to be lethal when he moves up an age category next year.

Dom and Chris were able to secure commemorative clothing (the same brand as at the Thames Marathon, and equally attractive) and Chris also added a decent massage to loosen up steadily tightening calves. We did miss the race results printing station – with the availability of results online we understand why there wasn’t one there, but it’s still nice to have the splits and rankings on a piece of paper.

With a really wide range of distances and age categories, the full Dorney facilities and ever ability and experience taking part the season finale event is an ideal way to prove how much ground you’ve covered at the end of a season.

Dom and Chris both loved the drama and the experience – if you are looking for a first tri this would be ideal as well. There were plenty of first timers and relay teams out there.

I still wouldn’t recommend the Olympic though.