Nottingham WTS Triathlon 2019
As torrential rain hammered a significant chunk of the country it wasn’t a massive surprise to receive the email telling me that due to water flow and quality concerns the Nottingham WTS Triathlon was being converted to Duathlon. This has happened to me before and is a double blow – taking away my strongest discipline and replacing it with a second dose of my worst. With a bit more experience under my belt this was hopefully going to be less of an issue this time. As I gazed at the water racing down the Trent, I couldn’t argue with their decision – I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to swim fast enough to get back upstream.
We’d arrived at Victoria Embankment and parked up at the official car park for an all day charge of £8 – but we noticed there seemed to be a lot of parking in local streets nearby if funds are tight. There was a 500m walk from the car park to the sizeable event village, then another 700m+ walk to transition so leave plenty of time to get in and get set up.
Registration was painless, and the first time Id seen the event staff using iPhones to check entries and IDs. There was a small element of adding insult to injury when we were handed our swim caps, but you had to laugh at the absurdity of it all. Someone who was struggling even more with the Duathlon aspect was Rebecca Adlington, who was leading a Wave of her own in her very first Triathlon in her home town. Her wave now had no swimming component. We watched her interviewed in the race village where she was maintaining good humour but made it very clear as neither a cyclist or a runner she was at least as gutted as I was. There was a number of interesting stands in the village, with Volvo offering a transition competition and a secure bike park among them.
Transition was well laid out, with all the various entry points down one end, and the bike and run exits down the other meant all the race traffic flowed one way and made it easier to find your space in the race. Although the numbered racking was well spaced there was a ‘no bag’ policy, and more unusually a ‘no mat’ policy enforced. One of the benefits of the WTS status of the event was the large grandstand, ticketed for the pro races, but freely available for the other waves earlier in the day. This meant spectators had somewhere comfortable to sit with a great view of bike and run course and the finishing straights. Their experience was also improved by the massive screen and cameras also in place for the pro event later.
Soon enough the first wave was dispatched with the fifty or so athletes broken down into groups of ten and released at ten second intervals to make sure there was plenty of room down the towpath. The 1.5k run lap was relatively flat, good tarmac with small climbs to get over the bridges that crossed the trent at either end, although one of the climbs was quite sharp. Then as you ran down in front of the grandstand there was one fork for the finish and one off to the left to carry on with the race.
The bike ride was five laps of the embankment, up and down on either side of the road with two sharp dead turns at either end of the course. With the course being along the river this was totally flat and although there was some interesting wind swirling about it was still very fast. The safety briefing had focused on the mix of abilities found out on the course and most of my fellow competitors were riding safely and sensibly with plenty of room for two, three or even four riders abreast along most of the track.
I wish I could say the same about the spectators as I had two very near misses that were closer than I’ve ever had in forty years of riding a bike. Two separate groups of people walked directly out in front of me when I was in excess of 35km/h and stretched out on my aerobars, nowhere near my brakes.
Our friend Chris was tackling his first major event, and the huge grin he was wearing everywhere suggests he enjoyed the spectacle as the adrenalin flew freely. This may have contributed to him failing to deliver the most important part of a flying dismount, when he didn’t actually dismount. No real damage was done, and he picked himself up and ran on, fortunately just out of view of the grandstand.
Although listed as 18.2km, I think the ride was even shorter than that. Becky Adlington looked like she was out for a Sunday ride, although this may have been driven by the fact she rode on two different bikes after her pedals fell off (how does that even happen, don’t they self tighten?).
Having stormed throughT2, we soon found ourselves back out for three laps of the run course. A healthy sized water station offering both ‘product’ and water was well placed for just after the sprint down the finishing straight each lap to impress the spectators.
At the finish there was bananas and a preloaded bike bottle on offer, and plenty of refreshment stands for anyone who fancied a cheeky celebratory burger, beer or expresso. The marshals were all lovely. We managed to make it back to our cars just as the rain hit, and watching the pros racing later we were very glad it was relatively dry for us as the track had turned into an ice rink.
I’m still trying to work this one out – it would seem ideal as an introductory event with the flat (if repetitive) course and the great spectator facilities, but there were a lot of very, VERY fast athletes on what I can only describe as rubbish bikes (I’m talking steel frames with non indexed shifters on the down tube sort of hardware). I’m assuming that the short run and ride, combined with the possibility of making the river current work for you means it’s ideal PB hunting territory and the shift to Duathlon meant a less focused approach for some.
There are a lot of distances on offer so it’s well worth considering if you are looking for a first event, especially if it’s local for you.