Wargrave Sprint Triathlon

Just over a week ago my club received a politely worded invitation for us to consider joining the Wargrave Sprint Triathlon. I was surprised to realise this has to be, based on distance, my ‘local’ triathlon. With nothing else in the diary I decided to give it a go. I remember thinking at sign up that it was relatively expensive, but I’d missed a couple of key points. The first of which sank home when the organiser quickly emailed me asking for my size for the finishers t-shirt. The second penny wouldn’t drop until after the race, when I realised what they meant by ‘champagne finish line’.

It was a real effort to drag myself out of bed at 5:15 in the morning after a long swim and plenty of sun the day before, and I found myself asking what I was doing with my life as I parked up in the car park a minute or so’s walk from the start. I grumpily dragged my gear from the car and followed the steady stream of cyclists to registration.

Wargrave is a beautiful and affluent Berkshire town perched on the banks of the Thames. I’ve done plenty of Thames swims and assumed I’d know most of the ride as well. I still turned up on Sunday not entirely sure what to expect; by the time I’d racked in transition I still wasn’t sure what was coming.

My early morning surliness had already been worn away by the cheerful registration team. Everyone had a cheerful word for each athlete and huge smiles all round. I’ve also never been at a triathlon where so many people obviously knew each other well. There were delighted greetings ringing out and cheeky race related challenges being issued absolutely everywhere.

I’d found a free spot in the racks, but been really confused by what I was looking at. There were a lot of really nice bikes, but athletes who’d racked facing the wrong way round. This is easily done, but it’s a lot harder to put your shoes on one side then stand on the other. I assumed he was a novice, but he had the cycling shoes clipped in and rubber banded on the bike. There were lots of things which suggested confusion and variable ability. Looking around, there were a lot of people in cycling gear and I quickly realised there was a heavy relay element taking part. I think this also contributed a lot to the positive buzz and atmosphere.

I was pleased to spot I wasn’t the only club athlete taking part. I was able to have a good chat with Adam (very fast) and Sue (more my pace) as we set up and climbed into our suits. Transition was laid out well, with a left to right flow for every entry/exit. Security was always in place, but fitting the theme of the day was very relaxed and friendly.

The safety briefing delivered another couple of surprises. It was announced that the triathlon was raising money for the Wargrave Lido. I hadn’t realised there was one. It turns out that was the point! I love the idea of the proceeds from a sporting event being used to provide local sporting facilities. The excited buzz when the organiser shared that this was their first year with chip timing also helped me realise just how new and fresh the whole event was.

Before too long we made our way down to the river. A few of the athletes were carrying shoes for the three hundred meter run (which had been swept) back to transition, but I knew with adrenaline flowing I wouldn’t feel the gravel and small stones. Walking down the jetty into the river, my first though was that there was hardly any current flowing, but I think this was misleadingly caused by the big wide basin we were entering through. As soon as the race started it turned into bloody hard work to haul ourselves up stream. As usual, I dove for the shore on the way up and stuck myself in the middle on the way back to try to optimise the current for me.

Quickly back and having grabbed the bike, I’d been worried that the mount line was literally 1m out of the transition area and on a narrow tarmac path. The carnage I’d mentally predicted just didn’t materialise due to the small scale of the race, and we were able to mount and race off without issue. Before long we were grinding up a long slow climb on the A4. If I’d done my homework and realised 6k was on this major road I would have been dreading it, but it was early enough on a Sunday morning that I was only passed by a handful of cars. So far it was race organisers judgement 2, Stu 0.

Soon enough, we were on more scenic and challenging roads, including a long drag up Remenham Hill by a quiet route I wasn’t familiar with, turning off just before Henley and plunging back into Wargrave.

There were a number of riders I found myself battling with the whole ride, with lots of passing in closely fought battles. One appeared to be using a whole badger as a saddle, and another ground past me going up, with me retaking the lead on the downs. As we ran into transition side by side I thanked him for pulling me round; he returned the compliment. It’s that sort of race.

The run was two laps with an interesting and eventful mix of tarmac and woody trail. Although no steep climbs were included, each lap involved a run over a railway bridge before the turnaround point on the far side – necessitating four significant efforts in total. Just before the start of this climb, there was a crossover point with what I think must have been the three most encouraging and enthusiastic marshals I’ve ever experienced. All of the marshalling on the entire event was a level above (driven, I suspect by the close community bonds). Even though it wasn’t too hot, I was very grateful for the very young team offering water and water pistol squirts at the station at the end of each lap while furiously shouting encouragement.

Eventually I crossed the line, and still gasping and dripping was handed a proper glass of decent champagne, and my finishers t-shirt. It never tastes better than when you’ve worked hard for it.

I REALLY enjoyed this Triathlon – a very different, very friendly feel (but still professional where it counted) and a decent and interesting course means I’m 100% coming back. I don’t think Adam (who’d finished long before me after passing me six k into the bike) will mind me saying he’d had a shocking swim but still was wondering if this was his favourite triathlon.