By Connor

After an okay result at Shropshire last month, I had booked onto Warwickshire at the same time to close off my season. Stratford was my first ever tri so I wanted to race the course again to see how much I’d improved in 6 months.

After walking down to registration and bumping into Adam and Anthony applying their stickers I promptly registered myself then set up my bike next to them in the transition area. I think I’ve got the hang of setting up my transition now, though that still didn’t stop me losing sight of my bike after the swim.

My swim start time was 8:09:30, a minute after Anthony and about five before Adam. Unbeknownst to him, I managed to draft Anthony for 2 laps before he moved into the second lane. I swam well and I don’t recall anyone overtaking me which was a good confidence boost. Official sources differ, but my watch says my swim time was 07:39 which I was pleased with as I did it in 8:16 last time.

Into T1 and I couldn’t find my bike, but after some help from supporters pointing & shouting I managed to find it. Transition was quicker than last time as I opted for shoes without socks. Popped my helmet, glasses & race belt on and I was off.

Bike went just as well as the swim, overtook far more than overtook me unlike last time (I think I counted 4-6 who overtook me). My main aim was to hold off Adam catching me up which I had done so far. Around 5km left I started to get some stomach cramps which was most likely down to my nutrition plan being not quite optimised (I have no idea when to intake energy and how much). As Adam mentioned there were roadworks around 2km from the end of the course. There was no one around me so didn’t encounter any issues but I did have to slow down to use the filter lane as the lights were red.

Coming into T2 I waited till the very end to dismount, getting more confident with my ability to stop in time. Still not mastered the moving mount / dismount yet so wasn’t going to try it on race day. To my delight I had succeeded in keeping ahead of Adam as he came in just as I had put my runners on to leave transition. I knew that lead was going to close in about two and a half minutes.

Going into the run I knew it was going to be tough with the cramps but I managed to keep a 4:50 pace for the first km, dropping to around 5:20 by the last km as it became more painful. Passed El, Anthony and Adam a few times on the 2 lap course which was encouraging. Knowing I was last to finish the run I picked up the pace for the last 500m and even quicker when I saw the crew cheering me on, followed by a photo finish courtesy of El.

Total time was 1:14:09, over 4 minutes quicker than back in May with time shaved off every part. Looking forward to doing Stratford again in April!