Swim
Comments: The water never cleared for me. There were redcoats everywhere. I managed to look up at the clocktower as we approached the harbor and saw two lamps, knowing that meant they were coming by sea. Transition 1
Comments: Longest, limeyest transition ever. Seriuosly had to run out of the water, take off the wetsuit and bag it, run up a ramp, up a flight of limey stairs, down an aisle, about six blocks through the Limey ExCel Center, to my row, down that row and then I was able to finally put on my shoes and helmet and glasses and was off. Bike
Comments: Well that went well. Way better than I expected. For some reason the limeys don't like to ride their bikes fast down a hill. So I managed to pass about half of the pack when going through the Limehouse Tunnel (I think that's which tunnel it was) topping out at about 55KPH (35mph) on barely a hill. But let's be honest here, I'm not that good a cyclist even on this side of the pond. The course was about 2K-3K short, according to my bike computer. Transition 2
Comments: Got caught by the Redcoats after unclipping my helmet before racking my bike. They held me but my guise was good enough (and my helmet clicked enough) that they let me go! I was worried I would be tortured with television shows about historical British politicians. Alas, I made my escape and was off on the run. Run
Comments: Out along the docks and back. To the left, a parking lot. To the right, beautiful City Airport! Very scenic and peaceful. Saw the infamous chicken man running, though I think he was trying to be British Big Bird. And some dude in a dog costume carrying a flag. The limeys do like their fancy dress. Pretty easy course that a few of us pegged at 10.2K ... oh noesers! Maybe that made up for the short bike course. Whatevs. Post race
Warm down: Walked around, found my friend Alan, grabbed my stuff out of tranny and rode home. Met him at the rail station by my house (he took the train) and we went and got knackered with a few pints over a nice chinwag. And such. Event comments: Fun race, good times, PERFECT weather and well-organized considering it's the biggest triathlon in the world. London doesn't do much right, but it does know how to throw a pretty darned good triathlon!!! Last updated: 2011-08-03 12:00 AM
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United Kingdom
Challenger World Events
75F / 24C
Sunny
Overall Rank = /
Age Group = 35-39
Age Group Rank = 192/432
My wave didn't start until 1455 (255pm) so I went over to see Monica finish her Olympic Plus race (Oly but with a 90K bike). We milled about for a while, met up with another friend and did some expo shopping, bike gawking and enjoyed some pace booty.
Nothing really. Drank some Red Bull and the 5-Hour Energy and was hopped up and ready to rumble.