Dartford Bridge Tri
4:30am, and we’re awake trying to eat muesli and banana ready for The Bridge Triathlon, an ITU Worlds Qualifier for Beijing. Sandra has a 7:15 start; I’m lucky with 8:15!
We are registered, collect our chips, and then hear the bad news. The Traffic Management Company hasn’t arrived. Their lorry has broken down. No-one can start!
Over 300 anxious athletes burn adrenalin at an alarming rate, and wait…and wait. Ninety minutes pass, and then Wave 1 is called! We’re off!
The swim was two laps of the lake, with clean, refreshing water. The bike was seven laps on closed roads, with a head wind that seemed to blow for most of the course. The run was flat, on track and pavement.
My bike suffered a knock in transition (…serves me right for being at the end of the swim pack!) and I had to complete the bike leg in the small ring. The fork mounted sensor was also gone, so I had to be careful in counting the laps! Needless to say, I didn’t have a good bike leg!
And then there were problems with the timing chips – so no results, and no prize giving. We were so glad not to have been the organisers – they seem to have been badly let down.
Still, on a positive note, Sandra and I were the only competitors in the 65-69 age group, so were simultaneously first and last! That also means we might have qualified for Beijing! We await the call. David Abrams