Ironman UK 2007 Race Report

The swim was delayed by 20 minutes, due to the main competitor car park (field) being too muddy to use due to the recent rain this was causing competitors having problems getting to the start, however I was there by 4:15am.
From the transition area they had a precession of the competitors to the lake entry point. This was good as you got encouragement from the spectators.

From the swim I had two swimming caps on and a swimming mask. I positioned myself for the start in the middle of the lake which was next to the lap divider buoys but behind the pack. I thought I would not get involved with the tussle of a mass swim start with 1,600 people. During the swim I got hit in the back of my head, in my swimming mask and my body this was while swimming the just the first lap of two. During the last lap of the swim my forehead was starting to get quite cold despite having two swimming caps on and being told before the race the lake temperature being 17C (62F). As I was only a few hundred meters from completing the swim I decided to continue on see how I felt when out of the water. Then about half way down the last leg I got cramp in my right calf, which I stopped briefly before continuing on with the swim which did go a few minutes later.
Based on my longest swim of only 2000m I estimated a fast time of 1:45 for the 3800m (2.4 miles), so when I did it in 1:29 I was well pleased with that.


T1 took 13 minutes but this includes time from leaving the lake and the run to transition and out on the bike. During transition I also put on a few pieces of cold weather cycling gear including my additional layer on my head which had already warmed up from the swim. As at the race brief the day before they warned about hypothermia.


The Cycle was 3 laps for 112 miles (180km), which on the way out section had 1 hill and the rest was undulating. They way back was hilly, there was 3 long hills plus a long 14% descent with the rest being undulating. The only flat bit was the 1 mile at the start/finish of the cycle section. A number people including the professional triathletes dropped out due to the conditions. On the cycle route you could still see the Homer Simpson which was next to the Cerne Giant on the hill side, it had faded turned brown as it was a biodegradable paint.

There was a cold north westerly wind which made it more difficult. My cycle computer had the temperature (excluding windchill) between 15-18c on the route. There was some light rain for about an hour on the start of the last lap of the cycle. My longest cycle ride before this was 76 miles about a month ago, although I had done a few triathlons including Half Ironman Distance. I did stop a few times to stretch my legs so they were not too sore after over 7 hours of cycling. I also stopped at most aid stations to get the required nutrition and fluids, as I decided to only take sodium replacement tablets with me on the cycle as there was plenty of aid stations on the route. My GPS watch just had enough power for the cycle lap which was setting to get a low battery warning in the last few miles. This was good for pacing myself over the long distance as used the pedal cadence and my heart rate functionality on it.

My cycle time was 7:44 which was an average of over 14mph (23 kmph) which I was pleased with considering the course and weather conditions. So I had done my two difficult parts of the triathlon and just had to run a marathon, the easy part so I thought as I have already run 6 marathons.


My T2 time was about 8 minutes, this including the time to run to the transition area after the cycle still wearing cycling shoes and after 112 miles of cycling. Here I put on two other short sleeve running tops, as the weather was still cloudy but at the end of the cycling it looked like it would improve. The buff scarf (cycling scarf) that I had underneath my helmet I decided to keep round my neck for the run in case it got chilly.

On the run for the two laps around the castle (9 miles/14km) I think I was doing just over 9mm pace and I was overtaking lots of people. I got warm during this section and out the buff scarf in my tri suit pocket and not to family members. After running through the town where there was a lot of support in the high street, you do two laps of a 3 mile section of a HILLY dual carriageway (the A30 to Yeovil, also known as babylon hill). This was into a cool headwind. By time I was half way done the first leg of first lap my leg muscles had gone and I was only running down the hills and walking up the hills. At this point virtually everybody was walking, I decided to stop recording my mile split times on my stopwatch.

By the time I completed the first lap of this section my arms where cold, luckily I packed a bag for the run special needs area which was at the end of the lap. However I packed a pair of running gloves and a running waist jacket, nothing with long sleeves. By the time I was getting near the end of the last lap of this section my arms where really cold it was getting dark and they had ran out of the foil space blankets. There was only a bin liner which would have kept by body warm which was warm and not my arms. I was very seriously considering stopping at this point to do to fatigue and my arms feeling cold but then I remembered the pirates motto “it’s not a knitting club” and a song from the last week that was on my Ironman playlist, “You’ll Never Walk Alone”. I looked at my watch I had built up enough time earlier on the run to be able to walk complete all the way back. So as long as I could stay warm and my muscles not complete give out I will make.

Using what I had available I decided to put my arms inside the sleeveless jacket and hold it closed with my gloved hands. This made my arms warm again. As my core body was warm, they were out of the wind and the jacket was against my body so there was not much heat loss compared to a space blanket would have been in the wind. I was still able to run down the hills like this with my buff scarf around my face. This must have looked stange to people going the other way but I did not care as I was warm and I was back on the way to the finish. Going up and down a footbridge was a bit interesting due to my leg muscles fatigued at this point. I walked through the park and the town centre getting encouragement all the way.

When I got to the last few hundred metres I took off the jacket, this was to look better for the photographs at the end and cross as the finish as a pirate. The atmosphere at the end was great despite it being late, dark and chilly. With that last step I became an Ironman, the next fews steps was to get my medal.

I completed the marathon run in 5:43, which is nearly 2 hours away from my marathon pb that is how bad the run affected me.

My overall time was 15:19:36.

I really enjoyed the day there was plenty of support around the course. The weather conditions and hills were not that ideal but it was the same for everybody so you all had to deal with it whatever way you had to make it to the finish.