Long Eaton Triathlon Club

Medal Monday! LETCers Stu and Deb (and one-time LETCer Nic 😍) took part in the Thames Half Marathon Swim yesterday! Oddly named as the distance swam/swum (??) was 5.5 km (quite long enough 😅). Debbie had this to say about the experience:

“If you’re looking for a standalone swim event, I would thoroughly recommend the Thames Marathon Swim.

There are three distances to choose from: 13 km, 9.5 km and 5.5 km, along a beautiful stretch of the River Thames from Marlow to Henley.

It was really well organised, with a bus to the start and plenty of kayak support along the route. Exits at the locks were via ladders which was a novelty , but the feed stations there were very well stocked.

We got a nice medal, and there was great support among the swimmers and a lovely atmosphere throughout.

We were blessed with perfect conditions too, although there was no current to help us on our way this year!

I honestly have no negatives about the event. It was a little pricey, but I’d definitely do it again. ☺️”

Massive well done, team! That’s a long swim even if you are (and y’all are) gifted little fishies 😁 🐟 🐠

LETC rockstar Claire tackled the South Downs Trail 50K on Sunday 🫡😮‍💨 - here’s her race report!

“This was the first time Run Through have done this South Downs route I think. It was well organised with ample parking and no queues for portaloos.

The route started with a sharp climb which almost everyone walked up. Then the run consisted mostly of rolling hills so some downhills were runnable. It was mostly undulating so not many flat sections.

Mixture of grassy hills, forest paths and farm tracks with only a few short road sections. 5 aid stations on way around well stocked with water, electrolytes, fruit, sweets and some with coke and brownies.

Weather was quite kind - overcast with a rain shower early on, hotter in the afternoon. Cut off for 50k was 11 hrs but there were cut offs at each aid station also.

Overall it was an enjoyable route and I enjoyed chatting to a few people on way round - some raising money for charity.

I managed quite well till around 38k then started to struggle probably because that's the further I've done in a year. At around 41k I succumbed to a massive painful blister on the side of my heel and had no choice but to get out the first aid kit and apply blister plasters which lost me some time. A lovely fellow runner stopped to assist me. I waited for her at the end to thank her!

I was amongst the final runners to come in but the run through crew and a few fellow runners cheered me in. There was power aid and biscuits at the finish and a big slate medal which can double as a coaster! All in all a well organised, well marked route which though slightly painful was scenic and enjoyable. 😁”

Amazing effort Claire! The area is renowned for being beautiful but tough - you smashed it 🙌🏻🙌🏻

Race report for the Outlaw Half! Here’s Simon’s feedback from his first middle distance tri 💪🏻

“I thought, after 4 sprints & 1 Olympic distance Tri, it was time to do a half, and I picked the Outlaw 70.3.

After the initial disappointment of the swim being cancelled & this not being a proper tri, I sorted my head out & thought, this is still going to be the biggest event I’ve done, so just get on with it.

While Sunday was a bit cooler than Saturday, it felt a lot windier as well, which took its toll. The initial run was a nice warm up & I was pretty happy to take it easy rather than get carried away. The initial 4.2k took me 22:22.

The bike route was pretty flat but the wind was awful in places. I averaged just over 28 km/h in that wind which I was happy with, but my legs were aching & I knew this would affect the run. The bike took me 2:51:32.

On the first lap of the run I was really struggling with cramp in my quads. My legs were so tired so this was going to be a case of getting my head down & getting through it. I was hoping to do the run a bit quicker but noting this was my first half marathon & I’d done an additional 4.2k a time of 2:29:04 gives me room for improvement.

My overall time was 6:02:55. It did occur to me on my 3rd lap that if I pulled my finger out I could break 6 hours, but my legs were gone.

I highly recommend this event if you’re looking to do one. The support crew & volunteers were amazing & very supportive through the event.”

Amazing effort Simon! Love the attitude too - always a takeaway to help with the next one 🤩. And as the organisers say - you are an outlaw! 🙌🏻

Medal Monday (with race reports to follow)! Huge congrats to Simon and Claudia for completing the Middle Distance triathlon at Outlaw this weekend! Sadly the swim leg was cancelled due to unsafe levels of blue-green algae, so they enjoyed a little warm-up jog instead before taking on the bike 😄.

On a blustery day, everyone taking part had to battle the wind, and our LETCers did so brilliantly 🤩.

Not to be outdone, Claire tackled the Run Through South Downs 50K, using it as a training event for The [infamous!] Lap in September. She smashed it and can take that confidence into her "alpha" race 💪.

Deb and Liz marshalled at Outlaw, and can honestly say that it's one of the best organised and supported events they've ever seen. Such a shame that the venue keeps suffering from these algae blooms; hopefully they can find a solution for it next year.

Well done everyone! 🥳

Some great racing this weekend at the Belvoir Castle Triathlon from Liz (middle / half), Drew and Leah (standard / olympic) and Anitra (aquabike)! On a warm but mercifully not hot day, the team tackled a challenging but very pretty course. Here’s Leah’s race report!

“Race report Olympic Triathlon Belvoir castle

Starting at the Belvoir castle lake mass swim start: I was near the middle and the front and instantly regretted it, as the start was frenetic with lots of people swimming on top of me. The course was 3 laps of a 500m loop with several turns around the buoys which meant it didn’t thin out, and the open water carnage continued for a while, but eventually I found some clear water and could swim how I wanted.

After completing the 3 laps I started the run to transition which was over 200m away over a rough hard field. I was glad I had left a pair of spare trainers lake side to pop on and run up to transition to the bike.

The beginning of the bike was nice and flat and fast which meant I was able to use my tri bars and the first 30k flew by. I took the hill steady and enjoyed the downhill back to the castle. I was very pleased with the bike as it was much faster than when I had done it previously.

After the quick(ish) transition it was off on the run, the first bit was up a hill which was challenging on already tired legs after the bike. I was determined to run every hill (as there was 180m of climbing over 10k). This kept the run interesting; challenging but still quite hot.

I finished the triathlon in 5th place for ladies and 2nd in my age group which I was really pleased with.”

You should be pleased! That’s an epic result! Liz finished in 7th place and 3rd in AG, Anitra finished 3rd in her AG, and Drew was 9th in his (very competitive) AG so a great day had by all 🙇‍♀️

Our amazing coaches Lou and Sue took on the Outlaw Half at Holkham last weekend, and did us and themselves very proud - Lou even won her age group, which was a very competitive group 🤩🤩🤩

Here’s Lou’s race report:

“Holkham 70.3.
Lovely setting camping in the grounds of Holkham Hall!. Checking in and racking went smoothly. Tent up... air beds pumped... finding out there's a hole in my bed... but both had the best night's sleep pre race!

Up at 4:15am before alarm, blurry eyed forcing porridge or cake for others down. This is the bit that's horrible about racing ... the early start!

Swim start was stress free, allowing 2 off every 6 seconds so no bashing and bumping. It was very weedy and shallow but an enjoyable Swim had by both. Sue absolutely smashing the swim.

Onto the bike... climbing out of the ground the head wind was horrible. In the 56 miles there's was about 15 miles of tailwind the rest was a grind and glad to be off the bike. Sue enjoying it more than I did! I felt very grumpy at 50 miles! On a plus, outlaw had organised official road controllers and had stop/go signs so didn't have to stop at all.

Run was a lovely 2 miles of climb on a 3 x 4.2 mile laps. Some off road and lovely downs with a run through the crowded finish. With woodland thrown in to make it even more enjoyable.

Marshals were awesome, atmosphere amazing and spectators helped you through the run with lots of load cheers and cow bells. 9 food stations what's not to like. An amazing race had by both. Would highly recommend this.”

So proud of you both! 🙌🏻🏊‍♀️ 🚴‍♀️ 🏃‍♀️

Corrina, Molly and Liz took on the Northumbrian Triathlon last weekend - and what a grueller! The bike in particular is notoriously challenging - almost 10,000ft of ascent on the Full distance (and half that for the half, obvs!).

Liz, who tackled the full distance course, but DNFed on the run, had this to say:

“After literally zero sleep (nerves!), and being attacked by midges as we racked the bikes, I stood at the water’s edge feeling tired and hungry - not a great start 🫠.

Swim was hard (and long - 400 yards over!). Choppy, goggles leaked, had minor panic attack (that is standard for me tbf!).

When I got out it took an hour on the bike for my breathing to return to normal - a swim has never kicked my ass like this!

The bike leg - first half was wetter than an otter’s pocket and hilly AF. But I quite enjoyed it. Second lap was a different kettle of fish - ridiculously windy (40mph gusts) and seemingly always a headwind or crosswind.

Three misadventures then occurred:

1. Didn’t have enough food and the feed stations were a bit sparse. Sportives have spoiled me, I guess! I was certainly anticipating more than fruit and a bit of sad looking flapjack.

2. Left my bottle full of a nice carb supplement at a feed station so got even more hungry and dehydrated.

3. A Marshall incorrectly told me I had to be back at T2 at 4 pm to be able to start the run leg. I had an hour and 20 miles to cover- and it ain’t flat (although mercifully the last 10 miles had a tailwind!).

Did my best - turned out the cut off was 4:45 pm 🤦‍♀️. So, I started the run dehydrated, hungry, and having over-exerted myself on the bike.

This immediately manifested itself as diarrhoea (lovely!). Then nausea. Then little black spots in front of my eyes. And of course once you feel sick you can’t eat anything, so it was just getting worse.

I tried to “Jeff” it (run / walk) but was going nowhere and my knees started to go too. So I sacked it off after 2 laps but the organisers very kindly gave me the medal anyway - which will serve to remind me of three things:

1. Don’t get a hooky training plan off the internet. Get Coach Louise or someone who knows you well (strengths / weaknesses etc.) to do it. It’s not the only reason I was exhausted, but I definitely felt under-prepared.

2. Have a food plan! If you’re doing a full or half day event, fuelling will be critical to your success. Can’t bank on decent feed stations.

3. Expect the unexpected- this was billed as a “sheltered bay” but it was really quite choppy at times. And the wind and rain could be there on any race - the conditions materially impacted my fatigue and I should have been better prepared for that.

That said, it’s a beautiful event and the swag was good - nice jersey, bag and medal. Molly and Corrina were epic on the half, and on reflection, that’s more like where my fitness was. Still, I’m proud of my swim and bike which were super hard. On to the next one!”

Well done everyone - one to go into very well prepared!

Race reports are like buses: you wait ages for one, then two turn up at once 😂

Delighted to share LETC member Russell’s feedback from Dambuster - his first standard distance event 🤩

“DAMBUSTER 26.06.26
I arrived at Rutland at around 5.15 am, ready for my start at 6.45. I noticed lots of Marshalls so it was easy to find the bike park and sign in. Very well organised I thought. To say the least I was nervous, this being my first Standard distance tri, and the amount of people entered didn't help.

The lake looked huge but calm; some mist noted. Then it was my wave to go. I put myself in the front - what a mistake! As the starting gun went, everyone just went over the top off me, and my nerves shot to bits. Once I got my composure together, I did ok, until the first turn direct into the sun. I started drifting out only to be advised by the Marshall in the kayak to swim the other way. Turn 2 and 3 sections I was back on it and felt good.

Getting out of the water was ok; no hard stones and mainly running on grass back to the bike park to transition. Lots of marshals to point you in the right direction.

Out of the carpark and turned left down the empty road that appeared to be closed off for our event. The road was flat or down hill, so I was flying, however towards the end of the road it was signposted to do a U turn and ride back up the hill. My God, the hill didn't look that big, but it felt like Everest to me.

After getting up the hill, the route turned left through some trees then back to the start/finish line; we had to do two laps of the course.

After making it back to the bike park it was time for the run. At this point my legs were broken. It was good we were running past the lake with nice views to take your mind off things.

The route was the main Rutland Path: 5k up then 5 k down with some small inclines. There were 2 water stations, one at 2.5 k and one at 5k, and the people on the way were very support.

Great Race and great support - I would definitely do it again.”

Massive congrats Russell! All that experience will pay off massively on the next one!

Very proud of LETC club members this weekend! Debbie, Russell and Dave did the Olympic or Standard distance tri at Dambuster, and Steve did the Sprint distance; I _think_ it was Russell and Dave’s first open water triathlons, and they all absolutely smashed it! Meanwhile Micky was doing an epic ride up the Sa Calobra climb in Mallorca in the heat 🥵.

Here’s Debbie’s race report from Dambuster:

“Dambuster Standard Triathlon 2026

I had decided to have a year off “racing” but found I needed a focus to keep me motivated so I chose to enter Dambuster as it was fairly local and a familiar course.

Here follows a quick re-cap of my day:

Swim: Rutland water has a brutal reputation but the open water gods were definitely smiling on Sunday! No waves in sight , the water was calm and still and we were blessed with a beautiful sunrise !

The mass start was in deep water with each wave 3 minutes apart . It was very organised and being in an all female, old lady wave everyone was very respectful of one another!

The swim is one straightforward loop, huge buoys marking the course so no excuses for going in the wrong direction. It was busy at the turning points but otherwise I had an enjoyable and uneventful swim.

The swim exit was very narrow and not quite as civilised as the start, as we all scrambled , pushed , pulled and fought to get out !

A short carpeted run to T1 followed where I spent too much time faffing!

Finally got out on my bike. The Bike course is 2 x laps, relatively flat with one lovely long downhill stretch but an equally long drag back up! The course has 3 switchbacks where I lost momentum as did everyone else!

Lap 1 was very busy but by my second lap it had thinned out a bit! I really enjoyed the bike leg- I knew the course which helped and the conditions were good-very little wind and not too hot at that point!

Back to T2 and off on the run which is a beautiful out and back around the edge of the reservoir. The only downside on Sunday was that there was no shade and it was very warm and humid! There were 2 well stocked water stations which helped. I have to say I did question my life choices on the run and was very pleased to get it done and finish with an overall time of 3 hours and 10 seconds ( annoying !!).

I have done many Pacesetter events and thoroughly recommend them- they are often local, very well organised, many varied distances and disciplines on offer, very reasonably priced, not to mention very nice bling and decent T shirts.

Thoroughly enjoyed my morning out and would give an overall event rating of 9/10 !”

Well done everyone! 🫡