This race was the last in the British super series of this season and also doubled as the British champs. An extra 25% were added to the points gained in this race, making it one of the most important ones. I went into the race in 2nd overall, but 1st taking into account my top three races (which the final points were based off).
I travelled down with the Scottish team going down, which included the IRCs for the 11-14 year old. For many of them it was their first time representing Scotland, so us older ones had to try to make it as fun as possible for them. Their races were in the morning so they left the hotel very early and the older ones left at about midday.
Learning from last malory, I started out wide to get away from the physicality of the swim. It worked pretty well and I came out of the swim in 4th position. There were 3 laps of a technical bike, and again learning from last time I had practiced cornering. I worked with another guy on the first lap to catch the two boys in front, but it didn’t pay off as we were then caught by a big pack. Going into the last km the boy who was leading the overall standings dropped off the pack, so I went to the front to push on so he couldn’t stay on. He ended up dropping back quite a bit in the end.
Coming off the bike there was a group of about 7 or 8 of us. I lost a bit of time in transition so I had to chase for the first little bit. When u caught back up to the front there were 5 of us, but quite quickly it became 3 and I was feeling quite comfortable. In the second and final lap I dropped off of the other two boys after I got a stitch, which I think was from eating too close to the event. I held that position to the line so I was 3rd at the British champs which was good enough for me to win the overall rankings as a first year youth! I was so happy to come away with a pdium despite things not going my way on the run. It was great to get such a great result when my brother and the younger ones were there too(he was 2nd in the b final in 13-14), as I hope I inspired them to keep going in triathlon for at least a few years.
Alex Robin Triathlon blog 