oooh I was only thinking about this one this morning! To add to fbf's question... if I was only going to do one tri, which would be better Windsor or London? and can you do Olympic distance at Windor?
Personally I thought Windsor was better than London, although it was my first ever tri so I am a bit biased.
The swim in the Thames is an acquired taste but actually quite fun once you get going. The bike course was great, one lap, rural, not any hills to speak of.
The run course through Eton high Street was three laps and included one big hill (3 times) up to the Castle.
The support is brilliant and it has a better atmosphere than London which is so big its a bit impersonal.
Oooh - I think I'd prefer Windsor to London - much easier to drive to Windsor than the centre of London for me, and don't fancy taking my bike on the tube !
Spans, I probably exaggerated it a bit, its more of a short, steep sort of hill, about 250 metres long I suppose. After Tough Guy it will seem like a little bump.
I preferred London but I did take my bike on the Light Railway. They allow it for the weekend and it is easy.
As far as Windsor goes, it was my first one and I totally panicked in the Thames. I don't know whether it was swimming up stream or the crowd or the wetsuit but every other race went well and the good news was that I was loving the rest of the race because I was so damned glad to be out of the river. Also, small attack by swan didn't help matters.
Paula, I thought it had the best atmosphere of any tri I was at last year. It may have been partly due to the beautiful weather and the euphoria of my first tri, but the finish straight on the run was as good as at any event I've been to. And being able to finish, get rehydrated and then watch the pros doing the same course was excellent (albeit they didn't swim the whole way!)
You'll have to do the Olympic distance if you want anything resembling a lie-in Spans. Even then, the race needs to be over quite quickly, as although the race has a good record with the town, us triathletes have to be out of the town centre (where the run is) sharpish to let the tourist do their thing.
Windsor is voted the best race in Britain year in, year out, with the exception of Llanberis' first year (2001). It's on my definite list, despite my nightmare this year. (Despite a headstart of an hour, I only beat Jodie Swallow by about 15 secs! The crowd gave me a right ovation. They must have thought I was one of the elites!)
Spans, pretty much all the triathlons (in fact all of them I think) were under way by 7ish, to cause minimum road disruption. For a couple of them that included having to register and rack bikes beforehand as well. You have to get used to embracing a nice early start. 4.30 alarm calls are commonplace during the Summer.
but the one and only one I did this summer was a lovely 11.30am start, why can't they all be like that!?! I guess that I will just have to get used to it...
Hmm. I did both races in 2002 and 2003. In 2002, I did the same time for both. In 2003, London was 14 mins faster. Although the bike is flatter in Windsor, it is also 41.5k (though I'm not saying it took me the extra 14 mins to do this!)
Both runs have a heartbreakingly steep (but short) bit in them though. And you have to do both 3 times.
Comments
Personally I thought Windsor was better than London, although it was my first ever tri so I am a bit biased.
The swim in the Thames is an acquired taste but actually quite fun once you get going. The bike course was great, one lap, rural, not any hills to speak of.
The run course through Eton high Street was three laps and included one big hill (3 times) up to the Castle.
The support is brilliant and it has a better atmosphere than London which is so big its a bit impersonal.
Expo was very good too.
(oh, not allowed anyway !)
As far as Windsor goes, it was my first one and I totally panicked in the Thames. I don't know whether it was swimming up stream or the crowd or the wetsuit but every other race went well and the good news was that I was loving the rest of the race because I was so damned glad to be out of the river. Also, small attack by swan didn't help matters.
You rack your bikes and register the day before.
Windsor is voted the best race in Britain year in, year out, with the exception of Llanberis' first year (2001). It's on my definite list, despite my nightmare this year. (Despite a headstart of an hour, I only beat Jodie Swallow by about 15 secs! The crowd gave me a right ovation. They must have thought I was one of the elites!)
BB
cheers for the input
Both runs have a heartbreakingly steep (but short) bit in them though. And you have to do both 3 times.
Windsor is the best race though.
BB.