Bala Olympic (2007 course): 16 September 2007
All runners
# | Pos | Name | Time | Cat | Club |
1 | 1 | Laurence Harding | 1:54:10 | M40-44 | Serpentine |
2 | 2 | John Lund | 2:01:42 | M30-34 | Serpentine |
3 | 3 | Quintin Wright | 2:02:27 | M45-49 | Serpentine |
4 | 4 | Stephen Bell | 2:08:45 | M25-29 | Serpentine |
5 | 5 | Paul Perry | 2:10:24 | M30-34 | Serpentine |
6 | 6 | Michael Shaw | 2:11:49 | M25-29 | Serpentine |
7 | 7 | Danny Bent | 2:15:44 | M25-29 | Serpentine |
8 | 8 | Fiona Lawrence | 2:22:33 | F30-34 | Serpentine |
9 | 9 | Francesca Wright | 2:29:26 | F45-49 | Serpentine |
10 | 10 | Fiona Strouts | 2:34:56 | F25-29 | Serpentine |
11 | 11 | Ian Hodge | 2:44:29 | M45-49 | Serpentine |
Race conditions
Very windy with occasional showers towards
Report
With a 25-30knot gale blowing down the lake, it looked more like the open ocean than an inland lake when we arrived at the start. Conditions were deemed to be so bad that the organisers cut the swim down to 1000m. Even so, the swim was very challenging (a little too challenging for my less than brilliant swimming - I felt like I was swimming on the spot for a time and I probably was!).
Of course the headwind on the lake also meant a headwind for the first half of the bike (an out and back course on a closed A road). This made it a slow, grinding ride to the trun point but a blindingly fast return run - easily the most enjoyable part of the race for me!
The run at Bala is always tough, having a big hill on from mile 2 to 3 but this year it was also tough from mile 5 to the end as we had that lovely headwind again.
All in all, a pretty tough Olympic distance race, with finishing times for most competitors very similar to their usual times, even though the swim was cut short.
Ian Hodge
Result queries
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