CORPORATE TRIATHLON IRONMAN PE 2010

CORPORATE CHALLENGE TRIATHLON APRIL 2010

The Corporate Triathlon is One Tenth of the real Ironman. This event gives people who are not prepared to train for a huge event like Ironman, a chance to be part of the main event. It also serves as a start for people who may one day become interested in Triathlon. I remember when Running was relatively new especially long distance running, the way that people were attracted to distance running was through events like the Mini Marathon.

CORPORATE TRIATHLON
www.corporatechallenge.co.za

I had arranged to borrow Mike Dean's bike for Ally to do the Triathlon on Saturday. On Friday morning early Ally had her one and only practice ride on the bike. That afternoon I went to register us. It was an interesting little experience. I saw a number of people as one always does. However there were two people who made an impact on me:
1.Trevor had been at the MMC last weekend. He was there with Angie. He had not planned to take part but when Angie saw a work colleague who was not going to take part, Trevor agreed to take his place. This meant that they would be able to compete together.
2.Then as I walked out of the registration I greeted Alec Riddle who came up to me to complement on how he enjoyed Ally as a person. He said some really nice things about her as he had encountered her at Nippers Nationals on Kings Beach.
I was up early on Saturday morning cleaning and preparing the bikes. I woke a reluctant participant and the two of us headed down to the beach.
Ally was not feeling good. A triathlon is a daunting sport. Both of us were extremely nervous. Ally was feeling nauseous with anticipation. We walked through the Boardwalk and over to Hobie Beach. TO enter a Triathlon transition area you have to have a road worthy bike. They normally check breaks and the ends of the handlebars. They also insist that you have your helmet fastened on and you must be able to produce your swim cap.
We racked the bikes and prepared ourselves. Ally cheered up a bit when she saw some of her friends who would be doing one leg of the Team Triathlon. Peter Pholman, Geoff Roberts, Cathleen from MPRG, Cathy Gard, Tracy Meistre, Jean from Nippers, maybe more people who I cannot remember were all there to take part.
The men went off at 08.00am, the ladies 10 minutes later and then the teams. I wore a wet suite today as did Ally. It is a little late in the swim season and the water may have been a little chillier than normal. But I was pleasantly surprised at how warm the water was. The men lined up in front.
Fortunately Ally was with Cathy Gard who was able to cheer her up a bit. I set off with the men. There were some huge chaps out there and I clashed a couple of times. The worst for me was when I was breathing I could feel one of my teeth becoming loose. This was a temporary fitting that I had and suddenly I blew the tooth into the water. This upset me as it was the second time that this had happened at Hobie beach. I would now have to be with a Gappy Smile for some time. Ugh!
The water was a little choppy and I heard later that a man had almost died by drowning. He was taken to hospital where we later heard he recovered. This is a short swim and I was doing fine. I could have done better but the water was really crowded. I was approaching the shore when I heard the Ladies go off. As I exitted the water I saw the family there cheering us on. I jogged to the bike transition where I readied myself and waited for Ally.
I was shocked and amazed to see her arrive in the transition area in the front group of women. When I checked the results later it appears that Ally was 8th lady out of the water in 9minutes 36secs. We hitched our bikes and after a little nervous start Ally and I were cycling at a good pace. We met up with Danie who was doing his first Triathlon. The three of us rode together for the rest of the 18kays. We met with some other people but basically it was the three of us pulling each other for most of the way. Ally was riding Mike Dean's bike and seemed to cope well despite the fact that this was a new bike for her.
Back at transition I had to change shoes while Ally had ridden in her tackies. She took off and I had to work hard to catch her. We had a good last section of the triathlon with Ally feeling the effects of the Bike ride. Ally suffered with leg cramps but managed to walk / run the 4 kays.
Our overall time was around 1hour 30 minutes. For me this had been a great day. Ally had often said that she would rather be doing the Team event but I felt that she had been part of a team in 2008. Then in 2009 we were at Nippers Nationals in Durban so this year she should be capable of completing all three disciplines on her own. Ally had overcome her nervousness and in the end we were all very proud of this 12 year old.
As Ally completed her event she was greeted by a group of her friends. I am sure that at this stage there was no doubt in her mind that she had made the correct choice.
Some results:
Mike Palframan (Achilles) 9th 57 minutes
Graham Richards MPRG 30th 1:06
Ian Thomson (Achilles) 55th 1.09
Shuaib Abrahams (Nippers)110th 1:18
Cathleen Flanagan MPRG 36th Lady 1;25
Thomas Spies (Nippers Dad)150th 1:26
Ally Giddy 38th Lady 1:27
Tracey Meistre (Nippers Mom) 41st Lady 1:28
Angie Guscot and boyfriend Trevor (MMC) came in at 1;30
Cathy Garde (Nicky Friend) 50th Lady 1:31
Keith Reading (ex Achilles) 173rd 1:33
Peter Giddy 184th 1:37
Juan Nel 186th (Nippers Dad)1:40
Monde Mabala (Achilles) 190th 1:50
195 male and 63 female individual finishers.