On a glorious Saturday morning in August the Back Pack (Kaz, Trace, Ka and Di) left Swansea and travelled to Cymmer only to find out that it was in the middle of monsoon season there.

Getting us to our first Triathlon had been a major achievement for Rose our swimming coach, and John Nicholls also deserves a special mention for his major achievement in getting Kaz onto a bike (with confidence) in just one session. We were excited, nervous and totally up for it. We picked up our race packs and proudly had our race numbers written on our arms. Poor Ka had the indignity of being number 118 (got your number) and was left worrying about how it would look with her party dress that evening.

Nigel organised Ka, whilst the rest of the hysterical Backpackers stuck as close to Julie Davies as they possibly could, in the vain hope that her wonderful cool calmness would rub off on them all. Julie later reported that thanks to our hysteria it was the least nervous she had ever been in a triathlon.

At the pool the Backpackers and the other 3M’ers hugged, kissed, worried, and cheered, as one by one we all left “death row” and began the swim bit of our first triathlon. Once we hit the water our worries and fears disappeared and it was FANTASTIC. Ka managed to control her swan arms, Di invented a new side stroke to help her recovery and improved her swim time loads, Trace did really well despite being overtaken by a breast-stroker (obviously Olympic standard), and Kaz even managed to accelerate and overtake a guy front crawling in her lane. Rose, our fantastic swim coach, was there to see our tri debut and a text next day said that she was really proud of us all.

It was fantastic leaving the pool. Eric showed us the way. Ka got transition help from Marcus, and John Nicholls and Kirsty calmed Kaz as she wrestled with the insole of her trainer. John also gave some calming words to Trace who was dismayed to find her transition box now resembled a pond and her towel inside it was now a soggy heap. Di hit transition with huge relief that the swim was over with and she just knew she would enjoy the rest of it. Next up was a frantic 300 metre run down the hill wrestling with number belts and drinks bottles.

Down at T1 Ka got her lace caught in her pedal and nearly took a tumble but Trace outdid that by having a bit of a tussle with her bike and falling over it before she’d even got on it. Luckily Pilot (disguised as a swamp monster in flowing waterproof cape) was there to pick her up and to reassure her that she really didn’t need the pieces of the bike she’d left on the floor. Even better Nigel captured it all on film and probably will make £250 from You’ve Been Framed for the clip. “Just walk your bike to the line” shouted Pilot to a dazed Kaz, who proceeded to impersonate Mary Poppins as she trotted her bike (a super duper loan from John Nicholls) over to the line. Once there she listened carefully to the very clear instructions from the marshall who said “ Just stay on the left” and Kaz immediately trundled off to the RIGHT.

By the time of the bike ride the rain was torrential and the 3M supporters were all wetter than the swimmers. (Apart from Anita – who seemed to have bagged a marshalling job that involved spending the day in a van – she opened the window to cheer us on but a few drops of rain frightened her so she quickly closed it and managed to stay dry all day). Trace and Di said they didn’t really notice the rain. Trace was more concerned with her wonky handlebars damaged in the fall. She had also lost her water bottle and to quench her thirst she resorted to sticking out her tongue to drink the rain. Kaz, (who as you all know from cross country doesn’t do mud or dirt) even laughed as she got sprayed with so much mud that she was eating it and wearing it as eye-shadow. Ka ‘s chain popped off but magically popped back on, and she got some sprayed in the face by the bike in front but still enjoyed it loads. It was brilliant as at one point or another we passed Julie, Mike, Laura, Gaynor, Del, Rhys and of course each other .
T2 next. Ka struggled with lifting her very heavy garden gate onto the rack (her new bike is already ordered) and Kaz found that someone had pinched her bike spot. However, we all made it to the start of the run – which, of course, with us being members of the marvellous 3M running club was the easy bit … NOT!!!! OMG how hard is it to run after getting off the bike? Short strides had been our instruction from Pilot – short, heavy, totally leaden strides was our response. Once again we passed each other and the other 3M’ers, and were chuffed to find Pilot standing under the bridge to give us all encouragement where we needed it the most.

The finish was fantastic … LOADS of very loud (and absolutely soaking wet) 3M’ers to cheer us all in and everyone giving sodden, drippy, muddy hugs to everyone else. We had done it … along with Gaynor, Del, Mike, Julie, Laura and Rhys, and not forgetting Josh and Jenny who had done the earlier Tri-Stars event. We shivered with the cold and wet, and couldn’t wait to get in a nice hot shower. Unfortunately the boiler was broken and we were treated to ICE COLD showers. What followed was a very strange ritual that involved squealing and trying to wash the dirt and mud off us without actually standing underneath the stone cold shower. Finally, clean (ish) and dry (ish), we headed back to support the hardened 3Mers doing the longer Triathlon. We cheered loudly for Louise, Marcus, Jenny and Terry, and hardly recognised Fay she was so splattered in mud and dirt.

We were buzzing, It was a FANTASTIC day. We think the race Tshirts were the best we have ever had. The supporters were so BRILLIANT and deserved medals for sticking it out all day. The only heat of the day came from the chips we all tucked into after the race. There were only a couple of injuries to report – Trace’s bike tumble left her looking like she had mauled by a bear and Ka cut her leg getting out of the pool somehow. Oh yes and everyone was amazed that Kaz’s lipstick withheld the triathlon and the monsoon.

Kaz’s glory turned to despair the next day when the online results had added ELEVEN minutes to her time. Also, rather strangely, Tracey had come last in the run but won the bike part of the tri (she had taken Pilots advice and put some magic air in her tyres but had still been very surprised by her reported time). However, a few emails to the organiser and a bit of detective work and the results got sorted. (Kaz was swearing that she would stalk the race organiser til they were amended). Kaz got her 11 minutes taken off and Tracey lost the fastest bike time of the day but improved her run loads. Happiness all round!

So WE DID IT and WE LOVED IT – can you believe that the Back Pack did a triathlon? What next you might ask …. RHAYADER of course!!!

A brisk and brief race report by Billy Big Belly

There was an excellent show by Celtic Triers at the Vale of Neath Triathlon today. There were 118 finishers in the event which was won by Mark Livesey of Total Fitness. Members results we have noted are as follows, not everyone is listed as being club members so these are only the names that the eye in my ‘super sensitive suspended stomach’ otherwise known as Billy Big Belly’s Bullbous Belly Button has managed to pick out.

6th – Nigel Nicholas 57.43

23rd – Jack Newton 64.29

34th – Tim O’Leary 66.34

52nd – Ieuan Jones 70.57

64th – Dale Thomas 73.23

71 – Fay Sharpe 74.24 - 1st Vet lady

84th Adrian Hughes 77.59

92nd Paul Waite 78.53

93rd Nigel Williams 78.55

95th Anita Griffiths 79.57

113th Julie Davies 90.25

On the whole a well organised event, the only disappointment was the lack of prizes or even a mention of the youth and junior categories where our ‘junior racing snakes’ Jack Newton and Dale Thomas, both doing their first ‘on the road’ triathlons would have surely figured. Congratulations to all who took part ! - Billy

This race has been taking place for the last 15 years and this was the second time that I have taken part in it. The race is held over a 13k hilly course that takes in one of the many volcanic ridges that surround Club La Santa.

About 200 athletes had entered the race which had a truly international flavour with entrants from all over the world. There were quite a few entries from Wales with myself, Grant Howells, Rhodri Evans, Mike and Andrew Rimmer taking part. Race morning was very warm and sunny with temperatures about 25c. The stadium at the start was very colourful with banners and flags from different countries. There was a group of people from a London marathon camp also taking part. The race started at 11.0am and runners wound their way out of the stadium and out on to the dirt track up to the ridge, the run up to the ridge is virtually up hill all the way and is a mixture of tarmac and track.

It was a hot and sweaty run and by the time I reached the ridge, there was a long strung out line of runners in front of me. The ridge is made of volcanic rock and on some parts you have to scramble up, once over the top it was virtually all down hill to the finish, on sandy trails and dusty dirt tracks. I had struggled to hold my pace on the way up to the top but managed to increase pace on the downhill bit, I was always a DHT (down hill triathlete)

I finished in 1-03-07 which gave me seventh place in age category and 76th overall.

It was then down to the outdoor pool to cool off the legs in the cold water

International Reporter - TJ