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Scientific Testing & Personal Testing
Norseman 07 By Craig Maude
Journey to completing Ironman UK 2007 by Mark Browne
Why everyone should do a triathlon by Amanda Vipond
The beginners guide to time trialling
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This was an all time epic. 4 NYP Tri athletes and Reesy ( once a great athlete! ) turned up at a bleak moor top in -4 degree temperatures and biting 20mph winds. This was a proper mans race, albeit their were plenty of lady fell running types in vests and shorts too. Race HQ was the bleakest cricket club in the UK and to cap it all we each had severe hang overs from a party the night before. It was without doubt a crazy idea but one of those you look back at with a smile! 3 quid entry fee on the day, as many cups of Tea and Coffee as you could drink, some delicious broken buscuits, a race goody gift which was a 'curly wurly'.....remember those!!?? and a running shop stall which had 2002 Flora London Marathon embosted woolly hats ( thank goodness and thanks to Simon Hassell for buying myself and Jon Cooper one...we owe you our lives! )
Pre race facilities included a bucket in the corner of a very smelly cricket club toilet ( where the toilet was taped up as out of use ). No prizes for guessesing what the bucket was for! Anyway myself, The great Raffi, Mark Neal, Simon 'The Hoff' Hassell and Jon 'Cooperman' Cooper set off with nearly 200 others towards a frozen bog ridden moor and I for one was just repeating the word 'Why?'. Less than a mile in and as back marker of the 5 I came across Simon The Hoff rolling about in agony on the moors with the other 3 NYP Tri mob trying to assist him. Simon is now on crutches with a badly torn calf muscle, we wish him well and I would like to encourage him to eat heartely before Ironman Nice to give us all a chance! I ran back and got Simons car, drove it as close as I could to his location by which time he had hobbled back with the others ( apart from Raffi who had seen his chance of taking 4 NYP Tri scalps in a single day and had carried on ....good old Raffi. As we shovelled Simon into his car I was all ready for a bacon and sausage sandwich and a cup of tea, race over for us all. The back marker was out of sight and a jog to the edge of the moor, a jog back to Simons car, free coffee, Tea and buscuits plus a 2002 Flora London Marathon hat seemed good value for £3! Anyway, I was told by Simon we had to carry on, so very reluctantly I did and somehow managed to finish one of the muddiest, coldest and harshest races in the world. I somehow managed to catch 3 runners, they were of course the 3 slowest runners in the Norhern Hemisphere and I met up with the others back at the bleak cricket club that I had left well over an hour earlier on the 5 mile bog hopping event. I will look back fondly at my day on Stoop Fell as I run down the promenade Des Anglais in Nice in June. What a day!
Posted by Mark Rees 171207
Teesdale Tri by Andy Senior IM 2007 by Richy (our Army friend )
Firstly I would like to say a massive thank you to all of NYP Tri personnel and family
(john`s, mark`s,Nic,Andy & Simon) who were down at sherborne this weekend
and made me feel welcome. i went down there knowing only Mark Rees and Nic
Clay. so i was quite nervous meeting a new circle of people i didnt know and
with probably the biggest and hardest race of my career luming over my head.
from the moment i showed up to the time i left all the people i was involved
with were absolutley brilliant. there put my nerves at ease. gave me a few
last minute top tips and above all they made me feel welcome. which normally
is unheard of when meeting a group of new people. An absolute credit the NYP
Tri club and the Triathlon community.
The race, I had a not to bad swim nice and easy 1hr 19mins took my time in
transition 8 mins (a bit to long i know) the bike was a long hard slog. i
was losing time hand over fist. stopping to go to the toilet and helping out
another person who had a puncture i came in on 8 hrs 20 mins another quick
transition of 8mins. i was now starting what is my strongest discipline the
run. i thought i could of smashed out a 4hr 15- 30mins basing my average
marathon time in the past on 3hr 30mins. how wrong was i!! i ran up to mile
4 before i started vomiting every 1/2 mile and then not being able to keep
any fliuds down at all. this is when Reesey came to the rescue and we
ran,walked, plodded, jogged and hobbled back into the castle where i came an
ironman for the first time. ( mark rees absolute gent many thanks again
fella). What I will say to anyone who is thinking about doing an ironman, just do
it! remember "Don`t judge those who try and fail but judge those who fail to
try" i finished the race in 15 hrs 28 mins. i am throughly glad that i have
achieved the accolade of being called an ironman. the feeling when you
finish is awesome its relief, pleasure, emmotions are high and you want to
tell everyone that you are an ironman. Finishing on another high just to summarise thanks very much to all from NYP
Tri who help me out this weekend much appreciated i hope to see you all
again soon all the best Richy IronMan finisher (sherborne) 2007
White Rose Classic (2007) was a tough day out to say the least.
Me and Simon Hassell met up as arranged at 7:00am (called Reesy only to find him on the bog at PK's house and not coming for another hour!) So we set off.
Norwood Edge was a breeze compared to what was to come and I hadn't fully appreciated how tough the ride was going to be. Simon nearly killed me on the descent down from Norwood Edge as he decided he didn't want to follow the directions and tried to turn off the route right in front of me, with no warning from about 35-40mph! I locked up back wheel and went sideways to avoid him! Nearly game over after 10 miles!
We pootled on to Grassington at 41k for the first time check having negotiated quite a few climbs - for me anyway - already. Completed in 1:51! Quick potty stop and a bite to eat at the wells stocked feed stations and then off again towards Hawes. A Peloton af about 30 riders cam past us shortly after Grassington so we tagged along wioth them for the next 10 miles or so until the road went up again, when they cleared off and we were on our own again. Then we hit Fleet Moss - at that point it was the longest and hardest climb I'd ever done. I dropped into my specially purchased 27T and wound my way up. There was a strange clicking sound coming from Simon's pedals on the way up and when we reached Hawes at teh Kudu Feed station he found his pedal had basically come apart. Hundred quid and 45mins to an hour later he had a brand new set of Look Keos - I enjoyed the rest. Off we went again Up Garsdale Head, round Dent Station etc.... it weas getting hot and after about 6 hours in the saddle and anout 7 hours elapsed I started to stop enjoying the ride quite so much.
Had another potty stop at Stainforth - the previous night's nutrition (curry) was acting up big time! Ran my head under a tap too!
At 106 miles they sent us through a place called Beamsley and up a hill called Langbar. No walk of shame for me here as I ground it out all the way to the top - there were plenty of people walking by that stage. The it was pretty much down hill and flat all the way to the finish.
Simon and me finished in 9:10 but we dilly dallied at the feed stations and Simons mechanical cost us a good half hour. (I finished in a much better shape than Simon H to be honest but I think that was more an indication that I chose the right gears for my bike than anything to do with our cycling abilities). When I rode in this am my bike computer said 7:50 ride time elapsed and an average of 14.5 mph. It was a beast of a ride with absolutely no respite. Some of the downhill sections were so steep and twisty, I didn't think my brakes (or my hands) would be able to handle it. I saw 50mph on my speedo at one point, but I saw 3 or 4mph alot more. If you want a challenge. Enter it next year.
Regards,
Jon Cooper
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