Bedford Classic Triathlon 2012 (Olympic Distance) - Sunday July 29th 2012

Having competed in the event last year, it was quite a different experience as this year’s field was almost four times larger (568 starters). This and the much higher standard of competitor reflected that this year’s triathlon was a qualifying event for the ETU European Triathlon Championships.

The first wave started the 1.5km swim in the Great Ouse at 07:00, swimming upstream before turning and coming back down towards transition. The river had been cleared of weed a few days before the event and, along with the recent warm weather, this made it a relatively pleasant swim.

The cycle was a single 40km loop out from Bedford to Shefford and back via Northill. With two small hills, it was a reasonably quick course with only a few junctions / traffic to be aware of.

The 10km run was completed over 3 laps of flat running up one side of the river and down the other.

The event was won by Sam Wade (Brighton Phoenix Tri Club) who completed in 2:00:09.

As for myself I completed in 02:33:37 reducing last year’s time by 07:16, so have to be pleased with that.

Name	Overall Position	Age Group Position	Swim	T1	Cycle	T2	Run	Total
Bryan Holland	321 of 568	51 of 73	00:29:17	00:01:44	01:14:47	00:01:22	00:46:29	02:33:37