Rhys Ashton Triathlon

May update 2021

May has been the busiest month for me in almost a year with a shocking two races!

The first race was a small track meet in Manchester, I was doing this for a bit of race experience as I had my first sprint distance triathlon in wales the next week. The race went well as I won but didn’t quite get the time I was looking for. Next up was the junior European tri.

We had to travel down to wales the day before the race as it was a 5-hour drive which I was not looking forward too, we packed the van with the bike and everything I would need for the weekend and set of. The drive was uncomfortable but we drove straight to the race venue so I could do a bike rekey, the course felt very technical as here was three dead turns in every lap but I was confident because I felt that suited me, after that I went down to the swim start and did a swim rekey, I made sure to practice my beach starts as that is how we were going to start when I comes to the race the next day. 

We then headed to the hotel, I had a big meal and get to bed early as I would have to be up at 6 the next morning. We got up a little late so I had to eat my breakfast on the way to the course, when we got there I heed down to registration, got my numbers and had a covid test which thankfully came back negative and then headed to the warm up zone, I made sure to warm up really well as the swim was an 800m which really didn’t suit me as the swim was me weakest of the three disciplines. The five-minute alarm sounded so I headed down to the swim start, I was the youngest person there and was ranked 8^th so I had a good spot at the start.

They started the race and everyone sprinted into the water and headed to the first buoy, I had a good start and got there in a fairly good spot but got battered around the second buoy which set me back a few places, I really struggled on the way back due to lack of swim fitness but still came out in an alright position, I had a good transition and headed out onto the bike, I found myself in the biggest chase pack about a minuet behind the lead pack, there was no crashes and the gap stayed the same for the whole bike, I made sure to do as little work as I could on the 20km bike so my legs could be fresh for the run, we all came of the bike together and I had another fast transition and headed onto the run, unfortunately my fitness wasn’t there so I struggled to hold fast pace, I caught up a few positions but ended up 17^th. I’m not too disappointed with this performance but I know I’ve got loads more to give.

Mallory park IRD day

The Mallory park ird day was the first opportunity for me too race with other people since the start of the lockdown. It wasn’t run as a highly competitive competition but more as a event to get us used to racing again. It was run as a time trail kind of event due to social distancing still being in place.

The first race started at 11 so it was an early start due to us living 2.5 hours away, I slept the full way there only being woken up by my dad’s terrible music. When we got there we were allowed to register and put our bikes straight into transition, I had some time to burn so I went on a steady jog to loosen of the legs. When we were called up to the swim start I felt excited but surprisingly not nervous, I think this was due to fact there was no pressure to perform because everyone was going to be on a different level depending on how much they were able to do during quarantine.

We would be set of at 20 second intervals, the water was nice and warm which was a relief for everyone, the swim was only 250 meters which was surprisingly easy after hardly swimming for four months. I had a fast 1^st transition and flew out onto the bike. Again the bike was very short at 1 lap of the Mallory race circuit (3k). the bike leg flew by and before I knew it I was of on the run after a speedy T2, the legs felt really rusty on the run but I was still able to run quite a fast time.

After the first race we had a few little transition challenges which didn’t go to plan due to me forgetting to put my helmet on. After that we had lunch which was needed after the first few races.

Next was the relay, this was the race I was looking forward too the most. We were put into teams based on the first race results to make it as fair as possible. Me and a friend who were placed on different teams both put ourselves in 2^nd so we could have a little race. Conveniently both our 1^st leg teammates finished at the same time, we entered the water together and stayed together for the whole swim, we both had a quick transition and flew out onto the bike. The rules say no drafting but Kieron stuck me on the front and drafted me for the whole bike. After another quick transition I flew onto the run on got my revenge on him by running my fastest run time of the day.

Altogether it was a really fun day and I loved getting back to racing.

February 2020 update

This month has been a big training month for me and the north west academy as we had our half term training camp at Loughborough university. This was a great opportunity as we would be using the amazing facilities that Loughborough had to offer. We were going to be staying at the elite athlete hotel which is only a stone’s throw from the training facilities on the Loughborough campus. The week included lots of hard training, one of the hardest sessions came on the first day of the camp which was a swim set that included 10x200m as fast as you could go. I surprised myself by swimming every rep faster than the last rep, with swimming being my weakest discipline out of the three this showed me that there are great things to come over the next season.

We also had a long run straight after the swim, the weather was horrible and 2k in we hit a barrier that came in the form of massive puddle, instead of avoiding the puddle we decided to just wade straight through it, we would regret this decision as it was not the last puddle we would be facing. By the end of the run we were soaked and regretting our decisions.

After a good night sleep, we survived the next two days but hit a barrier on the fourth day which came in the form of an 80km ride. Doesn’t sound to hard right? Well it was, it was wet cold and really windy, but we survived and was rewarded with a massive lunch.

The next few days were tuff but I just held on to the end of the camp. But it wasn’t over there, the day after the camp I was racing at the national cross-country championships in Nottingham. This was a massive race and all the best runners were there on the day, I was in the bottom year of the age group and wasn’t expecting much from the race as I was very tired after the camp. I ran as hard as I could from start to finish and somehow came 11^th which was a great result after a hard weeks training. Next up, inter counties and then English schools the week after.

Thank you to all the coaches that helped on the camp and thank you to pedal potential for the continued support over the 2020 season.

superleague

Superleague jersey was the last triathlon of the season and was also the biggest. It was an international race which had some of the best triathletes in Europe competing. My school, Ripley St Thomas gave me three days off so we travelled on Thursday by plane ready to race on the Saturday morning. We were staying in the Raddison blu hotel which looked over the race venue, it was also the hotel that the pros were staying in which included Vicent Luis and Johnny Brownlee. I was the youngest person racing and most of the competition were two years older than me so I was just going to go out and enjoy the race. The swim was done in the harbour and the bike course was a very technical 1k loop, for the run we would just run around the bike loop. on the Friday we did a recce with the pros.

On the morning of race day I started with breakfast but could barely eat due to nerves. I watched the junior girls and boys, got my race stuff ready and heady to the briefing room, we were given our numbers and new race details which meant we were missing the second swim due to bad weather and doing swim,bike,run,bike,run. This format would suit me but with most of the other boys being 2 years older than me it was going to be a tough race. After our briefing we were taken out to transition in number order, I was number 05 and had a really good spot in transition. We racked our bikes, zipped up our wetsuits and headed to the pontoon. The atmosphere was crazy, there were loads of people looking down at us eager for the race to start. We were allowed some practice dives before we raced, I was surprised with how warm the water felt but the saltiness was probably going to cause severe dehydration. I was in position 09 on the pontoon and had a direct route to the first buoy, the one minute signal sounded so we all got ready, it was longest one minute of my life but eventually it came to an end.

When we dived in I got pushed under someone and they ended up diving on-top of me, after that I got dunked and spat out the back. I carried on and pushed hard to the second buoy and ended up catching a few people I carried on pushing really hard until the end and came out in a reasonably good position. I had a swift transition and got on my bike in a large group, I wasn’t able to keep up with the bike pace of the older lads so I ended up doing most of the bike on my own. I had another good transition and setted of on the run, my run legs just weren’t there and I struggled for most of the run, I caught up to one person before entering transition again, I had another swift transition and went onto the bike with one other lad. We worked together for most of the bike and didn’t end up losing any more positions. Going onto the last run my legs felt just as worse as the first run, I struggled but made it to the finish in 27^th.

I wasn’t happy with my result but I had an amazing experience and can’t wait to hopefully race in superleage again next year. thank you to Ripley St Thomas for giving me time off, my coaches Mark Smith and Colin Gemson, and to my sponsors, pedal potential and blitz eyewear for the support. 

July update

July has been a very quiet month with my only race being Hetton Lyon’s Super Series.

The event was split into three races, a qualifier, a final and a relay. The qualifier started early in the morning so after a good night sleep I headed to the race course. I’d already done a bike recce so I went straight to transition and racked my bike. After I was done in transition I did my warm up, got my wetsuit on and headed to the swim start. It was an in water start and I chose I good spot in the middle of the buoys. The start was violent and I got punched in the face a few times, I also chocked on water which forced me to stop swimming so I could breath. When I started swimming again I was at the back of the swim and it stayed that way till the end of the swim.

I had a fast transition and was able to make a small chase group, the bike was annoying because nobody was really working very hard so we didn’t catch any time on the group ahead of us but I had another fast transition and headed onto the run around about 40seconds down on the leaded. I ran hard and was able to get myself into 8^th position which got me into the A final which was all that mattered.

I had a 6-hour break until the final so it was a long wait which consisted of eating and jogging. With an hour to go I re- racked my bike and went to get my wetsuit on but just as I was about to put it on there was an announcement that the swim was now non-wetsuit. So, I headed to swim start and decided to pick a position closer to the buoy on my left. The start was fast but I was able to stick with the pace to the first buoy where I passed about five people so I was able to hold my position to the end of the swim. I came out the water around 20^th, I had another good transition I was able to make the big chase group.

We worked really hard to catch the lead group which we did with around 200m left of the bike. It was a big group entering transition and I was the last person to enter. I had another good transition but as soon as I started running my calves cramped up and I struggled for the whole run but was just able to claw myself into 5^th position. the lesson from this is to stay hydrated between races. I wasn’t happy with my race but we still had the relay to come.

We only had an hour between our final and the relay so we headed straight to transition racked our bikes and then headed to the start. I decided to go second leg, when the first leg person came to pass onto me I ran into the water and started to swim as hard as I could. We were racing the juniors so the swim was hard but I came out the water in a similar position to what I went in at. The bike was only 1 lap so I bombed it round and ended up catching two positions. On the run I ran the second fasted run time and ended up catching 6 people. Our relay team ended 8^th which wasn’t a bad result. 

June update

June was an extremely successful month, I had another two big super series races in Leeds and Eton-Dorney.

The first of the two races was Leeds which was only about two hours away from home so was a short journey. When we arrived in Leeds, we headed straight to the Premier Inn and had a huge meal which didn’t pay off during the race. After the meal I decided to get some sleep so I headed to bed excited to what the next day would bring.

When I woke up I went straight to the breakfast place and ate the usual Nutella on toast. After that we headed over to the course which was only around about 15 minutes away from the hotel. When we got there, I headed to transition, racked my bike and went on a steady jog around the lake. When we had around 15 minutes to go till my race I got my wetsuit on and headed to the swim start. We got lined up in ranked order which was 5^th place which would give me a good spot on the pontoon.

When we got taken onto the pontoon we chose our spots and got ready to go. When the starting horn went of we all dived in and started to swim as hard as we could to the first buoy. I went around it in about 15^th but at the next buoy I got dragged back to around 30^th but I was able to hold that position to the end of the swim. It was a long run into transition and I over took around about 6 people. I had a fast transition and came out in around 25^th, after we mounted our bikes we immediately hit a short steep hill which I had to work really hard up to make the group that was forming ahead of me. I made it into the group but there was another big group about 15 seconds up on us. We worked really hard for the whole bike and ended up only closing the gap to around 13 seconds. I had a terrible second transition and lost at least five places going onto the run, I was in around 15^th position and knew if I pushed really hard I would have a chance at getting onto the podium. With 400meters to go I was in fourth position and started being sick everywhere but managed to work my way up to third and was able to hold onto the position all the way to end. 

This was probably one of my best races ever especially as it was my first ever super series podium, Eton Dorney was next and I was hoping to improve.

The next triathlon was Eton Dorney which I was hoping to get on the podium at. This was my fourth triathlon of the year and was quite important because it was a chance to get into the top 3 in the super series ranking.

We headed down to Eaton on the Friday ready for the race on Saturday, we got to the hotel late so had a meal and headed to bed. In the morning we got up and headed straight to the race course, we couldn’t do a bike recce so I put my bike in transition did a warm up, got my wetsuit on and headed to the swim start.

I was ranked 4^th going into the water and got the best starting place closest to the buoys, I had a great start and got to the first buoy in around 5^th but at the second buoy I got dragged back to around 20^th but ended up coming out of the water in around about 40^th place but I had a rubbish transition and ended up coming out of transition in around about 45^th. Somehow, I ended up in a big chase group which was around about 15 seconds down on the big lead group but we all rode hard in the chase group and ended up catching the lead group with 2.5k to go.

It was a big group of 50 entering transition and I got into transition in 4^th and set of onto the run in 1^st but ended up running back to transition to pick up my chip which had fallen of but I still ended up leaving transition in around 4^th and quickly made my way up to the front of the race. After around about 800m in, the fastest runner in the field came past and put a seven second gap into me. After we turned the halfway point I realised I was starting to catch on the leader and with 600meters to go I had passed him and knew I had won. I passed the line and was sick everywhere but I was over the moon to take my first super series win a year young. 

Thank you to pedal potential for the support this season.       

May update

May has been a fairly disappointing month, I’ve had two big races. The first was Llanelli Superseries. It was the first triathlon of the season and was also the European qualifier and the Super League qualifier which I was hoping to qualify for. 

This was my first Super series triathlon as I am a first-year youth so there wasn’t too much pressure before the race. It was a long drive to Wales and we stayed in a Premier Inn around twenty minutes away from the venue. Later in the evening we headed down to the course to do a recce of the bike. The course felt fine apart from an angry horse on the side of the road that ran out in front of me and almost caused a crash, after that we decided to call it a day and headed back to the hotel.

On the morning of the race I had my usual breakfast which consists of Nutella on toast. After that we headed back to the race venue. I did the usual steady jog and stride outs before getting my wetsuit and heading to race start. It was a beach start and due to my ranking at the performance assessments I had one the worst starting positions but had a good run into the sea and swam hard to the first buoy but went around it in around 40^th position and knew I had a lot of work to do. I exited the water in around 35^th. I had a good transition and ended up in a big bike pack around 30 seconds away from the main bike pack so we worked really hard to try and catch and by the end of the bike we were about 20 seconds away from the next group.

I had a bad second transition and ended up losing five places but we were onto the run and I immediately started catching positions. By half way I had passed around ten people and on the back I caught around about another ten people and ended up 17^th overall and 8^th youth A which I was extremely disappointed with but I got over it and was already looking forward to the next race which was Blenheim Palace triathlon. 

The second triathlon was Blenheim Palace tri which I was really hoping to do better at. It was my second triathlon of the season and was possibly the most important because it was my last chance to qualify for Super League.

We travelled down on the Saturday and stayed at a very posh hotel in a little village around 15 minutes away from the race course. We headed down to the venue at about mid-day to do a bike recce. The bike wasn’t to technically demanding but the course was very narrow and had some quite steep descents so I knew I had to be careful in the race. After that we decided to head back to the hotel and have a big dinner and get some good sleep before tomorrow’s race.

The race was at 8:28 in the morning which was an early start so we decided to get up 3 hours before the race, we got some breakfast and headed down to the race course. As soon as we got there we headed down the transition, I racked my bike and did a few practice runs into transition and then decided to head to the swim start. I did the usual warm up got my wetsuit on and got into the zone, I had a much better starting position this time but it was in water start which didn’t suit me. I had a good start and got onto a fast swimmer’s feet and sticked on him until around half way but my arms started to really hurt but I pushed on and came out of the water in around about 30^th it was I really long steep run into transition which really suited me and I ended up making up around about 10 places and came into transition in a big group, we all left transition at the same time.

The bike course was difficult in a big group due to the narrow course so we weren’t really catching the leading groups until the bike group split into two but I ended up in-between the two groups and had to work quite hard to get into the front group. The course was easier to ride in a smaller group so we started to catch the group ahead of us. As we came into transition I pushed to the front of the group to make sure I went into transition first, I had I fast transition and headed out for the run in around about 20^th, it was a long run but I decided to set of fast and ended up catching everyone in the group ahead within 1km. About 2k in to the run I started to pass people from the lead group but my legs really started to hurt but I held on to my position and finished the race desperate to find out what place I came. I got told I finished 9^th and was over the moon but my excitement was doubled after I was told I had been selected to represent GB at this year’s Super League in Jersey.