Bredon 2008

When the athletes started arriving at Bredon lake the sun was out, the heat was rising, was this the hottest day of the year?
100 or so athletes made the start line, alot of local rivarally always comes to the surface at Bredon, with such a good set of local triathletes the competion is high. The other factor Bredon brings to the table is cash prizes. This has always seen good athletes travel to race Bredon.
The Bredon format is also always interesting with a 1200m swim, 50km bike and 10km run that always feels long.
This year it was agreed by racers that the swim leg had grown as the swimmers were made to turn a bouy 75m off the shore, make there way to shore and go back out for lap 2 and do the same. With the best swim time of the day being Mr Rawlings again in 18:01 I would estimate the swim leg was 1350-1400m long.
But back to the action, Rawlings out first, followed by A.another who subsequently DNF'd so back from Rawlings was TTC athelete Slim and Stroud man Shipton, who was racing Bredon on the back of five straight wins.
The rest of the TTC swimmers were making great progress giving TTC great posistions and times out of the water. David Granger showing his strong swimming skills with a 19:36, James Maude with 20:36, Roddy in 20:35, Rachal Hobbs in 22:49. TTC regular Sam Windless in 20:51, Michelles other half Phil in 19:38, Leigh Bichard "learning from Slims race starts" a great 22:08, Steve Darnell in 28:38, and TTC newcomers Steve Maber, 24:00 and Mark Howe in 25:58. Ali Parker with a 29:32 on no swim training! Paul Mason in 34:12 and Richard Mason 30:34.
Out onto the now very hot bike course at the front of the race Shiptons pace was too hot for Slim, who dropped away just after going under the M50. Rawlings was keeping up and the chase pack was forming with Phil Parsons and Paul Rogers mounting strong drives for a podium place.
The bike course was generally thought of as very scenic and pleasant, well marshalled etc but the heat was taking its toll on all the riders.
Once everyone had made back to t2 the 10km run ahead seemed like a real challenge, at least that was what I was thinking!!
2 lap out and back run, maybe not enough water stalls? hot weather just meant everyone had to dig in and work hard.
The run leg saw Parsons improve on his swim and bike position to claim 4th behind Rawlings, Rogers 2nd and a very strong Andrew Shipton claimed his 6th straight win. Rachael Hobbs held on for the womens win even with terrible blisters!

The overall results are here and the ttc guys results follow.

swim t1 bike t2 run overall
3rd JOHN RAWLINGS 00:18:01 00:00:39 01:21:07 00:00:27 00:44:42 02:24:56
7th NICK SLIM 00:18:16 00:00:41 01:25:12 00:00:23 00:43:04 02:27:36
10 SAM WINDLESS 00:20:51 00:00:35 01:22:53 00:00:20 00:47:28 02:32:07
23 ROODY GOODSON 00:20:35 00:00:53 01:29:19 00:00:31 00:48:48 02:40:06
30 RACHEL HOBBS 00:22:49 00:00:36 01:30:40 00:00:25 00:48:24 02:42:54
34 JAMES MAUDE 00:20:36 00:00:43 01:30:40 00:00:32 00:51:54 02:44:25
39 DAVID GRANGER 00:19:36 00:00:30 02:29:05 00:55:04 00:55:04 02:49:11
53 LEIGH BICHARD 00:22:08 00:00:56 01:35:03 00:00:39 00:58:02 02:56:48
60 STEVE DARNELL 00:28:38 00:01:20 01:35:54 00:00:43 00:53:19 02:59:54
73 STEVE MABER 00:24:00 00:02:03 01:45:19 00:02:44 00:56:55 03:11:01
75 MARK HOME 00:25:58 00:00:57 01:51:50 00:00:49 00:51:56 03:11:30
81 ALISTAIR PARKER 00:29:32 00:01:08 01:41:08 00:00:59 01:03:45 03:16:32
95 PAUL MASON 00:34:12 00:01:51 01:57:47 00:00:43 00:59:53 03:34:26
- RICHARD MASON 00:30:34 00:01:39 - DNF

Water Entry
Slim T1 exit
Rawlings T1 exit
Dave and Phil P t1 exit
James Maude
Rodster strong again
Leigh lovin it
Ali Parker bike
Richard Mason bike
Slick run start
Roddy run start
James run start
Custard Man run
Rachael Hobbs glad to finish
Stevie D run start
New photos 3/8/08
suit up time
Mass start
Stevie D swim exit
Stevie D run finish
Club Chair finds true calling
Custurd man takes to the bike course
Steve D bike start
Dave G bike finish
Leigh
Check out http://iamtri.com/photo/photo/search?q=bredon+triathlon for some more excellent photos from Ian Corless