Wensleydale "Full Cheese" Triathlon

Ian Tivey  August 2008

All photos courtesy of Richard Walsh - http://www.richard-walsh.co.uk/Sport_Wendsleydale_Triathlon_2008_01.htm

Whilst the Club were putting on what sounds like an excellent triathlon and several members were racing on the flatlands of Cambridge and East London, two intrepid explorers, Pete Lever and Ian Tivey, made their way "oop t'north" to the rather hillier and no-less windy Yorkshire Dales for the Wensleydale Triathlon. Dubbed the "hardest triathlon in Britain", the course is an 1800m swim, a 42 mile bike (including four 1-in-4 climbs and equally scarily steep descents) and a fell run of 6 miles up to the highest point in Wensleydale and back down again (a climb of over 500m).

From 10am Saturday the rain lashed down, almost flooding the campsite where the Cambridge pairing were staying, but spirits were lifted with reports of finer weather due on the Sunday of the race. Well, the finer weather did turn up but not until about 6pm on the Sunday. Instead the competitors were treated to a sleepless night under canvass, a lake which had swallowed up the parking and transition area, gale force winds and driving rain.

The swim was shortened to 400m as the chop on the water caused by the wind made sighting any further than 200m virtually impossible and T1 was now a hedge. Most competitors were happy to get out of the water quickly, put on several layers in T1 and get moving - the only thing standing in their way to "get moving" was the 25% climb straight out of transition - that was the easy climb as it flattened off after half a mile into a nice descent into Bainbridge. This was where the real climbing started.

The climb out of Askrigg was the second 25% ascent of the day, this one much longer and several people were passed who were pushing their bikes up the steeper parts of the incline. The descent into Muker was a technical one, made so much more difficult by the wet roads and rain in the eyes. At the bottom it steepened at 1-in-4 around 4 hairpins, where a few people were seen bailing out into a well placed hedge.

The next few miles along the valley road offered no respite from the wind and left competitors far from fresh for the third 1-in-4 over the Buttertubs pass. The view at the top offered excellent views of the valley floor to the left, followed by another short steep climb where the wind hit you from the right so hard at times that it was a real struggle to stay upright. It was a really nice surprise to see some supporters who had made their way up there despite the freezing cold wind! A nice 17% descent followed, dropping into Hardraw before turning right onto another flattish road into a nasty headwind. This road seemed to go on forever, with the inevitable looming - the final 25% climb on the potholed coal road.

Passing under a rail viaduct, the left turn onto Coal Road reveled pot holes and huge stones strewn across the road. This was climb wasn't as continuous as previous climbs and could be broken up mentally into chunks. The descent into Cowgill was again a technical affair with a 17% hairpin section at the end. Pete reported several riders in a daze at the side of the road.

A short flat stretch along the valley road turned into the final climb of the day and finally a tail wind helped competitors over the top onto the main road into Hawes. This was where the fun began! A tailwind and a long stretch of downhill offered the chance to "open up the throttle". I managed to spin out top gear so had to sit-in at 46.6mph for a few minutes.

The final section back through Hardraw was fairly uneventful, which was a nice respite before the pending fell run. I was very happy with my bike leg - I didn't get overtaken once and was picking people off all the way through, even in the last few miles.

The run was something else! Most competitors put on dry socks for the run, only to find that half a mile in involved jumping from a sty into 2 feet of water as the field had flooded! It was a mile in that the real climbing started. The terrain to the halfway point (turn around for the half cheese) was fairly easy going, albeit steep in parts. After the halfway point the fun began, with the terrain changing from quagmire to slippery rock to quagmire to flagstones and the exposure to the westerly wind and driving rain made staying upright all the more difficult. The second half of the run seemed 3 times further than the first half and eventually the huge rock indicating the top of the 716m fell loomed murkily in the foreground. Passing round the rock revealed two marshalls freezing their nuts off taking down numbers and returning into a crazy headwind. Descending was tricky due to the slippery rocks, galeforce side winds and whipping rain (or was it hail?) and the halfway point couldn't come quick enough as the terrain and conditions eased off. A fellow competitor James Turton came flying past on one descent and stacked it but got straight to his feet and carried on. Finally I could open my stride but a stitch took hold and a quick 30 second composure stop meant that it looked like I would lose this place but as the terrain flattened out I was able to catch James and put on a final spurt through the two feet of water and into the final half mile along the road to the finish. I was surprised to see Matthew Hart from Wantage Tri stuggling along the road so close to the finish. I tried to gee him on as the finish was 400m away, but later I found out he had fallen 3 times and was in a world of pain.

I came in at 4:41:35, 9th place in the individual event (there were a few relay teams as well - I wondered how some people were flying up the fell so quickly!). Pete followed with a brave effort for his first "middle distance" event (and some event it was!) in 5:52:01, well under his 6 hour target - great effort.

Here's Pete's outfit for next year...