Strange prizes

So whats the strangest prize you have ever won? There is marathon in France were you win your weight in Chateau Lafitte and I have heard of an athlete winning a cow and of course theres the athletics Diamond League were the winners get a share of a $million if they are unbeaten throughout the series.

Well in the recent World Quadrathlon Champions in the Czech Republic, also known as the Czech Diamond Men, I received a few strange prizes. Apart from winning 40 Euros of which the Czech tax man took 10 Euros back, thank you very much! I won a shelf.....a wooden shelf. Furniture seems to be the tradition for the world champs and the winner gets a lovely carved handmade arm chair. Miroslav Podborsky must have a house full by now. hes only lost on a handful of occasions during the last 20 years.

I also won some cleaning agents. Google translation tells me one is carpet cleaner for manual cleaning and the other is a universal alcoholic cleaner. Nice! Add to that some cans of Monster and Red Bull then of course the obligatory medal for finishing 2nd in the Vet 40-50 category and also GB coming 2nd in the team prize. If that wasn't enough add in a glass nail file....very useful. I thought it might be a letter opener.
So there you have it, my strangest prizes. I am grateful I won anything and achieved some great times and I also spent a lovely few days away with Ali, Tony, Maisy and my son Elliot, who was watching me compete at world level for the first time. We had a great time, the weather was kind(ish) and we had some cheap lovely food and some very cheap 12% beer. The race organisation is fairly low key and everyone has a fantastic time. Hopefully next year we can host it in the UK!

Box End off road quad

The Box End quadrathlon is the only off road race of the British qaudrathlon series and its bloody tough for a sprint distance. Thw swim is like most lake swims and visiblity isnt bad. I couldn't stay with the  leader and he seemed to verr about so I stuck to my line and finished in 11:17 but i think that includes the transition time. This is where I messed up a smidge... thinking I was in a triathlon I donned my helmet and shoes before noticing the paddle perched next to my bike. Hmm will anyone notice? My daughters boyfriend did.... on camera, oops. Time lost.
Into the kayak and a few wobbles from the start straight away. After a few hundred metres then its a portage over the spit of land. This is where you get out of one lake and enter the other. Its a little awkward and throws your rhythm. It is also annoying when you're not sitting straight and wobbling even more. I had a mare in other terms. Not my usual kayak phase and I got overtaken and ended up in sixth place but managed to claw back a place when Tom Stead fell out the wrong side when docking. Bloody shame as he was paddling really well and has improved immensely.
Onto the cyclocross/MTB phase and I planned to work really hard. I had my tyres pumped too hard and came a cropper on the 180 degree downhill turn, slipping on the wet grass. I dont think changing to new brake blocks the day before helped much. I caught a few of the paddlers but as there was a triathlon running similtaneously it was difficult to know the overal position. Tom overtook me in the middle lap on his home turf and put a decent gap in despite my efforts to get on to his wheel in the draft legal race. I seemed to make ground on the last lap, maybe he fell?
I know my running is my strong point and knew I would catch him but what about the others. Tom's Dad was given time checks and I asked about those ahead to which the answer was I was leading. I didnt exactly stop for a chat but kept running. Running down the side of the lake to finish I noticed other runners had overtaken Tom and that they weren't going to catch me so I saved my legs for the World Champs next weekend and eased up. Tom lost a few more places against stronger runners and maybe more experienced athletes but he has improved a lot and has more to come.
I was only a minute quicker than last year but Ali managed to take 7 minutes of her time. A fantastic swim and paddle followed by a very impressive bike ride on her heavy MTB to finish with a similar run.

So now I lead the National Trophy Series after two wins and a third. Another decent race in Bude should clinch the title for 2012.

World Champ? sadly not....only 5th!

Fresh from a win at Box End last weekend to lead the National series, we set off mid week for a 1000 mile drive from manchester to Sedlcany in the Czech Republic for the 2012 World Quadrathlon Championships.
Leaving early was meant to allow time to recover and get some training in locally. The cahnnel tunnel does save time on travelling but driving through the night to arrive early on Thursday morning did not leave Ali, Tony and myself with energy to do much. A quick paddle and a swim in the lake then a singlre bike lap on the Friday to check over the road surface and that was it.
Come race day I was nervous about the kayak section as I had not felt comfortable since becoming the Bristish and European Champ at Brigg. What has gone wrong? trying to hard I suspect.
Confidence was high in the other disciplines and I was to come second in the swim behind Stefan Teichart and lead all the other title contenders out of the water 1:25 down on Stefan.
The kayak was next and I had wobbles from the start and never got a rythym going during the 7km 5-lap course. Only posting the 15th fastest kayak i was leaving a lot to make up on the bike. I quickly set about getting into the top ten and making up lots of time. Having the 2nd fastest bike leg behind the winner got me up to 5th place with only a hilly 10km run to the finish line. Michael Hasa(CZE) was behind me so I knew I could not cruise through and supporters gave me a time check of 4 mins to the runner ahead. Posting the 2nd fastest run split left me only 24 seconds from 4th. Oh for another mile!
I am happy with the results overal and i am under no illusion that I will ever make the olympic kayak team but have another winter to get it sorted. Hopefully the coaching at Runcorn CC will pay dividends.


                                           Leading out the main contenders on the swim.

Paddling could do with some work!

Ali had a great race taking 10 minutes off her last years time, compared to my 3 minutes despite being 3mins slower on the kayak part. Ali's brother Tony also finished but had difficulties with a hip injury and had a great race in his first full distance quad.

Germany sprint distance champs at the end of the month! hoping to better last years 5th place.