Loch Lomond Highland Games, Balloch, Scotland - Sprint Triathlon
16th July 2011
Report by Shaun Sinclair
It seems lame to write a report for this race, having just read Darren's narrative about going to hell & back in Switzerland. How do you follow that!?
No super human feats of strength or endurance here. But to make up for that, the water was freezing, the rain was cold and there was a really steep bit on the bike and run. And I had a minor crash on the bike section....So there. It was sort of ‘tough’! Honest.
To begin at the beginning, last autumn. This was all Alex’s fault, really. I was quietly putting right seven years of inactivity (since the arrival of our first child), dabbling in some lunchtime swimming. 39 years old, 40 next July. No hint of a midlife crisis. Then, blinking Alex Ilyat......
"Why not do the Club Tri in May?" said Alex
"Tricky Al. I don't have a suitable bike" said I
"No problem" said Al. "You can borrow my 'yellow flash' racing steed with matching size 10 yellow shoes, wonky pedal & fragile chain currently retired in the shed!"
"Oh go on then!" said I
I paraphrase a little of course.
Said bike arrived at work a few days later and I had publicly committed to having a go at this triathlon lark. I consider that I’m not a bad swimmer (compared to your average punter), but I always despised running. The bike thing is alright. And as I explained to Ellie, "the bike bit is fine 'cos you get to sit down for a while". I was genuinely surprised when she said that was slightly amusing.
Longish story made short. The run was clearly my weakest ‘discipline’ (used that word in the most general sense). Did some running starting in January (ancient old trainers bought in 1999). Once I was able to go more than 2k without vomiting, furnished myself with a ‘proper’ pair of shoes (from Triexercise on Market Street, purveyors of fine shoes, multi sport apparel and other accessories). I sent off my cheque for club membership and the club triathlon in May.
It was serious now. I (a Scotsman) had parted with real money, so there was no going back.
And to the point. Somewhere in the dizzy depths of last winter, looking at the big ‘4-0’ in July, I thought I better come up with a way of marking the day. And with the help of Google, found the Loch Lomond Highland Games Triathlon, a mere one day before my birthday. As a kid I spent a lot of time there, canoeing, sailing, that sort of stuff. I had even swum in the loch a few times, and didn’t remember it being that cold. Perfect! A family holiday afterwards too, show the kids the ‘old country’. That’s what I said to Jo (my wife), as I put my credit card details into the relevant bit at entrycentral.com. A whole £20 in the click of a mouse. I was taken aback to find I was considered a veteran on the list of entrants. A mistake surely!?
So, fast forward to July. The weather forecast looked rubbish all week for the west of Scotland, and the night before was a monsoon, as promised. Long drive to Scotland. We took a cheap room for the family at Dumbarton for the night before. I tried to make sense of the ‘race pack’ maps & descriptions. Maps were back of an envelope style. (makes you realise how good they are for the club tri & PCT).....
I arrived at the event in good time - being a real novice I need time to make sure I have got the key items (bike, runners etc). The event starts in Balloch Castle Country Park. This is a most attractive ornamental castle gardens, with large lawned areas sloping down to the lochside with many spectacular mature trees.
The transition area was set up on the banks of the loch on a grassy area next to a slipway into the loch (convenient kids play area right there too - there is only so long our kids will watch me faff around with my stuff wondering where to lay it out). Fortunately the sheeting rain was now just a soft drizzle.
I registered for the race & picked up my ‘goodie bag’ from the kilted race organiser (contents better than expected including a snappy pair of polarising sunglasses). The transition area was taped off like a crime scene with no racking. I’m not sure if this is normal or not, but the spaces for each competitor were spray painted boxes on the grass. Fine by me - lots of space for my 1996 Rockhopper, restored especially for the event.
The assembled competitors were a mixed bunch - experienced racers, novices like me, and dare I say it, some less athletic looking individuals than even I am (total of 96 competitors).
So, suited & ready to go, we had the race briefing delivered by more kilted blokes, and hit the loch for ‘acclimatisation’. The first moments in were taken up with involuntary gasps, but settled down to just an ice cream head after a few minutes.
Apparently over the years, it has become a tradition that the race is preceded by the athletes singing the first verse of ‘Loch Lomond’ accompanied by a fiddler..... well you could call it singing........Anyway, with that bit over, the race was started by the ‘Chieftain o’ the Games’, sporting a fine highland gents outfit with a feather in his cap (think Richard Briers in Monarch of the Glen).
And we were off, 600m out and back course parallel with the bank, mostly water you could just stand up in and surprisingly clear. I was out around 20th from the swim, and that is as good as it gets for me, so perhaps I should just stop right there.
But not to worry, I was on to the bit where I get to have a little ‘sit down’ (see above)! The bike ride is almost all off road (traffic free 12km), and follows reasonable paths through the country park, and after a short bit of tarmac, onto a rough farm track. I was passed by a few riders on the first 3k before the track deteriorated into a rough tractor track with loads of bumps, rocks, and puddles you could loose a small child in. I tested the depth of one after catapulting over the bars of my bike in a particularly deep one - a mouthful/facefull of manky water, splat flat out! Fortunately this incident was only witnessed by one other, who kindly enquired as to my well being as he passed by! The only damage was dented pride, so onwards through an area best described as a midden for what seemed like a whole kilometer. Half way round it was back onto rough tracks with fabulous views over the loch and surrounding mountains, and a fast long descent back to the Country Park and transition (avoiding the occasional Labrador with a razor wire extending lead).
For the uninitiated this part of Loch Lomond marks the boundary between the Scottish Central Lowlands and the start of the Highlands. You can see the line of islands across the loch which lie bang on the Highland Boundary Fault. Impressive!? Ok, enough geology....
The run is only 3k, but is quite steep to begin, and I even passed a couple of competitors on the way. The course is really pleasant, on rough made paths in the Country Park, and the finish is in the main Highland Games ‘arena’, right where the cabers are being tossed and pipe bands are... well... piping. There was a good crowd too (Balloch Highland Games can have as many as 10,000 visitors and is one of the three biggest Games in Scotland), perhaps slightly fewer this year because of the overnight rain. The ‘arena’ was sopping wet, but a fine way to finish the race.
No showers to be had as far as I could tell, so I had a dip in the loch to clean the mud off, and it was much warmer second time around. How strange!
I finished 29th out of 96 in 1h 03m 09s - very happy with that. A well organised & well marshalled event.
And that is it, my fourth ever ‘tri’.
I will go back to this race next year, since it fits in with a visit ‘home’ to see the family. It’s a long trip to make from Pembrokeshire, but not a bad place to linger and spend a week taking in the other things the area has to offer.
