Freespeed Dominate - UK 70.3 Wimbleball June 2011

For the first time this season all four of the Freespeed team athletes were down to race at the same event, Ironman UK 70.3. Having been to Devon to practice the course a month ago the decision was taken to combine the race with a camping trip in the beautiful Wimbleball countryside. This looked to be a flawed decision on arrival as 24 hours of torrential rain had left the fields and surrounding roads in a state that had everyone questioning their choice of carbon race wheels.

As luck would have it the rain and wind subsided during Saturday night and clear and chilly conditions greeted the 1600 athletes as they made their way into the freezing lake.

Stuart Anderson Sailfish G Range


This was a good test for the new team Sailfish G Range wetsuits and good swims by the three boys saw them come out of the water ahead of the team fish, Jenny – she’ll get her own back at a future race for sure. In the meantime, all four were on the bike and pushing hard. Stu quickly made it to the front of the age group field and comfortably stayed there until T2, coming off the bike side by side with one other athlete. Dec had worked his way through the field into a good position to attack the run and Tim was well placed in the 40-44 age group. Jen meanwhile was inside the top ten overall, loving her brand new Blue Triad SL and holding a position 3 minutes down on the first female age grouper, Tracy Cook.

Stuart Anderson


Jenny Gowans Blue Triad SL


Once on the run, Stu stormed to victory in the amateur race and 8th overall holding a gap of never more than 30 seconds to the chasing athlete in second place. Dec ran through to 4th place amateur and Tim kept it strong to take the third spot on his age group podium. Jen was struggling to make an impact on Tracy Cook who still held a two minute gap with three miles to go but a late surge brought her to the line in first place and a double amateur race win for Team Freespeed. A dream result and hundred per cent success rate for the team at the awards ceremony.

Jenny Gowans


Tim Bishop



Declan Doyle


Next up was the World Championship roll down and needless to say all four picked up their slots to Las Vegas in September and can’t wait to get out there and race the best in the world.



Team Freespeed Compressport

All of the above wouldn’t have been possible without our sponsors and it was a lot of fun to spend time with Tim from Compressport over the weekend – he was also celebrating some great results in the pro ranks. All four of the team are genuinely surprised at how good their legs are feeling in the days after the race.





New race kit from Skinfit has now arrived and custom design training kit is in production – exciting times with a major sponsorship announcement to be made in the next week or so.

The Wisco Disco - Ironman Wisconsin 2009

Short Report
2nd 35 -39 Age group, 5th Amateur, 18th Overall out of 2400 in a time of 9.33:18
Qualified for The World Championships in Kona- Hawaii 2010

Detailed report
My early decision to take a year out from Kona in 2009 wasn't taken lightly. When I qualified again this year in Lanzarote, turning down that golden ticket and all that it meant to me was the hardest race decision I've ever made. My friends all thought I was clinically insane... Tim and Dec my training buddies, who had targeted later races, thought I was nuts!! I had a plan that 2010 would be my special year and I was confident that with the right coaching and support from Richard Hobson, Mette (my girlfriend) and I could make it happen...

I arrived in Wisconsin and hooked up with Tri legend - Ken Glah. Ken had organised my accommodation and transfer. Ken now runs a Ironman specific travel company called Endurance Sports Travel The following day we rode the course. It was every bit as hilly as I was led to believe, not on a Lanzarote scale, but tough enough to play to my strengths. Thank goodness I had selected the right gearing, I was running a 56/39 with an 11/26 on the back. There were lots of fast corners with intermittent steep sections. With the 56 I could make time up on the downhills, where other bikers would be using their brakes or free wheeling.

Come race day I was ready, I woke at 0430hrs for a 0700hrs start. Experience has taught me I need to eat at least two hours before a race in order for nature to take its course! The Ironman had truly rolled into town and nothing would stand in its way. I later found out that the previous day a fisherman had drowned in Lake Monona and they had been dredging all night looking for the body. Thankfully they had found the poor soul, but this wasn't good Karma. I put my thoughts about this aside...but the water was so cloudy and murky that I found it difficult to think of any thing else, whilst tredding water on the start. BOOM..... the cannon sounded and I was off. I had positioned myself on the pace line, a little optimistically in fairness, but I was used to a bit rough and tumble. I normally just put this down to racing. I don't believe its due to anyone being purposefully malicious. At about 800m into the swim I realised I'd gone marginally off course, the sun was in my eyes and I'd gone maybe 70m off course. I had basically been ploughing through other athletes but heading in the wrong direction!! I quickly corrected this and continued to work hard to regain the distance I'd lost. I began to leave the pack and edge up to the athletes ahead. Either they were dying or I was so far off course that the normal guys I'd be up with were long gone!! No one passed me on the second 1900m loop...My Sailfish wetsuit felt great, super comfortable. I exited the water about 3 Min's down of where I expected. In distance terms this is about 100-200 metres and this accounted for my poor sighting....Grrr! I later found out I was 293 overall at this point with a time of 1.04:39.

Transition One - This is totally crazy, it must be the longest transition ever. After your encounter with wetsuit strippers, who make you lay on your back before they peel your suit off. Then you run from ground level up the helix of a multistory car park to the 4th floor, pick up your bag and change before running out to the car park to pick up your bike to descend down another helix....
All this took me 5.07. The fastest pro guys were 3.58. It has to be seen to be believed......
The bike was a 23km out and back from Madison with 67km loop in the middle which was repeated twice. I liked this idea taking the race out on to quiet country roads so the main roads, in and out, of Madison weren't effected. For the first 90 Min's of the bike I pushed really hard trying to make up for my lost time in the swim. From time to time I'd pick up someone who'd try to hold my wheel, but confidently I'd push on. After two hours I caught a group who were riding legally, but clearly rotating through and working together. I knew there were three hills coming up and I left my attack until then, leaving them in my wake. I needed to push and hold over 400 watts to break the group and this would come back to haunt me later. A stronger Czech guy stayed with me but was later red carded for drafting. For the remainder of the race, I had caught two guys, one from Boulder called Shane and German guy called Stefan. Both were strong and we were riding the same pace. We had to keep out of each others draft zone as we were constantly shadowed by the race marshals. At around 3 hours I started to lose sight of them and they pulled away. My mega power intervals had pushed me over my red line and up came my breakfast.... I eased off and left it 15 Min's before I tried to take on some water. Thankfully the answer was yes, this gave me the chance to take on more Infinit energy and within minutes, I was back. I used only 2 bottles of concentrated Infinit on the bike and diluted this with water from my aero bottle. I reeled in other bikers passing the female Pro's who had started 10 min prior. I knew then that I was ii the sharp end of the race and I was charged...I'd biked 5.05:01 averaging 35.5kmh....

The second transition from bike to run was shorter and I tore through it, equaling or beating most of the Pro's in 2.06 Min's

I stormed out of the Monona Exhibition Hall transition area hitting the tarmac hard. I knew I had a 3 hour marathon somewhere, the question was would I find it here in Wisconsin...The first part of the run took us into downtown Madison and I was able to settle into a relaxed pace. I felt good, hydrated with no stomach issues. I was taking a gel every 15 Min's, chasing it with water. After the first 10km this changed.... the course became difficult to maintain a rhythm, It was up down, left, right, onto a sidewalk and then back onto the road and my pace began to wain.. Note to self, always recce the run course too, this was simply bad admin on my part. I should have biked it before the race. It really is a crazy course... at one point we ran into the 100'000 seater 'Wisconsin Badgers' American football stadium, round the touch line and back out!!!

At the half way point Mike Reilly shouted over the speaker that I was the 5th amateur, third in my Age Group and that number one was just in front..... this was like a red rag to a bull, I pushed on. Suddenly I saw a guy walking in front. He was the lead guy in my age... great I thought, 1 more to go. I could see him in front, Brian was his name. I was catching him each mile, but the second lap had become really congested. At the aid stations It had become increasingly harder to be re supplied with sponges and water. Each aid station was laid out in a different format and I found myself having to stop and often walk back to the water supplier, who had missed my shouts for water as I ran passed. This had began to annoy me as I kwew I would have to burn the precious seconds that I had worked so hard for... Eventually I caught Brian and passed him decisively. I could hear his feet disappear, and knew he hadn't come with me. I was now leading my Age group and was third amateur overall. The race was mine too lose.... and this became a real possibility. I had used GU gels for this race,which were not my usual choice and they were giving me gas!!!Not good.... at this point I was concerned about having a You tube incident, so had to duck into a portaloo. Can you believe that the first two were both occupied. Typical ehh...I really didn't expect this, I even mindlessly started to queue. I frantically ran through the next aid station looking for the loo, and thank goodness found one.... I was almost disappointed having burnt all this time to find out it was just wind. Brian had re passed me and was now 200m up the road. I had just the up hill stretch home to catch him..... I had run out of road, despite upping my pace I wasn't able to bridge the gap. I was now surrounded by so many athletes on their first lap he was difficult to pick out ahead. I took solace that I was now finishing my marathon and that my race was almost over. I decided to enjoy it, ignoring the the younger age grouper who ran by me, Thorsten was his name. I celebrated with the crowd, high five-ing everyone and doing a 'Tim Don' aeroplane down the finishing flume... It felt just awesome!!!

3.16:28 not my fastest Ironman marathon, but it had put me 18th overall, 5th amateur and 2nd in my Age Group. I missed 1st by just 41 seconds.....

Job done - Kona 2010 here I come - Hooray!!!!

Sailfish Attack -Wetsuit Review 2009

Sailfish wetsuits has four suits in their range progressing from an entry level suit through to the top end ‘G–Range’. I had agreed to test a suit with a view to racing in it but time was running out as I was off to Lanza in two days!! A suit arrived directly from Germany by express delivery the next day. I had gambled on the sizing and was hoping it would be right.

The first thing that I noticed when I unwrapped my delivery was that it comes in a really cool bag. It’s a little like a paper delivery/couriers bag with a shoulder strap. There’s mesh on one side for the water to drain out and enough room to put swim toys, or towels. It’s a great idea as I usually use a Sainsbury’s ‘bag for life’

Secondly the wetsuit looks cool…. and the seams are blind stitched and glued flat… There’s only so much that a wetsuit manufacturer can do with graphics, but I like what Sailfish have done and also the fact its named after the fastest fish in the ocean. Maybe this would create some good karma for my imminent race!!

The wetsuit I was testing was the ‘Sailfish Attack’ which is one of their mid range models. Upon examining it I noticed how light it was, much lighter than my previous suit, which I’ve had since 07. I followed Jan’s easy instructions on how to put it on. My current wetsuit takes me 15 mins to get a good fit, I had managed to put the Sailfish suit on in a couple of minutes.Once I had it on, I realised it was too big. I had learnt that the fit is more important than how much it costs. To sum up… a good fitting cheaper wetsuit may out perform a bad fitting expensive one. Faced with the dilemma of what to wear – I reverted back to racing in my current wetsuit.

Not to be put off, Sailfish sent me a smaller suit, this time it fitted ultra snugly. The collar sat neatly on my neck line and despite forgetting my body glide I experienced no chaff... This is especially good if you work in an office and don’t like attending meetings with what looks like ‘love bites’ on your neck. The forearm has what Sailfish call ‘Aqua reach zones’ which increase water resistance during the pull phase of the stroke. I must admit
it felt really comfortable and my range of motion across my shoulders was superb. The inner arm and shoulder area has this ultra super stretchy neoprene which is designed to aid performance by reducing any restrictions in the pull and recovery phase – It felt really good!

In the water the ‘Sailfish Attack’ felt very buoyant, correcting my body position. It has strengthened hip panels which optimise your body position to avoid hip rolling!! On my first swim I felt as if I was moving quite fast…. I was cruising along with very little effort. So I decided to test it against my current suit in a ‘head to head’.

I swam 400m warm up then did 200m all out in each suit, with 100m easy in between each 200m. I repeated the same test the next day but swapped the order I swam in each wetsuit. Now I know this is a really crude test but the results are evident, the Sailfish suit was quicker….

Test Day 1

Sailfish Attack – 2.31 secs
2007 Current wetsuit – 2.45 secs

Test Day 2

2007 Current suit – 2.40 secs
Sailfish Attack 2.32 secs

So how would this have affected my time at Ironman Lanza…. Well who knows? My swim split was 1.03 as I took off my suit before I went over the timing mat. Maybe I would have broken the hour??? Something I’m yet to do. I finished in 9.53 and although I qualified for Kona I’ve decided to make 2009 a build year, for a dream year in 2010 ;so I didn’t accept my slot. I want to attain a top 10 position in my age in Kona and I think I will need longer than 4 months to build for this

To sum up, it’s nice to finish first British Age Grouper, 20th Age Grouper overall, and it’s good to come away from a race believing that it’s still possible to go faster. Lanzarote is such a well organised race. Kenneth Gasque, the Race Director, makes all the competitors feel really welcome. I’ve already registered for 2010, but next time I’ll be in a Sailfish!!