David Hirst Completes London Triathlon for Niemann-Pick

David writes: 

I competed in the London Triathlon in early August for the Niemann-Pick Disease Group (UK). I was entered in the Olympic distance, which started with a 1500m swim followed by 40km cycle and a 10km run. The event is the largest triathlon in world, with over 13,000 competitors taking part over the course of the weekend.

A broken hand (mountain biking) just over one month before the event hindered my training, but fortunately I recovered to a level good-enough to still compete.

The start and finish is at the Excel building next to the Royal Albert Docks, and the swim in the dock was a real challenge, with a mass start of around 300 people in each group. The route is simple – 750 out and back, but the return was into wind, which made the water quite choppy. The two main differences to pool swimming are not being able to rest every 25m on a turn, and trying to keep a straight course (it is possible to add a lot of distance by zigzagging all the way!).

The cycle was made up of two loops of a 20km course out to Tower Bridge and back, with the fastest section through a tunnel in which I clocked just over 40mph, only to be met with the climb back out the other side.

As I came into transition for the run, bad stomach cramp slowed my start, but fortunately the flat course twice around the side of the dock and back to Excel meant that I completed the entire event in just over 2hr 30min, which was my initial goal.

My split times were:

Swim, 1500m = 27mins 19secs
Cycle, 40km = 1hr 08mins 59secs
Run, 10km = 54mins 18secs

Total = 2hrs 35mins 53secs