So what was the Accelerace 2008 Ultra like for me? I’m not sure really; there are so many emotions rolled up in what, while it felt long, is effectively a short period of time. Where to begin…

 

I took part in the Accelerace 2007 Extreme Triathlon and I enjoyed it so much that within a couple of weeks I’d signed myself up for the Ultra Event, now some would call it daft (dad) others stupid (dad and others) but to me it made sense. So far in my rather short 2 year triathlon career the furthest I’d gone was the half ironman distance, but how hard could it be to make the leap? I was about to find out.

Probably my most annoying and yet most useful trait is the fact that I’m stubborn, so in September I drew myself up a training plan and began to train for the race. The training seemed to go on forever and the weather was no help at all, the cold, the rain, the sleet and the snow and with the distances to be covered it tended to be a rather lonely affair…also great fun! And as I began to taper for the race my feet were getting itchy which was a good sign.

 

Now you can’t do something like this on your own and the person that has been there for me the most is my wife. The fruit salads on return from the long runs or rides and the acceptance that I haven’t perhaps done as many of the jobs around the house as I know I should have. The help on the day were my Dad and Doug, my brother; admittedly, Doug was drunk when he agreed to help, but then they say that timing is everything.

 

So with a comprehensive support crew and my itchy feet I was off to Wales. The day we arrived the weather was quite good, but the forecast that I had was for bad weather, I was rather dreading the rain, you can ride and run in it but given the choice you’d rather not. We spent the night in one of the village B&B, which I’d highly recommend, Doug says the breakfast was great, he managed to get his while I was swimming.

 

The morning swim was delayed by an hour, a great decision by Ross and Chris as on looking out the window at 5 it still looked pretty dark to me, and it certainly didn’t look like a good time to be going for a swim in the Irish sea. The other good news that was clearly visible was the lack of rain; my word, was this about to be my lucky day? This was followed by more good news, the swim was to be reduced in length due to the fact that one of the marker bouys was on it’s way to Ireland and the Sea Cat would later be asked to collect it.

 

On entering the water it initially didn’t seem too bad, but then as it gets under the hood and soaks through the zip you slowly feel it. The worst part was that it was making me dizzy. Now dizzy swimming sounds like something at a child’s party, with jelly and ice cream, but this didn’t feel like a child’s party, yes it was cold like ice cream and there were big inflatable yellow things, but getting round them was no joke. At one point I must admit I thought it was going to be shortest Ultra Triathlon attempt on record, but eventually I got round.

 

The ride, what a ride, long sweeping descents and rather cheeky climbs…what was the best bit, well all of it. There were a couple of times that I had to remind myself to stop gawking otherwise I’d find myself implanted within a slate wall. I think it was at about 30 miles in that I was told that I was first, a chap and a lady were sat on a wall in a lovely village shouting encouragement. Now I can’t remember when I was last first, but I think there was an egg and spoon involved, or perhaps it was sack, anyway it was a little while ago. Of course the temptation then was to go for it, but I tried to remain steady. The scenery continued to pass aided by a favorable winds (cheers big fella). It probably should have been quite lonely out there but that feeling never materialized, my support crew were great checking up on me every few miles, ready to provide me with what ever I required. Doug admitted to being quite worried as to where all the Jordans bars they were feeding me were going? After all, what goes in must come out.

 

The ride finished with a lovely climb up Penn y Pass and a sweeping decent down into Llanberris. At this point I should probably have taken some time out but hey, when you’ve never been first in anything not involving eggs and spoons, stopping isn’t really an option. I knew the first part of the run as we’d been on holiday just down the road during the Easter break and I’d used the time to do a bit of reconnaissance. Was this a good idea, on reflection, no! Because now I new how far it was to go. What followed was by far my hardest challenge, I’ve ever done all I wanted to do was stop, but I didn’t, I walked and I tried to run although on reflection it was probably just a jog but, I kept moving. The last valley before the final climb was very cheeky, it seemed to go on for ever.

 

It was made somewhat more tortuous by the “pub gazers”, it must have been an interesting sight a chap trying to run but not going very fast, closely followed by someone on a bike (Doug), who hadn’t ridden in eight years and so was wobbly at best, then a car with headlights showing the way, what a crazy convoy, or perhaps it is your normal traffic in small Snowdonian villages at ten o’clock at night.

 

The final climb can only be described as tortuous, the wind was howling and the gradient steep; thankfully a group of local youths were at the top complete with Special Brew and Strongbow, ready to offer support, how we all chuckled. But with a glance at the map confirming that Llanberris wasn’t far away what did it matter?

The decent down was great although I’m not sure my quads would agree, more work required there I think. Passed the pubs complete with more comedians (well they thought they were funny) and onto the finish and my first ever win. The support crew had got me round and got me through what was by far the hardest thing I’ve done. But what fun and what a day!

 

So who to thank, well my support crew of course, Jo and Simon who came seconds and third and whom I was sure would come screaming past me most of the way round. Then there’s Carl who came fourth and nearly caused me to wet myself in Pete’s Eats with his tales of Pot Noodles and Pork pies, what a star. Finally and most importantly the organizers Ross and Chris, what an event, what a location and what distance, (how did you book the weather?), it was great guys. Thanks, what a day…

 

As for all the Jordans cereal bars that Doug was worried about, well lets just say I won’t be able to face any of those for a while.

 

Shaun