sluiper

Perhaps a poor choice of phrase there?

Sure, that happens quite often. As there are only about 15-20 ladies in the Elite group, there's a lot less drafting.

Ha, yes, but it was all for nought When I got to the top most of the group were gone. And then we were forced to fall back behind the ladies, so a good time was kind of out the window... Anyways, was still good fun.

Jeez, I hate that stupid Bothmaskloof hill. Dropped my chain at the pump house, had to get off to put it on again, never saw the front of the group again. Ah, well, could have been worse. At least the wind wasn't too bad.

Sjoe, that would be nice!

Sure, so elites start at 6:30, then Vets A, then Vets B, then A, then B, etc. 4 minute gaps in between.

I'm guessing AL is actually A, BL is actually B, etc.

My guess is for a new 70.3 in the Cape Town area. There's definitely a market for it here as every single triathlon on the calendar has sold out so far this year.

Read closely. "Transfer" means you can transfer the entry to another race, e.g. Ironman Switzerland or whatever, not to another athlete.

I think the only instance they should give a refund would be if there is a waiting list and you pay a substantial cancellation fee (e.g. 50% of entry fee). In other words, you don't handle the substitution yourself, the next person on the waiting list gets your slot. This would negate the situation where people do a "substitution" but they're actually selling the entry at a markup, as well as situations where people enter and then just cancel because they didn't train.

Yes, yes, I saw all that, no need to shout. I could provide x-rays too, if required, but the surgeon's report would be hard to get hold of for less than R500. Really, my contact is pretty reasonable. Let me know if any of you guys need to take some time off work or something.

Look, seriously, I understand your pain. But give me 20 minutes and R300 and I can get a doctor's certificate specifying any injury you'd like. I would be completely against them changing their policy. Ironman is the one event that doesn't have a bunch of hyenas picking around at the edges because of the "no substitution" policy. I wish more events would have this policy.

No, sorry, but it doesn't work. I've seen this time and again with the Argus and other sold out events. Even when the organisers handle the transfer (like the Argus), there's always some @rsehole who wants to make a quick buck at the expense of someone else.

Sorry to hear about your wife, but I for one am in complete agreement with their policy. As soon as you start allowing subs/transfers, you're going to get people selling their entries at an inflated price. Nothing irritates me more than people scalping tickets to make money off someone else.

Results are available here:http://iqela-events.co.za/slanghoek/results/provisional-slanghoek-traithlon-2013%20results2.pdf

It was a bit short, I think. My foot pod measured it at about 9.5km, but it's not always 100% accurate. I didn't see anyone running up the southern side, but there weren't that many ahead of me so it might have happened later.

Sounds like a day which taught you a lot of lessons Yeah, I saw lots of glass on the road. Maybe the organisers should do something about the huge amount of glass on the road? I'm not expecting them to sweep the road like the Ironman guys, but maybe send someone along the course just to get the huge shards and half-broken bottles out the road?

Awesome race today. The swim in the 18-34 group was quite hectic and I got belted over the head a few times. It thinned out soon enough, but maybe they should think of 2 waves next time. The bike course was definitely an improvement over last year, even though it was a bit shorter. Less turns, more grinding. The run course looked like a sandpit this year and contained about 500m of tar, so not much of a road run. Felt like a beach run for a lot of the way. About 4 or five stream crossings with the last one about 30-40cm deep. I felt awful for the people who were still busy slogging it out at 12 o'clock with the temperatures nearing 30 degrees! I saw a woman at the 2nd turnaround point for the bike as I was driving home: she looked like she was in a lot of trouble. Made my goal of finishing top 25%, but need to work hard on the run as I dropped about 10 places at a 5:15/km pace.

Nice race report. Thanks for all the work at the front of the +1 group

Yes, the pace was nice and fast for a change.

I use this. Works pretty well. Link: http://www.swimcyclerun.com/turbo-trainers/jetblack-sweat-net-bike-sweat-cover.html They sometimes have them at Sportsman's Warehouse.

I don't know if time on a MTB equals time on a TT bike. MTBing requires bursts of energy with short periods of recovery in between, whereas Ironman TTing requires long periods of sustained power with little/no recovery in between. Last season I predominately spent time on my road & TT bikes and did the occasional MTB event. I really struggled with the MTBing, but did pretty well in most road and TT-style events. I guess you could see the MTBing as interval training, but if I was in the same situation I'd rather spend time on the trainer and the road. Leading up to the Ironman you should be doing 4 to 6 hour rides on a weekly basis in conditions similar to race day, and I can't really see how you'd achieve that on a single track. I'd rather focus on ways to make your road riding safer than try to exclude it altogether. Maybe join a competitive club in the area and ride with them, ride on seldom used roads, make yourself more visible, etc.

Sjoe, that was a tough day. That wind coming back was very, very tough.

True champion. Sad to see him at less than 100%, but it's been great to see him race all these years.

How about this one for minimalism: http://www.gumtree.co.za/cp-sports-bicycles-fitness-in-robertson/giant-533222666