The best inspiration is not to outdo others, but to outdo ourselves

This event was a race with a bit of a difference as it was a joint effort between the junior and senior members of the tri club.  The idea was mainly to have some fun and to bring everybody together in a social setting.  The race comprised of the short course duathlon, minus the second run and was called the Junior Senior Relay.  The idea was that children would be paired with their adult counterparts, the children would complete a run and then the adults would complete the cycle section.  April and I went intending to race as team Pendery, Daniel and Ryan came along too to support us and to join in with the planned barbecue afterwards.

Things didn't go entirely to plan as very few adult members of the club turned up to race.  There were something like 33 kids and about 14 adults.  In the end this meant that the 1.6 mile run around the lake at Pugneys was split into 2 with the children running one half or the other, some in twos because their team had three children.  April stayed with me and we were also teamed with a young man named Robert.  April ran the first half of the lake and then tagged Robert for him to run  the rest of the way around and tag me.  April was behind everybody else, perhaps partly due to her desire to chat as she ran instead of properly concentrating on the job in hand.  So Robert was the last child to return to transition to tag his grown up.

April and I had been expecting to end up last anyway, realism is a great thing.  I just hoped that our new team member wouldn't be too disappointed at being teamed with us!  Anyway, I cycled off as fast as I could.  I did find it quite hard going, no doubt because I'd been so tired earlier on in the day.  The slog up the hill to West Bretton was a major effort.  Still, I finished the short duathlon course in around 35 minutes, I was reasonably happy with that.  Naturally, I was last, there was a good cheer awaiting my return and I was pleasantly surprised to see that Robert had waited there to welcome me back.  He came up and said well done.  So, thank you Robert, that was much appreciated.

It was fun to be in a team with April.  Robert was a welcome addition to that.  The food afterwards was good and very welcome after the energy expended getting up that hill.  We didn't stay too long because it was getting very late for the kids and it was gradually raining more and more heavily.  However, it was a pleasant evening and something I would certainly be happy to repeat next year.