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

I'm writing about what April's been up to again. She has just taken part in her first ever swimming gala. She has been swimming with the E group of the swim training scheme since January and only hasn't done a gala before because we were away when the last one took place. She was chosen to swim backstroke and front crawl, her breaststroke still has a few issues, although it is getting better.

Today was a day for standing by and watching, cheering very loudly and willing them on. The kids were out there competing again. They both really enjoyed these events last year and were very keen to take part in them again - even when faced with another dip in the lake! Once again we took a good sized cheering committee down to the Rother Valley to support them in their efforts, not quite as big a one as last year, but still. Daniel and I were there (of course), but also my Mum and Dad, so they were suitably yelled for as they raced.

Today saw both kids again making their way in the world of multi-sport events.  April took part in her first ever duathlon, while Ryan faced his second scootathon.  We were quite a long from home at Stanford Hall, but very near to where Daniel's Mum lives, so the kids had the added bonus of having Grandma and Derek there to support them on their big day.  It was a full morning of racing with adult races going off before the children.  We arrived rather too early in the end and that put the only blot on an otherwise good morning out - they were hanging around waiting

Racking the Bike

Scootathon

Second Run

Today saw April take on her second triathlon.  She was somewhat nervous going into it, so was I on her behalf - it's almost worse than doing it yourself!  She hasn't had much time for training as we seem to have been very busy and then her bike spent most of the last week at the repair shop after she fell off it on Monday and managed to snap the brake lever off it - not good (she didn't half cry!).  Anyway, this was a good race for us in many ways as it was local and organised by people that April knows, a lot of the kids that she knows from the tri club were taking part alth

Back to Transition

Running

Run out with the Bike

Today marked an important event in the lives of both of our children, they completed their very first multisport events!  April has been saying that she wanted to do a triathlon since she was five years old, something about being like her mad mummy and Ryan was adamant that he wanted to take part too when he heard about the scootathon.  The children's races were the start of the weekend of racing organised by pacesetter events at the Rother Valley Country Park - The Rother Valley Triathlon Festival.  We all travelled down there nice and early to make sure we had time to get o

The Finish

Medals

The Run

Fun2Tri organise two excellent races each year starting from the Stratford upon Avon Leisure Centre. Both the Stratford 220 Trathlon and the Warwickshire Triathlon start in the pool there and follow the same course through the Warwickshire Countryside and along the River Avon.  The Straford 220 is the largest pool swim triathlon in Britain and is accompanied by a Triathlon Show where you can see and buy all manner of triathlon related kit.

Multisport races can be completed with a minimum amount of kit, they also have the potential to be very expensive.  There is a world of possibilities out there, training and racing provides the gadget buff with all the excuses they'll ever need to research and purchase vast amounts of stuff but fear not, it is entirely possible to race without most of it and for your first foray into multisports, less is definitely more. 

The costs of competing in a multisport race are very varied and there is a solution out there to fit every pocket.  The most obvious consideration is the race entry fee itself and I'll be talking about that and some of the incidental costs in this, the third article in my Beginners' Guide Series.  Kit can be another major cost but I'll cover that in other articles.

Charges for races range from next to nothing to hundreds of pounds, with the distance, location and popularity of the event all having an influence on how much it'll cost you to enter. 

Welcome to the second article in my Beginners' Guide Series, so far we've discussed why you'd want to race and now we'll look at how to pick that all important first event.

If you're reading this then you've probably already decided to give it a go.  If you're still trying to make up your mind then read on ...

Why do we do it?  And yes, insanity is an often suggested motivation.  However, there are many good reasons: