Toby Radcliffe

TCL Sports Sponsored Triathlete

Trans RockiesRun - I made it! (just)
September 9th, 2009

Days 1 and 2 Ouch (gasp)! Unlike in London, where amongst the smog you can find Oxygen as a vital component of air, its hard to find in the mountainous air of the Rockies.

Despite coming out to Boulder (5430ft) ten days before the start of our 6 day, 113m adventure through the Colorado Rockies, acclimatization is proving difficult. But that's all part of the fun! And FUN is definitely the word for this epic stage race.

The Trans Rockies Run is a two-man team race. Team Timex is Will and I. Will Kelsay, a gun XTERRA triathlete and Colorado local, is dragging my sorry behind across the Rockies so far as I wheeze like a winded moose hanging (today) off the back of a toe rope as we ascend 3000 feet over the course of 3 miles of brutal uphill as part of a morning's work.

We drove up to Buena Vista on Saturday, picking Jonathan from Salt Stick on the way. 3 hours later we were around 7400 ft and registering, and being given a LOT of kit. I must admit to having gotten a little altitude obsessed, especially since the WS4's that Timex sent us last week have an altitude function. It came in very handy today to track how far up the ascent we were - moving from 9600 feet to 12600 feet in 3 miles, my lungs were at threshold just walking up Hope Pass. But it was worth it for the downhill. Unfortunately I stacked it chasing after Will to the finish (descending 3400 ft in 30 minutes).

Read the full report on Toby's Ransacker blog - here

Ironman UK Race Report

IMUK had moved up North to Bolton from its location over the last few years down in Dorset. Never a race to pick an easy, quick course, the Bolton location offered a rolling bike course with plenty of corners in it and little chance to maintain solid speed. Lots of gear and pace changing ensured that while the bike course wasn't challenging in a massive climb sense, it was by no means going to be fast. The exact details of the run course was kept pretty much under wraps until race day, but was also undulating to hilly and 100% on road. The swim at least should have been straight forward - a two lap affair in Rivington reservoir - calm and fairly sheltered...but even here, the organisers decided that perhaps a few extra hundred meters would make the swim more suitable to the IMUK ethos.

Heavy rain in race week had turned the race site and transition area into a mud bath. Luckily the weather held out on race day, although there were some solid headwinds to push against at some points on the bike.

The build up the race was a relief for me. No muscle aches or insipient pain - before my last IM attempt in Oz the day before my ITBs and quads were already warning me that they were going to give me grief the next day if I tried to do anything more than stroll anywhere. Taper this time had meant that I was rested and recovered, rather than just giving the medication a couple of clear days to cause havoc with my recovery pathways...

Read more from Toby's Team Timex blog - here

Race Report: Nove Colli Ultra Run

While 11,000 cyclists relaxed and tinkered with their bikes the day before the Italian classic bike race the Nove Colli , about 100 runners were getting ready to run the same route as the cyclists, albeit with an 18 hour head start. While the hardened few had their sights set on the full 200km run, and were preparing to run through the night, most of us were aiming for one of the shorter finishing lines. I had set my sights on the 85km finish. This would take in the first four of the classic nine hills, and would be the farthest that I had ever run.

It hadn�t taken much convincing, but I had talked fellow London ironman and ultra runner Vicki Worster (pic left) into running too. The Italian attitude to race organisation was refreshing. Despite trying to sign up for the race from the UK several weeks earlier, we ended up signing up on the morning about an hour before we were due to start at 12noon. Having hung around Cesenatico for a few hours watching the mercury rise into the mid-30s, we were both remarkably relaxed. The first 21kms were to be run as a group due to the busy roads and towns we had to get through before the hills kicked in. This meant that the pace was leisurely and very sociable. Pre-start, at the briefing (which we diligently sat through despite understanding very little of it) about 12 people were called up for their notable achievements either at the race (previous winners and record holders), or at other races: there was a RAAM finisher, a decaman, among other ultra-junkies and individuals of phenomenal running credentials. It was good to know that so many of the field were such awesome athletes. And to get to run with these people made the start of the run all the more interesting.

We set off with a police escort, a pacing van, a guy hanging out of the back of a people carrier with a TV camera, a couple of marshals on bikes and a group of about 20 costumed men and women with little wooden wheelbarrows. What these represented completely passed us by, but they must have been getting in and out of cars for the first 15kms as they appeared in formation at several points along the first part of the course.

After a while, the police escort disappeared, as did the mysterious men with wheelbarrows, and the pack started to spread out a little. Vicky and I joked that we were �leading� the run as we took a couple of cheeky turns at the front (also getting some camera time J), just ahead of a man who seemed to be pacing the first leg. I discovered this as if I ran in front of him, one of the marshals kept telling me to �go calmly�.

At the 21km mark, there was a massive food station. Getting there with the pacer, I figured I had a few minutes to get some food in. A bowl of pasta, some biscuits, strawberries, a small glass of red (it is Italy after all), and a chat. It all seemed far too like a garden party. We were under the impression that there would be a regroup and a second start at this point, so when Vicky pointed out people running up the road towards the first hill, we reconsidered - clearly the second start was an informal affair done Italian style.

So I set off, feeling good going uphill and running past people who were walking already. I quickly ran through the field, happily making my way up the first hill. After a time I figured I was in the lead. There was no one up ahead and the stream of people wound down the hill into the valley behind me. I pressed on, following the road signs into the first town on the Nove Colli route - Bertinoro. As a footnote here I would like to point out that usually I am good at finding my way, reading maps and generally having a clue as to where I am (even if it is only a rough idea) and how to get to where I am going. Perhaps the need for mileage on the bike in training has promoted a slight tendency to try to get lost, but this is usually on purpose! Nevertheless, for the second time in a fortnight, the realisation dawned that perhaps I had strayed off the race route somehow. I had reached the village and everything seemed familiar (we had cycled the front five hills a few days prior), except that I seemed to have come into the main street from the wrong direction. Something twigged about the run route being slightly different to the bike route over the flat section, and it seems that we had approached the first hill from another route.

Read more from Toby's Ransacker blog - here