This sw1m option is unfair.
As I only want to do the sw1m, and not the bike or run.
Will I still be an IronMan and get a medal and official finish time?
I can’t see the problem with allowing options on the sw1m, as per LakesMan*
Provided of course it is shown highlighted on the results, and placed after all those who have done all 3 full disciplines.
The excellent LakesMan are very flexible, and you can simply drop down on the fly if necessary e.g. luckily for my m8 who cramped up badly after 1 lap but was still ok to inform the timers and continue and do bike etc rather than be DNFd right there).
As for Bolton in general, its one of the better Northern cities. The people are really fab. I love the tough bike course, and anywhere in UK has some iffy sections of tarmac.
The run support and atmos and course is particularly good.
If it’s ‘not good enough’ as a destination for some folks, than more fool them, they are missing out. And no its not an obvious family holiday destination, just a good weekend away. But yes it’s ten times cheaper and less faff to get to, and most importantly, you are less likely to die in too much daft hot weather.
I recommend it, just same as Tenby, which is significantly further away for most folks to easily get to
Arm rest worked loose - repairing it and a British Gas engineer pulls in to ask if I’ve all the tools I need. Then two runners ask if I’m okay, then if I’m doing the race
Then some people in the park asked if I was doing the race and wished me luck
It answers a lot of questions people are asking on other sites and groups, there is one guy who’s similar … ish… 10% slower… to you and it would be ideal for him.
On the blog - Tri4Kona2014
Obviously the IMUK2019 post but probably a few posts and reflections either side of that too, as well as posts 210 and 211 from June 2020 (one written about Kona but could apply to IMUK too). Was it all really 2 years ago?!
We are both Yorkshire peeps. Yet it was going to Bolton that ‘turned me’ against my anti-Lancastrian conditioning.
Lancastrians are great. (excluding Mancashire city folk obvs)
whereas Yorkshire folk are dour and miserable, and are only happy when so.
(OK not all of them, but most FFS)
So there you have it, another reason to visit Bolton and see for yourself
If I could go back and do it again I’d buy an expensive trisuit that is literally like body paint, far better for aerodynamics (my top and shorts were absolute garbage), and I’d shave my legs, and I’d use latex tubes - everything I’ve read since has led me to conclude that doing these would have given me a very significant chunk of time on the bike.
I couldn’t bring myself to do it. Too scared to after the massage incident…! I’ve made a lot of changes to my bike and clothing since, but haven’t had the chance to go out and test it. My bike in Kona was “slow” and I think it’s because I threw away 15-20 minutes through not shaving my legs and having terrible clothing and not running latex tubes. Everyone at Kona had the best tri-suits and shaved legs. 15 minutes faster on the bike would have looked a lot better. So I’m still learning…