Ironman Weymouth 70.3, 22 Sept 2019

On Sunday 22nd September 2019 I completed my 2nd Ironman Weymouth 70.3. After a few weeks of checking the weather and praying to the weather gods, it was looking it was going to another wet race! Racking and registration happened on Saturday, but it was still a nice early start to check everything in transition at 6:15.

After getting there early it was reported the swim was going to be pushed back half an hour and shortened due to the weather conditions, resulting in a repeat of last year. This is unfortunate for me as swimming is my strongest discipline - but I still had to focus on the long race ahead.

I got to the front of the of the queue for the swim start and was in about the 5th wave of 4 people to go in the swim. The swim felt good and I exited the water first in my age group and about 6th woman.

I ran into the transition tent, in ironman events all your equipment, except bike, go into 2 transition bags - 1 for the bike and 1 for the run. I put socks and a jersey on to ensure I was warm and comfy for the 90km bike.

I got out on the bike swiftly and got straight into the aero position. I felt strong and hadn’t clocked the speed I was going until 45km, where I had hit the marker in under 1hr 30 (meaning I was on track for a sub 3 hour bike). At 60km is Revels Hill, a tough hill - starting off steep and then continues to climb gradually until the last feed station. There was a head wind on the last 20km, but I kept on the aero bars and kept pushing. I kept to my nutrition plan on the bike, eating every 30 mins. Coming into transition I looked at my Garmin and saw I had done my ride in 2hrs 55, smashing my time from last year by half an hour! I saw my parents and brother as I was cycling in and shouted at them that I had managed a sub 3 hour bike!!!

I racked my bike and went back into the transition tent to get my run stuff. I had so much adrenaline from my bike split I started my run too fast and payed for it at the end!

However, overall I still managed a massive pb by 33mins with a time of 5hours 9 mins. A huge shock was securing 3rd in my age group and getting to stand on the podium! I am over the moon with the result and can’t wait to see what I can do over the next year. Having only done 2 races of this distance I still have lots to learn (especially how to pace my run!!).

Amie Buttle