I embarked on the journey to race each Castle Triathlon Gauntlet and the Bastion for 2015 as I wanted to experience racing at the iconic castle estates and support the largest race series in the British isles. What I have discovered so far in the series is that these guys organise fantastic events where they really care about the individual competitor experience. I love England for the history, the hills of Kent, true cross country running all of which are in abundance in the Bastion iron distance triathlon at Hever Castle.

The swim in a lake and river within the castle grounds was a highlight of the race for me. The 2 lap course begins with a 700m length of the lake before entering a world akin to the wind in the willows, winding through a 1000m section of river overhung by branches with lillypads along the banks. My swim was on track after the first lap although I could have worked harder in the early stages of lap 2 I was content to exit the water in 1:03.. with plenty left in the tank.

My race plan on the bike was to discover the course in the first lap and build into the 180k ride. I knew that Karl Alexander was 4 minutes up on me out onto the bike but stuck to my conservative bike approach as an iron distance usually comes down to the run especially on a tough marathon like this one. I concentrated on my Torq nutrition plan and holding good tempo on the less technical areas of the course.

By the end of lap 1 I had worked my way up to second place with Karl 9 minutes up, happy days, I was hoping that he would continue to bike hard and extend the gap to make my life easier on the run. By the end of the bike I was certainly happy that I had put a larger gear ration on my rear cassette for this one! Being able to spin up the hills and save the legs on a course like this is a distinct advantage. While the later stages of the bike were a little slower due to an increase in wind and dampness I was happy to roll into T2 in 2nd with a little over 13 minutes to make up over the marathon.

Similar to the bike the plan was to take the first lap of the marathon comfortably and discover the course. I like to break a marathon down into it’s 4 laps and work as hard as is necessary in the early stages while still getting my nutrition in. By the end of lap 1 I had closed the gap down to around 6 minutes and knew that I would be at the end of lap 2 before Karl. The exchange of congratulations for his bike efforts was brief as I passed Karl at the 17km mark. Now it was my chance to enjoy this beautiful cross country marathon as I worked my way to the finish line. With grassed and horse trail sections, hill through crops and fields, passing a horse yard and winding through the woods this course is the type of running this country lad from Western Australia grew up with, only with an English twist of running right past Hever Castle, the childhood home of Anne Boleyn,

and right past the front of a country pub!

By the final stages of the marathon the undulations were taking their toll on my legs a little. This is a very tough marathon course stand alone, not to mention the preceding bike course!!

I was very happy to be greeted at the finish line by the Castle Tri crew and welcomed in as the champion for 2015. This course is never going to be one that produces super fast times but it is a fantastic venue and the support of the locals, spectators and the events team is awesome with every athlete being supported through their own iron distance journey. It was a huge help to have the support of my wife Michele throughout the race along with Jeanne, Ivor and Louis, great to be racing close enough to family to come down and see me in action. I would not be able to race at this level without the ongoing support of my sponsors, ASICS, Fusion Sportswear, Torq Nutrition, Blue Competition Cycles, Maison Du Velo, Xlab, Nineteen Wetsuits and Hampton Pool to whom I am very grateful!

A huge thankyou to the Castle Tri Series team headed up by Brian Alcock for putting on such a great event and to the volunteers that make this event a success. Congratulations to Bethany Fowler for taking the win for the female race, Karl Alexander and Mathew Dowel for rounding out the mens podium and to all of those that completed this awesome course! See you again next weekend at Castle Howard as the Gauntlet Series 2015 continues.