Many know Mark and in this prequal he gives us the background to his build up to racing IronmanUK.

Unbeknown to myself that first lunch  time swim at Riddings Pool with Leigh Peat would lead us both to compete in the 2018 UK Ironman @ Bolton.

Leigh was on my shift late February 2015 , and we chatted about what were both had been up to & what we fancied doing re training . Leigh had just qualified as a black belt in Kick boxing and was looking for another challenge . I was regularly competing in Duathlons and had done the bike leg in the Weymouth Challenge Relay “Ironman distance” the previous Sept 2014 competing with Damian Mitchell ( Swim ) & Pulmani Bangani ( Run )

We both chatted and found out neither of us could swim !! Continue reading

It would be cool to say i realised a dream I’d had for years but nothing is further from the truth. My journey into triathlons started at the Lincsquad adventure race. Not a swim,bike or run in sight! I was asked to kayak for a team for a couple of years. This then morphed into the bomber so i entered as swim/ kayak and thought that the atmosphere was amazing so wondered if i could possibly manage a sprint tri. With the help of Lincsquad and Parkrun I managed to just about crawl round the course, went home and died for the rest of the day but I’d done it! Continue reading

So this is a race report about a sprint distance triathlon raced in Glasgow.

Ah ha you’ll be thinking that at last, this race report can’t possibly contain the words Ironman and non-wetsuit. Sorry but I’m going to try and fit them in somehow #laughingface. Continue reading

I’m sitting here scratching at the tattoo residue on my arm, reflecting on what can only be described as one of the most special weekends I have experienced. It wasn’t something I’d planned on getting embroiled in, I don’t really like the extended training when I’ve done marathons in the past, and I’m not really sure how I got entered in the first place….

No, I do. David Gibbs. Continue reading

Wind conditions: “Just blew in from the windy city, the windy city is mighty pretty”

I am currently laying immobile face down on the bed, collating a personal damage report from tonight’s 2 up TT (Lincsquad’s first ever 2 up TT). I teamed up with the Strongman Superhero from Epworth (Mr Woolgar),  more of that later, first could someone please get the pizza out of the oven and feed JC?  Let me wash my face, brush my teeth, artfully mess up my hair into some kind of wind swept beach babe style, look for my favourite Italy T shirt, put on a smiling sociable mask and we will get this report started…. Continue reading

So once again due to circumstances beyond our control the 10^th training race went to Normanby Hall country park.

I have this time decided that the write up should start by focus on statistic’s, as I know a lot of our members love their facts and figures and their data collection so: Continue reading

5^th August 2018 07.15am the bank of the river Maas, the start line of Ironman Maastricht : Limburg.

How the chuffing hell did I end up here?

Now regular readers of my race reports will be shouting that I’ve nicked that intro from another one, (those who are also need to get out a little more often!). However, how on earth did I end up doing another Ironman? Back in 2016 when I raced Ironman Barcelona I genuinely thought that it was my one and only long course race and that after that having proved to myself that I was good enough to “go long” I’d settle back to finding some nice interesting half distance races to do. The problem is though that no one tells you, because no one really can, just how brilliant running down that red carpet to hear those words “You Are An Ironman” feels. I loved Barcelona it was a brilliant race a fantastic experience and after a while I realised that I wanted to experience all of that again. Continue reading

Ironman Maastricht – Race Report

I’m a relative newbie in triathalon terms before doing Brigg Sprint a couple of years ago I had to pop to the Pods prior to entering to see if I could manage 16 lengths of the pool… at the time I considered myself a non-swimmer. As an adult my sporting background comprised of lots of mid tale result running and enjoying a bit of cycling. Continue reading

Relax! This isn’t a full, step by step account of the 35+ hours of racing, complete with training and preparation details; that would almost be as challenging as the race was to complete itself and would certainly be an endurance event to simply read. No, I’ve chosen to give an outline of the race in general, with a few highlights (good and bad) and thoughts. Continue reading

Waiting for the Lincsquad TT to arrive is like waiting for DPD to deliver that “essential” item from Wiggle or Chain Reaction. There’s the waiting where I become unsure whether I actually made the order, does the TT even exist? Then WHAM, BAM, KABOOM and SAM, “Lincsquad TT Round 9 has arrived.” Continue reading