Ironman Bolton - Robert Hewitson's Race Report

23 Jul 2016 by Amanda Hoynes

Last July I had this crazy idea of doing an ironman event. I was looking for one last big event before I hit 60 years of age and, having completed the Loch Ness marathon, the Hardmoors marathon and the Snowdonia marathon recently, I thought this may be achievable.

So I embarked on learning triathlon and entered 2 sprint triathlons that I really enjoyed, although they revealed that my swimming was poor as I had not swam for at least 10 years. Time quickly went and before I knew it was December.

The weather had been really poor so did not get any cycling in, but too much running. I caught a stomach bug in January and had no training that month. February at last, cycling, swimming and running. I continued this training all the way up until the week before the big day at Bolton. Having swam 58000 mtrs overall I managed to fit in a half distance ironman at Castle Cutra in Ireland but infuriatingly the swim was cancelled due to fog

The big day approached and I travelled down to Bolton on the Friday and settled into the hotel. Unfortunately I did not realise how stressful the rest of Friday and Saturday was going to be – so many things to think about. Split transition, hotel location, nutrition, sleep. I managed to navigate all of that.

Before I knew it, it was Sunday morning, 3am, dark outside and trying to eat breakfast. I had stuffed myself all week and was absolutely full. I drove to the Macron stadium and joined the queue for the shuttle bus, it seemed to take an eternity. When I finally got to Pennington Flash I was not nervous as I had been on the Saturday. Although when I looked at the swim course I could hardly see the furthest buoy. The longest I had swam previously had been 1800.mtrs.

It was a rolling start at 6am, I joined the back of the queue and before I knew it we were in the water. The first lap went better than I thought it would – a lot of breaststroke, the second lap was more difficult as I was getting lapped and people were swimming over me. I swallowed quite a bit of lake water, but I was getting elated as I could see I was going to make the swim. I came out of the lake in 1hr 58. T1 in 11minutes and out on the bike.

First out on the 14 mile point to point, before the 2 50 mile loops. I concentrated on keeping a steady pace while eating cookies out of my bag and taking drink on board. It was very uneventful until I got to the first loop – Hunters Hill and Sheephouse, not too steep but testing.

When I got to first feed station, too confident I think, or brain switched off, I slowed down to reach for banana, lost my balance and before I knew it I was crashing down to the left with my foot still attached to the pedal. I landed full weight on my left wrist. I heard a crack but when the first aiders picked me up I got back on the bike. I told the marshal I would monitor it, the guy said you’re an ironman. I suspected it was broken, but I cycled on another 20 miles to the next feed station where I decided on safety grounds, that as I could only use one set of brakes, I should finish the race there. My pride hurt but I had achieved an ironman swim and I have learned a lot in a short space of time. Respect to everyone who finished.

PS I would not recommend Bolton A&E.