St Mary’s Loch. A hidden gem on a quiet road in the Scottish Borders between Moffat and Selkirk. Yann Robin
I had been there before, as it is also the base for the annual offroad “Durty Triathlon”, by the same organisers, which I have done a couple of times in the past. The same swim, starting at the sailing club, but taking you up a hill on a farm track out of transition. This year I wanted to have a go at a standard which didn’t involve copious amounts of mud, for a change. But not being a massive fan of flat, straight tarmac this seemed like an attractive choice of an event including a road cycle. Plus it happened to be one of the few weekends which was not already booked by other members of the family for their own competitions.
With a civilised start time of 11am, I arrived at the back of 9am with plenty of time to register and set up. I had brought my usual multi-coloured towel for transition. Turns out a portable lawnmower or a machete would have been more useful. As Gillian Cox commented “you could lose a small child in that!”. Not sure if she meant it as a risk or as an opportunity, but I was on my own so it didn’t matter. I enjoyed watching the contrast between the ruggedness and no fuss look of the transition area, and the amount of advanced technology and quality of many of the bikes on display. Mine, and a few others, were more in tune with the style of the transition area.
Once the usual briefing and prep were done while enjoying the sunshine and the beautiful surroundings, it was time to get wet. At 14 degrees C, the water temperature was cool but comfortable for racing. Dark, but very clean waters, so a real treat for open water lovers. My last 1500m swim was at the Aviemore triathlon 2 years ago and it was a real fight. I had decided to try and get better at swimming this year, so after 8 months of Sunday night sessions at Allander I was hoping it would make the swim a little more enjoyable. Turns out it did. I started steady, and felt like I was more or less in control of my swimming all the way round. I had no idea of my speed, but I felt better than I had before, and I’m pretty sure it was due to improved technique following the Allander sessions. I know fine well there’s still plenty of work to do with that and massive room for improvement, but 25mins was pretty good for me.
After quickly navigating my way out of the transition jungle, it was a 20km ride on the A708 towards Moffat, then back again. The bike route is described as “undulating” in the briefing. That is an understatement. I really enjoyed it though. After a couple of threatening cramps at the very start that seemed to wear off, I felt ok, taking on a bit of food without choking, and drinking plenty, and generally trying to put to good use the Monday night training sessions at the Bella track, often being passed by more powerful riders on the downhills, and going past them on the climbs. That made it quite interesting. Trying to ignore the smell of hot food and the sight of cold beer of the joyous crowd outside the pub near the final turn off junction, and back I went through the transition jungle again.
The run was an out-and-back off-road run on uneven paths and grass along the side of the loch. So I wore my trail shoes. This felt like a good idea up to the 5k turn point, and until half way back, when the sole of my foot and the tip of my toes reminded that I had never worn them without socks for 10k. School boy error! I was also gubbed at that point as the rough and undulating terrain started to really take its toll on my legs, but I just hung in there for the final 2k to the finish, where I was relieved to take my trainers off. Given the course, I was pretty pleased with my time of 2h26 (5th in my category) , and if I’m honest, slightly surprised with the swim and bike. I was clearly not the only one who was surprised, as I received some congratulations from my boys, which was nice as they don’t give those away cheaply. So I guess it was worth it.
The Durty events are always run in a laid back and fun environment, and this one was no different. Sure, it’s not ITU slick, but if you’re looking for a different kind of race in a stunning location, as well as an “undulating” challenge, then I would definitely recommend this one.
