Hemel Hempstead Cycling Club

Mike Orton Wins a Silver Medal in the Olympic Distance National Championships in Bedford

Having recovered from his Ironman event in June, Mike Orton decided to focus on the shorter Olympic Distance events and on 15 August 2010, Mike competed in the National Championships in Bedford taking a silver medal. Here's Mike's account of his fantastic achievement.

I had a 5 am start to get up to Bedford to register and rack my bike etc. as my wave was due off at 7.50 am. Following a deluge on the Saturday the weather looked reasonable as I drove up to Bedford. Formalities of registration, race briefing, racking of bike having been completed I donned my wetsuit ready for the swim leg.

The River Ouse is not the most inviting stretch of open water I have ever swum in, and looked a bit scuzzy by the river banks! However as we plunged in prior to the start it seemed ok though there appeared to be quite a few weeds about. There were around 50 competitors in my 50-54 age band but we were combined with all other 50+ competitors – around 100 it total I estimated.

At the sound of the starting klaxon it was head down and go like the clappers to get some clear water. When I turned to breathe I could see that I was in the leading group of 4 swimmers. I managed to slip stream one of them and then when he started to tire around the halfway point I pulled clear and chased the leading pair who were a short distance ahead.

There was quite a lot of stray weed in the river and as I went through it slowed me down slightly, though it was the same for everyone. There were also the slower swimmers from the earlier female waves to contend with as we caught them up. Nonetheless I had a decent swim and exited in 3rd in a time of around 22 and a half minutes.

First Transition

The first transition was slow for me as the wetsuit did not come off as quickly as I needed it to! However I was soon out on the bike course and going well on my new bike (purchased at the London Triathlon Expo a week earlier).

Halfway round the course I caught the two in front of me and was then in the lead! One of them dropped off but the other started working with me and leading for short periods before conceding the lead back to me. We had to be careful not to draft each other, which can be a fine line sometimes.

A few miles later another guy in our age category came steaming past. I tried to match his pace for a while but it was clear that he way away so I consolidated 2nd position, as I had by now pulled well clear of the other rider. I upped my pace for the last few miles and had a quick and uneventful second transition before heading out on the run.

Second Transition and Run

The run course was fast and flat, 3 laps run on either side of the river Ouse before finishing in a park by the river. I soon realised that another in my age group must have passed me on the bike as he was just ahead of me. I overtook him early on the first lap and then tried to see if I could catch the leader further up the field.

I was running well until just into the second lap when I started to get cramp in my lower thighs just above the knees. I had to slow a little to try and ease it off – this seemed to work but the cramp kept returning and effectively plagued me for the rest of the run.

As I headed across the bridge on the final lap and looked back I could see two runners gaining on me. In the last half mile I just gritted my teeth and ran through the pain and managed to hold on for the silver medal. The guy who got bronze was only 13 seconds behind me and the fourth guy was 50 seconds back so it was pretty close in the end but it was great to improve on last year where I got bronze.

My final time of 2 hours 14 mins 50 secs was not bad as the bike course was slightly long and probably added around 3 minutes to times.

My final event of the season is the World Age Group Championships in Budapest on September 12 when I will be competing for the GB team. The elite triathletes have their World Championships over the same weekend so I will be rubbing shoulders with the likes of current World Champion Alastair Brownlee and his brother Johnny and Olympic Gold medallist Jan Frodeno which should be exciting.

Further Information

At the National Championships, titles are competed for in 5 year age bands from 20-24 upwards. Olympic Distance events comprise a 1,500 metre swim, a 40K bike ride, and a 10K run.