Ironman Copenhagen - Ollies Big Day

Back in 2006 I wrote In the Beginning and Making my Mark this weekend these posts came right back to me as Ollie completed Ironman Copenhagen.  Not only did he complete it, he smashed it and smashed the best time I ever did.

The batton is passed 😀 Ollie is "The New Ironman".  It is my joy to pass on the batton.  It bought out all the emotion of an Ironman and more seeing my eldest son put in the training effort for 3 years, the joy of him getting fitter and leaner.  How he dealt with 2 cancelled events and still remained committed to his goal and now he has shown me how an Ironman should be done.

Congratulations Ollie, you know how proud you have made mum and I, well us all.  The tears we all had were pure joy of your achievement.   

I admit to being jealous of you Ollie, you have everything that it takes to have a great time like 10:44:36.  You committed to the training better than I ever did, you have better technique and ability than me and I couldn't be more happy to have been beaten.  I am jealous, I wanted that feeling to cross the finishing line again, to feel the fatigue to wear a wetsuit and to be on the aerobars. 

Breaking News ..... Farmers wear lycra

The news today ...... a late posting, I found it in the drafts

today your blogger discovered that a well known cornish farmer has got serious about swimming.

For years Pat had a distinguished badmington career, playing for Cornwall and always rescuing that shot that looked like dying in the back corner. Not that this is his only sport, golf is another sport he is known for. Playing with the same clubs for over 40 years he takes glee in whooping anyone with titanium mega clubs.

But the sports don't end there, squash maybe a natural alternative to badmington, and squash gave Pat the opportunity to thrash and beat and pulverise all young upstarts. Hogging the 'T' he would make the young 20 somethings run from corner to corner and back to front and then walk off without even breaking a sweat. 'If you want to marry my daugther you have to work for it my boy .....'.

But from his early surfing days in the cold, cold, cold cornish sea on that 4ft piece of plyboard, he got use to the cold, cold, cold sea and often swam from the beach, again leaving younger men quivering and shivering, so what would stop him from swimming in a swimming pool?

Well it seems lyrca might have held him back, but not now. This cornish farmer, out in the fields in all weathers for hours at a time. This boiler suit wearing, gumboot wearing 'Ironman' from Cornwall, has discovered his softer side and can now be found in Helston Swimming pool wearing a lycra speedo. 'I find they give much less drag', he told this blogger.

Bring on the swim cap

Now for a New Direction

When I was young I would take the bus from the village up the hill to school.  In my early school years the school had kids from the village and kids from the RAF camp.  I do not know if it was this RAF connection or simply a young boy thing but on the rainy lunchtime the dinner lady did a great line in drawing princesses for the girls and phantom jets for the boys for us to colour in with our little tins of wax crayons.  That is my earliest memory of wanting to fly.

Nothing ever came of my dream, I never thought it was a possibility.  This was an idea reinforced by the RAF recruitment officer that told me, I was unlikely to be a pilot, I might have a chance of being a flight engineer but it was not my fault it was all decided before I was born.

That was all a longtime ago, but now I am back, not on the bus going up the hill but 1000 feet above it in a glider, flying.  Flying and looking down at that little school half way up the hill, the little school where friends came and went, where I played centre forward for the school football team. High above the playground where the school dentist and I would do battle.  A 1000 feet above and 50 years on those early dreams are coming true.

Ride London

It has been a few years since I posted on this blog, the last time was my last Ironman.  After that I completed a Ride London, a 100 mile bike ride following the 2012 Olympic circuit.  This is another great event on closed roads for the riders it is fantastic.  For me it was some of the fastest cycling I have ever done, lots of trains to catch onto and a truly fantastic event.  I spent most of the ride imagining I was a professional rider.  A brilliant event

Ironman Germany 2012

 

 

Andrew Curtis

Rank: 151 of 304

Overall Rank: 1752 of 2885

BIB:	1186
Division:	50-54
Age:	51
State:	tadworth
Country:	GBR
Profession:

 

Swim:	1:09:42
Bike:	6:00:56
Run:	5:14:17
Overall:	12:37:13

Congratulations, Andrew, on your finish!

Swim DetailsDivision Rank: 106
Split Name	Distance	Split Time	Race Time	Pace	Div. Rank	Overall Rank	Gender Rank
2.1 km	2.1 km	37:43	37:43	1:47/100m
3.8 km	1.7 km	31:59	1:09:42	1:52/100m
Total	3.8 km	1:09:42	1:09:42	4:06/100m	106	1345	1249

 

Bike DetailsDivision Rank: 127
Split Name	Distance	Split Time	Race Time	Pace	Div. Rank	Overall Rank	Gender Rank
14 km	14 km	22:54	1:39:05	36.68 km/h
24 km	10 km	20:11	1:59:16	29.73 km/h
32 km	8 km	10:06	2:09:22	47.52 km/h
44 km	12 km	27:37	2:36:59	26.07 km/h
77 km	33 km	1:01:21	3:38:20	32.27 km/h
89 km	12 km	23:43	4:02:03	30.36 km/h
95 km	6 km	16:06	4:18:09	22.36 km/h
108 km	13 km	26:41	4:44:50	29.23 km/h
116 km	8 km	11:16	4:56:06	42.60 km/h
128 km	12 km	29:41	5:25:47	24.26 km/h
159 km	31 km	1:06:38	6:32:25	27.91 km/h
171 km	12 km	25:59	6:58:24	27.71 km/h
180 km	9 km	18:43	7:17:07	28.85 km/h
Total	180 km	6:00:56	7:17:07	29.92 km/h	127	1464	1387

 

Run DetailsDivision Rank: 151
Split Name	Distance	Split Time	Race Time	Pace	Div. Rank	Overall Rank	Gender Rank
1.8 km	1.8 km	9:37	7:32:33	5:20/km
3.1 km	1.3 km	7:25	7:39:58	5:42/km
5.1 km	2 km	12:34	7:52:32	6:17/km
7.5 km	2.4 km	14:47	8:07:19	6:09/km
10.4 km	2.9 km	20:55	8:28:14	7:12/km
12.2 km	1.8 km	12:19	8:40:33	6:50/km
13.5 km	1.3 km	8:24	8:48:57	6:27/km
15.5 km	2 km	15:01	9:03:58	7:30/km
17.9 km	2.4 km	14:40	9:18:38	6:06/km
20.8 km	2.9 km	26:32	9:45:10	9:08/km
22.6 km	1.8 km	12:13	9:57:23	6:47/km
23.9 km	1.3 km	10:42	10:08:05	8:13/km
25.9 km	2 km	15:35	10:23:40	7:47/km
28.3 km	2.4 km	20:13	10:43:53	8:25/km
31.2 km	2.9 km	27:42	11:11:35	9:33/km
33 km	1.8 km	14:38	11:26:13	8:07/km
34.3 km	1.3 km	11:49	11:38:02	9:05/km
36.3 km	2 km	20:19	11:58:21	10:09/km
38.7 km	2.4 km	15:24	12:13:45	6:24/km
42.2 km	3.5 km	23:28	12:37:13	6:42/km
Total	42.2 km	5:14:17	12:37:13	7:26/km	151	1752	1615

 

Transition
T1: SWIM-TO-BIKE	6:29
T2: BIKE-TO-RUN	5:49