There are 4 routes to cycle; ranging from 50 to 105 miles. Each costs just £30 and supports three charities. This area of Wales is particularly scenic, yet undulating.

So far a dozen Les C have entered the Emlyn, a mere 85 miler. I believe we also have a few takers for the 50 mile Druid route. One hardened cyclist is undertaking the full and brutal Merlin 105!

Race HQ is Carmarthen Botanical Gardens. The routes will have feed stations and are marshalled, but roads are open to traffic. Please look at the website in detail before entering. I have no idea how quick this will sell out, so enter now!

I plan to add an element of competitiveness and introduce a few trophy categories to Les C contestants. It goes without saying that I plan to make a weekend of it.

Newport, Pembrokeshire.

Superb location for runs along the coastal path.

Numerous scenic and undulating roads to cycle to your heart’s content.

Beach and harbour for paddling, swimming or frisbee.

Lots of pubs to explore!

Tycanol Farm Camping.

A caravan and campsite with stunning views of the beach and harbour.

Basic facilities: toilets, showers & sinks.

£7.50 per person, per night. Number of nights is flexible.  A Les Croups plot is reserved.

Ras Beca 5 mile fell race. Saturday 25 August. 1.30ish. www.rasbeca.com for details.

Lots of other activities planned to suit all levels of enthusiasm!

This is a once in a lifetime holiday, book now to avoid disappointment!!

See Sasha for details.

Activities planned: cycle the Ironman UK 70.3 course; run Wimbleball Lake Country Park and be social.

Accommodation: 2 nights at The Lion Hotel B&B/ pub, Dulverton.

Transport: By car, 110 miles/ 2.5 hours. Bike carriage is available too.

To bring: Road bike, running shoes, nibbles and red wine.

Most of us will be leaving Cardiff on the Friday post-work. Saturday will be dedicated to cycling a scenic and hilly 28 mile road route, one or two laps. Sunday is for exploring Wimbleball Lake area itself, either running/ walking the many paths within the vicinity, checking out the lake itself or relaxing in the Lake tea house. All this will be topped off with a Sunday pub dinner before departure. Nine people already signed up and a few places still available.

May 14-21. Exotic Mallorca

7 Days of sunshine to prepare for Castles Relay Race, triathlons or just chill out. Anything goes!

Destination: Puerto Pollensa. A superb spot for all desired sports and activities. Hoping to stay in a private villa near the beach £100-£150 each. Flights from Bristol with Ryanair £100-£200. Possibly car hire for the airport transfers in Mallorca. Bike hire £100- £150

Plenty of spaces and the more the merrier.

August 24-26. Pembrokeshire Trip

Make the most of the summer bank holiday and join us for another West Wales Jolly (TM).

Many activities are planned, the Ras Beca 5 mile fell race is on the Saturday afternoon, an excellent choice for novice off road runners. There are also roads and hills to cycle, the Pembrokeshire Coastal path to run and miles of beaches to swim off. Entertainment will also be provided! More details to follow.

Please contact Team Multisport if you wish to join us for any of these.

I have arranged a private class just for Les Croupiers members.

There are limited places and I will be posting on the forum over the weekend. Let me know if you wish to do this workshop and I do need your money in advance to secure your place. It will cost you £7, normally it is £12.

I’ve heard that the last class of this sort was good, a bit of running around the room, but not much chanting I’m afraid. This is a normal room temperature class.

**Incidentally, I could arrange a Les C Hot Yoga class, who would be interested in that? The room is heated to 35 degrees, which keeps your muscles warm for good stretches and balances. A little sweaty but skin feels lovely afterwards!**

Yoga for runners

Saturday 31st March 2 – 4pm.

‘Are you a runner and would like to know more about how yoga can help you achieve your PB? Maybe you’ve been coming to class and have a sense that yoga is helping your running but would like to know more.'

As a runner herself, Sharon is keen to impart her knowledge as to how yoga can help you with your running including through better breathing, enhanced focus, building core strength and through postures designed to stretch out a runner’s body. This is a great opportunity to ask questions specific to running and yoga.’

Yoga Fever, 39 Windsor Place. http://www.Yogafever.co.uk

Sasha Macken

 

As this year’s racing season draws to a close it is time you were enlightened with the fantastic results from all our multitalented multi-sports participants. It is hard to believe that it has passed so quickly. It all began with a very muddy duathlon in Cirencester and reached a crescendo in Tenby with an amazing Ironman event.

This year has seen an increase in multi-sport enthusiasm for both competing, purposes of cross-training and social engagement. The multisport training and social weekend in Pembrokshire in April was a hit. Various Les Croups members have also invested in anything from high spec two-wheel transport to super tight lycra or just numerous pairs of goggles. And boy, hasn’t it been fun?! There has been many amusing and unusual moments: triathletes ‘lost in transition’; exiting transition half dressed; being half way to an Ironman event without a wetsuit; being plucked from the wild seas of Tenby by hunky, young men in a RIB, and the most amazing technique of walking during the swim stage, ‘it was the only way to get around the buoy’. Please see the ‘Multisport round up gallery’ for pictorial evidence. Lots of lessons were learnt, or were they? Let’s see what happens next season…

The 2012 season will be packed with new challenges. Within a few hours drive of Cardiff there is a massive choice of aquathlons, duathlons and triathlons, and combined with a variety of terrains there is something for everyone. Most are expertly organised by local groups and the enthusiasm for encouraging the newbie is superb. How can you resist?

In June the Ironman 70.3 UK take place and Exmoor is the backdrop for this event. It is reputed to be the 'toughest 70.3 in the world'. Five Les Croupier triathletes have signed up and entries are filling fast, so enter NOW to avoid disappointment! This also gives us another excuse to organise another training and social weekend somewhere in Europe leading up to this event, so watch this space!

Virgin Active London Triathlon entries are open too, guaranteed entry before 30 November, then to a ballot. The event is later this year due to the Olympics, and take place on 22 and 23 September. It’s ‘the largest triathlon in the world’, an awesome spectacle and we’re planning a weekend of watching and competing, do join us.

There will also be organised training events and we will be returning to both Llanelli Docks and Barry for more open water swimming. Local cycle rides are a must too. All these multi-sport plans are intended to appeal to those in Les Croups who are tri-curious, want to compete, or intend to include it as part of a more varied training programme. More details of a range of events will be advertised in 2012.

Please see below for details of the results for 2011. If there is an event or result that we have missed please let us know and we will happily include this.

Multi-sport results 2011

Three Peaks Cyclocross. 25 October

‘The course was very wet making the boggy sections extra boggy’ Jules carter 4hr 12 mins.

Simon Nurse 4hrs 8mins.

Ironman Wales. 11 September

Richard (I want to be an Ironman) Self 12hr 56mins

Poppit Sands Aquathlon. 4 September

James Braun 45mins 14secs 17/56

Hereford Triathlon. 3 July

Tom Jeffery 56:52 27/187

Claire Beatty 1:01:44 63/187

Natalie Hindmarsh 1:06:20 102/187

Gill McCue 1:06:46 108/187

Fran Machin 1:11:13 147/187

Pembrokeshire Triathlon. 2 July

Stephen Paterson 02:31:10 14th
Peter Kellam 02:39:16 34^th
Katie Beecher 02:49:41 61^st

Richard Self 02:49:41 62st

Cotswold Triathlon. 8 May

Katie Beecher 1:05:46

Sarah McCarthy 1:14:16

ISCA Duathlon. 17 April

James Braun 1:11:34 39th
Jerry Cleall Harding 1:11:51 41st
Martin Pinnell 1:15:18 52nd
Claire Beatty 1:20:06 70th
Malin Falck 1:27:20 90th
Sasha Macken 1:27:48 91st
Fran Machin 1:31:45 98th
Natalie Hindmarch 1:32:31 99^th

Hereford Duathlon. 17 April

Katie Beecher was the winner! 1:44:33

Cirencester Duathlon. 13 February

Gill McCue 1:53:11 177/255

Malin Falck 2:00:47 204/255

Fran Machin 2:04:58 211/255

Clare Johnson 2:12:40 227/255 1st in age group!

5k Swimathon, Cardiff International Pool in April

Howard Kent ranked 5th in the UK for age group! His swim time was 1:20:35. Improving his PB by 1min 37secs He attributes this superb improvement to a Marie Curie Charity training session with Duncan Goodhew in January.

Phil

Hi there,

With this years triathlon season well underway, we are hosting an open
water wetsuit testing session, to give triathlon clubs especially the
chance to try out a full range of wetsuits in open water with no
obligation to buy.This session is due to be held:

Sunday 17th July 2011
at Celtic Manor Resevoir
NP18 1HQ

1.00pm-3.00pm

At this session, we will be offereing advice on wetsuit fitting along
with other aspects of the sport such as nutrition etc. There will be a
range of tri gear available for browsing and a variety of special
discounts and free samples!

If you would like more information on this event please give us a call
on 02920 090800 or feel free to call me on my mobile: 07528137779

Hope to see you soon

Best Regards

Rach


MOTI CARDIFF
Run-Fitness-Triathlon Specialist Stores

The first run is easy.......

 ISCA Duathlon Sunday 17th April 2011

James Braun MV W 01:11:34 39th
Jerry Cleall Harding MSV B 01:11:51 41st
Martin Pinnell MSV W 01:15:18 52nd
Claire Beatty FS N 01:20:06 70th
Malin Falk FS N 01:27:20 90th

Sasha Macken FS N 01:27:48 91st
Fran Machin FS N 01:31:45 98th

Natalie Hindmarch FS N 0 1:32:31 99th

....next the cycle.........

Whilst at the Hereford Duathlon a mere 35 miles away.........Katie won the senior ladies in 1hr 44mins and 33 seconds.

and finally.........the second run.

 Well done to all of our duathletes (and Katie in particular).

The race distances were 10km run, 40km bike, 5km run. I went for it from the off, challenging for a top spot and pushing all the way. Entering transition in 4th place in a time of 32.40 (the 10km distance was out by around 300m) and alongside the other 3 athletes, I cast aside any thoughts of an age-group place and decided to push for one of the 3 available all expenses paid elite places. Hopping onto the bike, a small gap appeared. I was drifting off the pace. 30 seconds later the soft 'whump, whump,whump' of a disc wheel went past. 4th had now become 5th. Then another 'whump, whump, whump'. Then another. And another, and another. The shoulders started to drop. 'Whump, bloody, whump, bloody, whump'. By the end of a thoroughly disheartening cycle leg, I was in 62nd place and had dropped 58 places. My second run was nearly as good as my first (16.30 approx) and I recovered around 30 of those places, but any chance of selection for the world's had disappeared faster than a plain looking wannabe on 'I'm a celebrity x factor ice dancer'. The point being, specificity reaps rewards and there's no short cut to at least a little concession to the other disciplines. These days I'm less deafened by the 'whump, whump, whump' and more hassled by the 'pad, pad, pad' of pacey runners (this time proving that cycling effort is no short cut to running fitness).

However, courtesy of one of my racing and training buddies at Cardiff JIF - Cyclo cross racer Donald Grey - I think we have found the answer to those cycling prayers. The footage below will show you how to avoid training on the turbo trainer,  dodge Maindy on a Wednesday night or lie in on a Sunday morning. It will also appeal to steampunk fans (like Matt T) and scrapheap challenge addicts. Those with health and safety concerns, please look away now.

Simon

Tip: Click on the links above to obtain some proper information from proper grown ups who write proper articles all spell checked an' all.

One of my remaining sports ambitions is to do the Norseman extreme triathlon in Norway. It won't be this year, nor next (probably), but it's definitely on the agenda. Whilst trawling Youtube for triathlon pieces, I came across this excellent short film that tells you everything you need to know about this super difficult, super silly and super beautiful race. It costs a few quid (or krone) and it requires a heck of a commitment, but I challenge you to watch it and not feel inspired. If you get super tempted to the point of entry, you've missed the longship for 2011. Entries will open again around October time and with around 1000 people chasing 250 places, the process is a bit of a lottery. Still, Charlie got his tour around the chocolate factory didn't he? Enjoy.

No, it's not the Hoff. It's Les Croupiers triathletes in training.