Cardiff Triathlon
22nd July 2025 - Leighton Jones
The Cardiff Triathlon is one that I’ve done before, albeit with a slightly different bike course so I was interested in what was in store this year. I’d opted for the Standard distance which was a qualifier for the 2026 Age Group World Championships, so a bit longer than my usual sprint distance but hopefully a bit more relaxed…
A 4:45 alarm was a bit of a shock to the system but it does make for light traffic 😊. A quick stop off to buy some water as I’d forgotten to fill up at the hotel, always fun at 5 in the morning when the petrol stations are doing night service and only serving through a weird hatch in the side of the building whilst the attendants trying to sell me bottle shots of Sambuca. Probably not the best prep for a triathlon but appreciate the offer! A 30min drive in went by quickly, thanks to the Pro Tri News podcast for keeping me entertained, and I arrived in plenty of time for a bike faff in the multi storey car-park alongside a bunch of other eager triathletes. A quick bit of descent practice through the car park (eek!) and off to registration and then transition.
The transition area at Cardiff is a really unique one with a real amphitheatre feel and, although the spots were a bit tight on the racking, setup all went pretty smoothly in a haze of talcum powder. A bit of a queue for the pre-race poopers left only time for a very quick warm up and then we all get kicked out of transition at 6:35 for as 6:50 briefing (the swim start is a 10 min walk from transition). Slight panic at 6:30 as I realised I hadn’t set my socks out (I don’t normally bother with socks for a sprint but had decided to use them for the standard after getting some serious blisters in my last standard). Managed to get to the bag drop and extract them just in time to setup and get myself over to swim start.
Another huge queue for the toilets and then a quick race briefing prior to being herded to the swim start. I was in the second wave of the standard distance so we saw wave 1 off and then jumped in for a quick warm up before the start. I made a beeline for the L/H end of the start line as my ongoing neck issues mean I’m still only breathing to the right during the swim, so wanted to keep the pack to my right and have some space to my left. The water was quite choppy but not too terrible, I was certainly glad of the recent open water sessions I’d done in less than brilliant weather which made this feel very manageable.
As the gun went off I had a pretty decent start and straight into some space which was how I like it. I could see I was roughly level with the leaders after 25m and figured I was probably leading a separate group on the left. The couple of standard distance tris I’ve done over the last couple of years still surprise me how less frantic it feels at the start Vs the sprint, definitely a nice change. Soon I got overtaken by a couple of others and jumped on their feet for a while before they began to slow and by the first buoy I’d gone back past them. Some confusion after the 2nd buoy as to which way to go but followed the feet ahead of me and he seemed to have the right idea as we moved ahead of a good few others who went the wrong way. An annoying period when the guy behind me insisted on hitting my legs every other stroke which slowed us both down but soon managed to move away from him and make some better progress. By this point I think I was 2nd in my wave and I realised that the faster swimmers must have been in wave 1 as definitely wouldn’t normally be right at the front on the swim! Fortunately, the guy in front of me was holding good pace and I basically stayed on his feet the whole second half of the swim, whilst dodging some of the slower swimmers from the first wave. A nice helping hand from a volunteer and some kind words about it being a really good swim at swim exit (always nice!) and then a jog through to transition. My 26:44 swim time was good enough for 38th in the Open Category and 9th in Age Group, so not terrible but I was hoping for a bit better.
A really technical bike course with lots of corners and lots of holes and bumps to navigate. Having closed roads was nice, but definitely the bumpiest course I’ve ever ridden on and not one for the fainthearted, particularly as the road was narrow at some points with bike traffic going both ways, and a lot of people on the course. Not to mention several corners with holes in the middle of them that made for lots of last minute line changes. The repeated bashes to the cockpit were starting to worry me a bit and at the end of the 1st lap I hit 1 bump too many and something gave way on the aerobars. Very close to stacking it but fortunately managed to get on the base bars just in time to tip into the next corner. A quick check showed that the L/H aerobar clamp had broken and the bar was unusable. As Id just passed the end of lap one I figured I’d push on using just the base bars and see how it goes but after another 5km or so it the arms were cramping already and there was no way I was going to be able to finish another 25km so knocked it off and plodded back to transition to retire. It was an interesting ride back as I thought I’d count how many bottles and other parts of bikes I could see that had been knocked off by the bumps. Saw at least 4 bottles on the side of the road, 1 bento box (not the soft ones, the rigid ones that are integrated into some bikes!) and even an entire between the arms bottle setup in the middle of the road.
It was also interesting to see how some of the faster age groupers tackled the bike traffic, with most being very respectful and shouting things like “on your right please” and lots of “Thank You” after passing, as I always try to do if I’m passing people. I was surprised though to hear 1 or 2 others being much more aggressive and just barking “RIGHT” at people and expecting them to jump out of the way, less than impressive behaviour and really not necessary in my opinion. You may be going faster, but everyone has the same right to be there as you and if they are overtaking too then its on you to navigate that as best you can. Doesn’t matter how fast your going, you still have time for a please and a thank you!
So, a very disappointing day that ended a lot earlier than I would have liked. I’m pretty sure that is my first ever DNF, hopefully it will be my last…
A pretty smooth T1, although dropped the visor of my TT helmet so had to reattach that, but out quite quickly onto the bike course. One of my smoothest flying mounts which contrasted with my last race here where I somehow managed to dislodge my shoe from the peddle before I had my foot in it so had to stop and go back for it, not a good start to the bike leg. But much smoother this time and off onto the bike course which was very different from the last time I’d done this race. First impression was a good few speedbumps which were difficult to take in the aerobars so a bit of up and down and then some real bumpy sections of road with manhole covers and potholes proving a bit of a concern. Legs were feeling pretty good which meant I was trying to keep to a sensible power and not overdo it for the 1st lap of 4 laps. Unfortunately 1/3 of the way thought the first lap a series of bumps dislodged my bottle and I saw that disappear off to the side with the top also flying off. Briefly thought about stopping to get it as it had ALL the nutrition I needed for the race but as the top was off figured it was likely all gone already so would just have to see what I could do in T2 and on the run to refuel. As it turned out that wasn’t really an issue…