New Year's Day Triathlon Edinburgh Race Report

The New Year's Day Triathlon in Edinburgh is a very special event. It consists of a 400m swim in the Commonwealth pool, followed by 3 hilly bike laps of Arthur’s Seat, and finishes with a 5km road run through the historic streets of Edinburgh. Given the location, the weather is often pretty ‘bracing’. The event starts around midday giving plenty of time for people to wake up!

Sundried sponsored athlete Alice Hector has written a fantastic race report in the form of a poem.

The First of Jan, it's New Year’s Day,

A lovely time for rest and play.

Maybe extended time in bed,

Nursing a touch of ‘tender head’.

A big roast lunch, a laze around,

Watching some old film you found.

But there’s a certain type of fool,

Who likes to go against these rules.

They think, “oh, what a good idea

To do the opposite of beer,

And do a tri at Arthur’s Seat

To prove that we are totes elite”.

These silly people, barely clad,

Fight wind and cold and feeling bad.

Swim some lengths, then rush outdoors

And bike and run like Minotaurs.

I was there, and I admit

To being a certain breed of twit.

We do this type of thing for FUN,

Which lo, perplexes everyone.

The wind was screaming “stop right here,

You crazy athletes: disappear!”

Triathletes are the hardy type

And don’t give up without a fight

And Mother Nature, raging round

All but blew us to the ground.

Swept one direction then the next

Unwitting passers-by perplexed

Whisp'ring as we grunted by,

“bunch o eejits, tha’s no lie”.

Crosswind here and crosswind there,

Dummy out, this isn’t fair!

Finish at last and joy of joys,

I've beaten all but 5 fast boys.

Twas bonus more than anything:

To stay upright AND take the win.

For my efforts I was given

Haggis – big as any chicken.

4 kilograms of meat and ‘stuff’

Apt for being so mighty tough!