The First Titan Middle Distance Triathlon (Brecon Man) was held at Parc Bryn Bach on Saturday 5th July 2014, organised by race company DB Max. Competitors from all over the country descended on the beautiful Parc to tackle the 1900m lake swim, 96km bike bike and 21km run.
Race day dawned and competitors were met with heavy rain as they made their way to transition, but as they started racking the weather began to clear. After the safety brief it was down to the water’s edge for the start.
The 1900m swim was two laps of the stunning lake which is fed by the springs of the Black Mountains and first out of the water was Paul Jennings from Northants Tri Club in 28:30mins, quickly followed by Gareth Thomas (San Domenico), Ken MacLaren (Hawkes Bay Multi-Sport Club) and Aled Jones (Lios Bikes). The first lady out was Naomi Shinkins of Tri London in 35:08mins.
It was then on to the fearsome bike course, which took athletes across the Brecon Beacon Moors before the route wound its way through the picturesque country villages all the way up to the town of Brecon and a loop across the top section which included the 18% climb of Deffynog Hill. The last few kilometres took participants over the iconic Iron Mountain, a 6km climb with absolutely no resting places, certainly not one for the faint hearted.
Within a few miles of the start a battle between Gareth Thomas and Aled Jones started, with Aled getting the better of Gareth around 50km miles into the bike leg and holding this lead in to T2. Aled completed the 96km bike course in 2:55:36 – the fastest bike split of the day – followed by Garet, Mike Primett and the evergreen Pete Wheddon who was the first SupVet back in fourth place. First lady back was Olivia Hetreed from Tri London who just sneaked past her teammate Naomi Shinkins. The rest of the field battled heroically on up the Iron Mountain as the leaders started their run.
The run was a traffic-free three-lap route around the country park and included two climbs per lap to really test the competitors to their edge of endurance. The race at the front was hotting up with Gareth bearing down on Aled and eventually overtaking him at the end of the second lap of the run, then going on to finish the race in 5:01:14 with a half marathon split of 1:29:30. Aled finished in 5:02:41 with Mike Primett taking third in 5:20:20.
First vet home was Pete Wheddon from BAD Tri in 5:33:50 – even the more impressive as he is a Supvet 50. First lady back after the run was Naomi Shinkins from Tri London who got the better of her teammate Olivia Hetreed to take the win in 6:13:38.
Next year's date for the event will be released very soon and entries will open soon after. For more details on the race go to www.dbmax.co.uk.
(All images: Charles Whitton Photography)
Were you racing the Titan? How did you get on? Let us know in the comments below!