Try a Tri - why not?

Blink and I'll be gone!

Here's the triathlon girl! Vicky has been up for one for a while now and the Llanwrst Sprint Tri fitted the bill nicely. A quick 20 lengths of the pool followed by a 25K bike ride round the Conwy Valley plus a final 5K up into the Gwydir forest and back down to town.

How did this happen?

Llanwrst is a small town of 3000 inhabitants although in it's glory days it was bigger than Cardiff and was famous for it's wool and its harps. The hump backed bridge over the river shows off the beautiful Conwy valley setting. And a fine day it was too. Vicky won the V60 ladies and we thoroughly enjoyed our day out. A late breakfast at La Barrica was followed by an entertaining Triathlon prize presentation where Vicky won a big goody bag of prizes for her achievement. The Gogs are the North Wales triathlon club based in Llandudno and they were very welcoming and Vicky will be doing more of these multi disciplinary thingies. However I shall steer well clear of the water as I normally do.

On the final run in - still smiling!

Off to the Show!

Just look at me!

Here he is - a champion sheepdog! It's actually a rosette for second place in class at the Appleby Show in Cumbria, however he was up against the best border collies, etc., that the Lake District could muster so what an achievement. What makes it even more exciting is that this wasn't even what we went for. I'd spotted an interesting fell race up Murton Pike of a Thursday lunchtime and thought - "Hey we can be there and back in a day!" So to while away the time during my 7 mile gallop up a hill Vicky entered Skip in the dog show - and this is the result!

Phew!

Had a good run to win some dosh for first V60. Murton Pike is the pointy hill just behind my head and the race was essentially a three part gallop, the first section being a cross country over the fields to the foot of the hill, the next part involved a steep climb and thrilling descent up and down the slope facing the back of me and the final slog was back over the fields to the showground. And what a show it was with all kinds of rare breed sheep, terrier racing and Cumberland Wrestling. Added to that were some excellent provisions on offer - we had Moroccan Mutton Sausage Sandwiches for lunch and took home pork pies with apple, pork pies with haggis and pork pies with black pudding. By waiting till towards the end of the show we found we had a bargain with the pies as they vendors dropped the prices to sell them off. This friendly show would make an excellent day out for our running club members next year! We'll certainly go again!

Here's the haul from the show!