Hello everyone!
Aside from Liwonde, we haven’t been up to anything unique in Malawi recently. Part of this is because of 4:40am wake ups and spending long stints in a saddle…
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| The end |
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| The beginning |
The first three years we lived in Malawi, we took part in the Lilongwe Triathlon. It was a great event and a good incentive to get out for fitness during rainy season.
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| Hannah swimming in the 2017 edition |
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| Me finishing in 2017 |
Then Covid hit. Cancelled in 2020 and not possible in 2021. 2022, however…
The main problem was that most of the organisers had left. New people needed to step up and work tirelessly to make sure it happened again. I was one of those people, mainly because I wanted it to happen one more time before leaving Malawi later this year.
We started organising in February, painstakingly sorting out approval from the city council, getting enough volunteers, persuading companies to give us prizes for the charity raffle…
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| Approval (eventually) from city council |
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| Raffle prizes involved a lot of persuasion and driving around after school hours |
…and then training. I wanted to take part, after all! In previous years, I have either done the individual sprint or team sprint races. We only have one bike and Hannah always goes big for the Olympic distances, so it’s not possible for both to race at the same time. Those are a 1500m swim, a 40km bike ride and a 10km run which is actually 11km. Brutal. Who on earth would sign up for that?
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| All for this! |
Hannah did, naturally, and she persuaded a few of our friends to do it as well. This then involves lots of training, such as swimming at 5:45am before school. Needing to walk the dogs before leaving home, this resulted in some irritating 4:40am wake-ups. I hope the dogs appreciated it more than I did.
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| Looks lovely. Feels Arctic. |
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| So appreciative |
I was signed up for the sprint so was focusing on doing enough for that race: a 750m swim, 20km bike and 5km run which was really 5.5km. With helping to organise, I didn’t really have time to think about doing more. Besides, we only have one bike.
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| I borrowed this bike and helmet in 2017 - as you can see, the helmet was strange! |
Things progressed pretty well with organisation, mainly because of teachers persuading so many primary students to sign up for our mini triathlon. By the time registration shut, we had about 150 unique participants and 60 volunteers. The last week is always a bit tense with people dropping out but we just about managed to get enough volunteers for the race to work on the Sunday morning.
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| After a three-year gap in which many people left, this was an impressive turnout |
It was in this week that Hannah became a bit ill. Something gnawed at me: if Hannah was too ill for the triathlon, should I take her place in the Olympic? I’d have a bike, after all.
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| Hannah was off school on Friday. I was there but trying to organise things like all of these stopwatches. |
Hannah was fine by Saturday but a seed had been planted. Could I actually finish an Olympic? Someone had changed from the Olympic to sprint distance, so there was a free spot. No point dwelling on it as we only had one bike. Well, until I mentioned it over coffee when meeting our running group the morning before. “I have a spare bike, do you want it?” Harry asks. Well, my excuse has always been that I don’t have a bike…and this would be the last chance in Malawi…
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| I would be there at that time anyway! This is 5:15am. |
So less than 24 hours before the start of the Lilongwe Triathlon, I’ve decided to promote myself to do the hardest and longest distance. Idiot. Particularly when I had to spend much of the rest of the day setting up parts of the course under the afternoon sun, rather than resting and hydrating. I’m pretty sure most Olympic athletes don’t hit almost 25,000 steps the day before they compete.
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| A main job was building the mini transition area |
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| Marking out routes and checking for potential problems |
They probably don’t organise their event, either. On race day, this involved a 4am start to collect volunteers who didn’t have transport. It got me to school, where the race was based, at 5:15am: about 15 minutes later than planned. Rushing round to organise volunteers, sort out elements of registration and ensure that no elements of the mini triathlon had blown away overnight took up a lot of my time. I did get to practise using the bike…when running it from Harry’s car to the transition zone. I didn’t have much time to think about other things I needed to do for my race…
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| This was the adult transition area the day before |
…like get changed for the swim! It got to 5:58am for a 6am start before I managed to get round to putting on my wetsuit (6am start as we approach Malawian ‘winter’: cold pool). The wetsuit was in a small green bag with some other valuables like my car keys. No time for this to go to my transition area, so it stayed by the side of the pool. Quick briefing from swim coordinator, quick photo, in the pool…go.
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| 7 Olympians started on time |
In a way, the rushing helped me forget about the insane decision to do an Olympic triathlon on 24 hours’ notice. I didn’t have time to comprehend swimming 60 lengths until actually being in the pool and swimming. It was almost enjoyable, save for the moment when a late-arriving participant came into my lane without me realising. I deduced this when accidentally clonking him on the head with a front crawl stroke.
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| #technique |
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| Quick goggle fix before resuming |
I had a satisfactory and surprisingly fast swim for me, finishing in about 34 minutes. Lots of us finish at a similar time. Cheered by a growing crowd and the volunteers, we all zoomed off to the transition area to get ready for the bike ride. It was at this point that two things dawned on me:
1) I don’t think I’ve ever cycled 40km in one go before;
2) I haven’t attached the bib number to my shirt.
No matter, a friend was the marshal in this area so helped sort that whilst I towel off and then put on the shirt, the socks, the train-
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| Hannah about to cycle away as we all laugh at the realisation that I don't have my trainers |
Oh dear. Where are my trainers? I’d worn flip-flops around the pool (realising at that point that they were still there but no time for that now) so they must be…think…oh yes. They’re in the car. We all burst out laughing. So as other participants head up to the gate, I head down and around the corner to the car to get my train-
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| Sorting out music, because everyone needs a bit of Kelly Clarkson to do a triathlon properly |
The car is locked. Where are the keys? Of course…they’re at the pool. Back up to the zone I go, with a helper quickly dispatched to collect that green bag which had had my wetsuit. It’s lucky I wasn’t aiming for a time and was simply aiming to finish the race!
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| This was after the bike ride but could have summed up my transition! |
Bike ride. You essentially cycle up a bypass to a roundabout, then go a long way the other direction (again, mostly uphill), then back to that first roundabout before returning to the school campus. Not the prettiest route and the occasional swerve as a lorry overtaking another lorry gets a bit too close to you, but there isn’t really another possible route for the bike without enlisting an army of volunteers. It wasn’t as hard as I anticipated, probably because the bike I had been lent was apparently quite good.
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| No photographers out and about so this is the one pic of me on a bike! |
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| The route. It IS 40, honest! |
I expended a lot of energy on that bike ride, however. My legs were sore even before starting the run. The mercury was also rising, with the sunshine feeling particularly strong. You know I hadn’t remembered the sun cream from the car, but no time for that. Just get the run done.
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| I'm happy because this bit is downhill |
At this point there are many participants of different races on the course, and with that more people cheering. They were vital. Running is my strength but I haven’t had to do that after a 40km bike ride which wasn’t exactly flat.
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| Volunteers doubled up as cheerleaders |
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| The time is quite good - it did NOT feel that quick. |
We all found the run hard, particularly the fact that it’s longer than the distance should be and it is two laps of the same course. Being an organiser, I’d tried to make the route 5km but it wasn’t possible in the short time frame. Nonetheless, I managed to drag myself around and finish on the school field. I promptly fell onto the floor.
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| Last push to the finish! |
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| Energy: gone |
Remarkably, I was the second finisher, with only Harry finishing ahead of me. Considering how ill she had been in the run-up, Hannah did incredibly well to finish third overall. The way categories were sorted, everyone got a medal, but we were all simply happy to have finished the race.
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| Will and I were the two male 19-39 participants in the Olympic event |
A festival had also been organised in tandem with the race to make it a large community event, pretty much the first one in Lilongwe since Covid. The upshot of this was that I didn’t really have time to recover, as I was then running (metaphorically) around sorting the raffle and having a break by having kids throw water balloons at my face.
It was a lovely day and a reward for months of preparation. I really hope the Lilongwe Triathlon happens again in the future and that it becomes even bigger and better. As for me? I’ve now done an Olympic distance triathlon…and have no need to do one ever again!
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| Since our event, another in Cape Maclear has already been organised |
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| Lovely, draining day |
Love you all,
Matt
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