Jack Grundy | triathlete

The London Triathlon was packed with top class athletes from all over the world, and I had been offered a place in the elite category. It was my first year as a senior and was hoping I could hold it together over the Olympic distance. The first half of the swim went well, but then after 750M I started to fall off the front group. I was annoyed because I feel I should have come out of the water in the group ahead if I’d had a good second half of the swim. I came out the water with Steve Worthing an we formed a bike pack . My bike felt OK and I managed to do the work in the group when it was needed. I knew I had some catching up to do on the run so started off steady and tried to pick guys off one by one,  it was hot but the run course was busy with spectators that helped me push on. I managed to catch a lot of people up from the bike pack ahead and leave everyone other than two from my bike pack behind.

I Finished 42nd overall; I was happy because the field was the best I had ever competed in , with 77 elite guys on the start line. Courtney Atkinson the Australian won the race taking 15,000 home, 2nd was Tim Don from Great Britain and 3rd was Jarrod Shoemaker from the United states. Theses guys were flying but it was great to be just in the same race them .

On Saturday the 17th I competed in the National Aquathon championships, which were held in Salford Quays, Manchester. The race consisted of a 750m swim followed by  a 5km run. I was looking forward to the race as i had been starting to feel some form again in training especially my track sessions. The race started of well with me making my way out of the fights by the first buoy. After the swim had settled down and I sat in nicely in the lead group lead by team mate Mark Threlfall, I came into transition 8th overall and 3rd in my age group and  feeling good. The run was a out and back route along the side of the quay and was a fast course other than the dead turns. The run went well as the out and back helped me work and chase people. Again  felt good and managed to settle in a good rythm. Although on the last lap, a team mate  (Tom curtis) who I had over taken on run came back at me . We ended up running the last lap together playing it tactical on who ran slightly in front. On the finishing straight Tom was strong and I was waiting for his kick of speed,  for the finish. Tom didn’t kick, he was waiting for me to go. So I went,  running from behind and pushed on hard, I just pipped  him at the line by a second. I finished 3rd in my age group and 8th overall, was good to finaly have a positive result.

Total fitness Bathsquad turned up and dominated with 4 members in the overall top 9 and all of us making poduim in our age groups. A great day for TFB and ME!!!

A big apology to everyone as the website has been neglected the last year or so, I have been at University and have found it hard to keep up with training and university work. I have now graduated from university of Bath with a 2.1 in sport performance, which I am very happy with.  I am now living back on the Isle of Wight and using it a training base, which is working well, with lots of open water swimming, squad swimming, training with the run squad and cycling on my own. I am finding the island terrain and scenery the perfect way to start my hard years training, I am now looking to train fulltime but also pursue a career in Triathlon coaching.   

I recently signed for a division 3 triathlon team in the French grand prix who were the promoted to division 2.  This was great new however the difference in standard is massive, giving me an aim and target for the year.

My next up and coming races are the national aquathon champs (750m swim, 5k run) in Salford, Manchester  this weekend the 17^th of July.  I am then flying out the following weekend to the French grand prix in les seaton and then the next major race planned is London Elite triathlon on the 8^th of august.

Here are some recent articles on my progress this year :

Jack Grundy’s season is slowly improving after a terrible winters training. During the winter, Jack suffered a bad cycling accident which resulted in him dislocating his wrist; this put jack out of full training for nearly two months.  After the injury Jack acknowledged that his form will be constantly improving as the race season went on.

The last two races have helped demonstrate his form is still improving and will hopefully continue.

Windsor 13th of June

The  race was held at Windsor, which was an elite series race attracting an international field. The Windsor triathlon was Olympic distance consisting of a 1500m swim, 40k bike and 10k run.  The race started well with Jack swimming 20. 52 against the river Thames current. Unfortunately, Jack missed a break in the field half way through the swim, and was unable to bridge the gap, leaving  him being in the second cycling group. The bike went well with jack doing a large amount of the work within the group and slowly picked up trailing small groups ahead. Jack came into transition with a pack of twelve riders, and went on to the 10k run. He started the run off steady but struggled to make any impact upon the field.  Overall , Jack finished 9^th in the under 23’s and 28^th overall.  

St Jean De Monts 24th of June

Jack recently this year signed for a semi professional triathlon team in the France Grande prix league. The French Grand Prix is the most competitive league in the triathlon world, drawing athletes from all over the world to race. The Grand prix was based in St Jean De Monts on the west coast of France on the 26^th of June. The triathlon was a sprint distance consisting of a 750m sea swim, 20k bike and 5k run. The swim was a non wetsuit swim, and started on the beach with 93 competitors on the start line. The Swim was made hard with a cross wind pushing swimmers off course and size of the field making it a fight to get round each buoy. Jack swam well coming out the water 1^st in his team by over a minute and top 20 for u23’s. He then went onto the bike with a pack of 20 riders with the bike course consisting of an out and back route along the sea front with 6 roundabouts each lap. This made the bike section very technical and aggressive with lots of attacking opportunities. Jack came into transition with the main pack, and went onto the run which was made tough by the soaring temperatures, reaching 33 degrees.  He  held his position on the run and finished 28^th overall in the u23’s and second for the team.  This was a big improvement in performance in one of the toughest fields Jack has competed in yet. He would not be able to compete at this level without the help and support of his coach Geoff Watkins and sponsors total fitness Bath & Gamson Gray.

Blenheim 6th of June

Blenheim elite sprint triathlon, was jacks first major race of the season.  While in transition there was announcement that the swim would be a non wetsuit swim, which was a great surprise to the field. The swim was held within the grounds of the palace in a lake. The swim went well for jack with him coming out on the bike in the second main pack. Although after one lap of the bike another athlete in the pack braked hard and cause jack to touch there wheel, he was forced to steer off the course to stop himself coming down in the group. Once jack had made his way back onto the course the group was long gone. This then resulted in jack riding on his own for one lap, this disheartened jack and as he had run on his too. He carried on working trying to catch the group he lost and knew that this race will give him points in the elite British series.  Jack finished 28^th overall and 9^th in the under23’s. jack was not happy with the result but was pleased with his determination to finish after his crash.

The Isle of Wight triathlon has been one of those races that I have always wanted to win, due to it being my local race. In the past I had never won the race but always finished close. This year the pressure was on to win it, so I borrowed as many things as I could to save time. This consisted of Martin Piper’s aero helmet and Nina French’s zipp disc. The bike felt awesome so a big thank you to them!!

The race distances are weird. They are a 600m swim,  a 35km bike ride and a 7.5km run. The race went well with  a fast swim time of 7.14, only a second slower than last year, which i was vey pleased with as I had laid off the swimming in the summer so as to concentrate on my running and biking.

Off I went on the bike with the amazing noise made by the disc wheel constantly pushing me on. I pushed the bike hard, and really worked the hills as I knew it was my strong point on this course. During the last bit of the bike Oliver Milk took me like I was standing still which cut me deep mentally. I thought to myself just keep him in sight and I’ll do my best to run him down. Coming off the bike I felt awesome and took the first 1k steady to get into it, soon I was on Oliver’s shoulder and then pushed on and just never looked back and hope for the best. It turned out to be a great race and I was glad to finally win my local race.

The welsh championship was held in Porthcrawl  on the 23rd of August, I was looking forward to this race as i was finally back fit from being ill and eger to race. The conditions were not nice with wind and a bit of rain but that didnt put me off, the race went well with myself coming out of the 750m swim in third place which i was pleased with. I then had a bit of  a slow transition due to struggling with the aero helmet.   The bike was 22k non drafting  and quite hilly, i struggled on the bike and lost a few place , but i knew it would be different on the run as i had been running well in training. The run  felt really good and i started to make a lot of time up on the other competitors  putting in the 2nd fastest time of the day, which i was chuffed with. overall i finished 7th in the open mens catergory which i was very pleased with. But overall it showed my biggest weakness which was the bike and has been for a while in non drafting races!!!

After his excellent second place in the Salisbury Triathlon Freshwater’s Jack Grundy was invited to compete in the Mazda Blenheim Elite Sprint Triathlon where he finished an outstanding 25 from the 67 elite starters.

The race was held within the confines of the spectacular palace which included a 750metre swim in the lake followed by 3 laps of cycling covering 19.8km and then a two lap 5.4km run. The transition area was situated in Blenheim’s main courtyard making the perfect setting for this event.

The open water swim in the lake was fast and demanding as competitors battled for the best positions with Grundy taking a slightly wider line to keep out of trouble. A time of 10min 18sec saw Jack running the uphill 800m into transition in the middle of the pack.

During the first of the cycle loops the Total Fitness sponsored Grundy had got himself to the front of the third cycle pack containing 10 athletes as they tried to make inroads on the leaders. Into transition for the second time with a 32min 48sec clocking Grundy was placed 32 as they set off on the hilly run circuit.

Heading up the long drive towards the main entrance to Blenheim Jack had passed 7 top athletes in the first half of the run and was still running strongly as they started the second loop. Holding his form right to the finish he recorded 19min 55sec for the run section with a finishing time 1hour 6 min 51sec.

This was a breakthrough performance for Jack as he was competing against the top triathletes in the UK, many who are full time professional athletes and still being only 19 years old has plenty of time to make the progress that is required to make full international status.

Jack now moves up in distance next week where he faces another Elite field in the Windsor Olympic Triathlon.

 

Jack traveled to Salisbury for the popular Fast Twitch event which is regarded as a sprint in triathlon terms as competitors swam 400m, cycled 19 miles and then completed a 4 mile run, with Freshwater’s Jack Grundy finishing an outstanding second place in the large field of 250 competitors.

Grundy, representing Total Fitness Bath, was the fastest athlete of the day in the pool clocking 4min 34sec for the 16 length swim. Through transition very quickly he was soon chasing down athletes who were already out on the road being in a slower swim group and recorded 51 min 30sec having lost a little time to the experienced and eventual winner Mark Stennings.An excellent time of 21min 58sec was good enough to hold of 3^rd placer Adam Wells by just 2seconds and also to give Grundy the 3^rd fastest run of the competion.His final time was 1hr 18 min 08sec.After a successful season as a junior this was an excellent result in the transition to the senior ranks where later in the season Jack will compete against the best in the UK at Windsor and Blenheim and the European Age Group Championships in Holland.

Geoff Watkin

Jack Grundy. World Xterra Triathlon Championships. (Off Road)

Island triathlete Jack Grundy put in a stunning performance in scorching temperatures to finish 12th for his age group in the World Xterra Off-Road Triathlon Championships in Hawaii.

After winning the Junior National Off Road (xterra) Triathlon in Tradegar, Wales in July,  Grundy 19 of Freshwater, represented Great Britain in Maui, competing against national champions from around the globe.

Jack Grundy in the Xterra Triathlon World Champs Maui 26/10/2008

The grueling event was staged from Mekena Beach where 550 athletes completed a 1500m swim in the Pacific Ocean followed by a 31 km off road cycle heading towards Haleakala Volcano and then an 11km demanding off road run which included volcanic rocks and soft white sand running.

The spectacular start from the beach saw Grundy move quickly into the water and establish a leading position on the first of the two 750m laps matching the senior professional triathletes.After the first lap Grundy exited the water still in the top 10 as they sprinted a 100m along the soft sand to re enter the ocean for the second lap. The Wight Tri athlete showed his maturity by easing back slightly on lap 2 to sit in with the lead pack and was still 17th in an excellent time of 18min 45sec as he entered transition. C:UsersJackDesktopxterraP1010053.JPG

With a start time of 9am the temperature was soon well over 30C and this plus the demanding hills and volcanic surface made the off road cycle extremely tough with many sections of the course unridable.Punctures plus broken chains were the order of the day but Grundy rode a cautious path to avoid mishaps. Despite taking on many liters of fluid dehydration was inevitable but Grundy returned to transition in 2hr 08min 59sec and although he had lost places was still amongst the top juniors in the race.

At the start of the run the mercury had climbed to a staggering 37C making even spectating very uncomfortable but Grundy stuck to his task as the run headed straight out and upwards towards the volcano before snaking down through ‘Spooky Woods’ where ducking and climbing over trees was required. The course then moved onto the white sandy beach where there was no restbite from the sun before scrambling over volcanic rocks to Mekena Bay and into the spectacular finish at the Maui Prince Hotel. Jack’s time for the 11k run was a very respectable 60min 41sec

Despite falling several times Grundy sprinted passed athletes in the run  to the finish to clock 3hrs 31min 15sec for an overall position of 143rd and 12th Junior (Under 20 years of age ).An outstanding result

This event is one of the toughest in the world which showed that Grundy has the desire and talent to progress in the sport.

Jack was accompanied by coach and masseur Geoff and Karen Watkin and Island Games long jump champion Kim Murray who is studying at Bath University with Jack.

The expensive and long journey would not have been possible without financial help from the IOW Council, Total Fitness of Bath, Sharon Orchard of Ryde and Beco Webdesign and Jack would like to thank these sponsors for making it possible to take part in this event.

Jack Grundy sponsored by Gamson Gray and Total Fitness Bath competed in the West Wight Triathlon at West Wight sports center in Freshwater on the Isle of Wight.

The competition is the largest triathlon event on the island and consists of a 600m pool swim a 35k bike ride along the steep coastal road and a 7.5k run on a bridleway at the side of the Yar estuary. Jacks overall time was 1hr 35m 24s, this gave him a finishing position of first junior and 3rd male overall.

Jack was really pleased with his performance especially as he achieved the fastest swim of the day in 7m 11s.

Result:

1st Junior Male

4th Overall
Weather: Cold, Wet and Misty

Ground: Wet and Muddy

Distance:750m swim, 15k bike and 5k run

The race took place in the Afan Forest in Wales with 44 competitors starting this very challenging offroad event. Jack emerged from the cold llakes in first position and was leading the bike section untill he took a wrong turn in the forest, he managed to get himselfback in the race and finished as the first junior and 4th overall. This was an excellent result and gave Jack his entry to the world championships in Maui in October.