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On the 5 January 2008 at Dibden Inclosure, Applemore, Jack competed for Aldershot, Farnham & District Athletics in the Hampshire cross country championships.
The race was an 8k run consisting of 2 laps of a hilly circuit. On the first lap Jack was running wel and in 6th position, but on the second lap he suffered stomach cramps and was unable to run to his full potential and dropped 3 places to finish in a still respectable 9th position in a time of 28.57m
On the 25th November 2007 Jack travelled to the Castle Combe race circuit to compete in the Chilly Duathlon.
This was Jacks first competition since he started training at Bath University under triathlon coach Chris Volley.
The race was a 2mile run a 10mile bike and a 1mile run which he completed in 11.04m, 30.04m, and 6.10m giving an overall time of 47.18m. this time gave jack an overall place of 13th outof the 228 that entered on the day.
Jack was pleased with the performance and said that the recent coaching and training programme had made a big difference to his performance.
Jack Grundy Wight tri triathlete sponsored by Gamson Gray travelled to London on the 05/08/2007 to compete in the Junior Elite London triathlon.This was the first big competition after the double puncture in the Island games.
The London triathlon took place in the docklands area with the swim taking place in one of the docks.
The swim went well and Jack left transition without any problems and was going well on the bike when once again he was forced to retire with a puncture. With no repair kit or tube Jack faced a long walk back to transition when a Russian cyclist who was spectating assisted with his own repair kit and then rode back with Jack to ensure that the repair held out. Looks like he may need to buy some solid tyres.
Jack Grundy Wight tri triathlete sponsored by Wightlink and Gamson Gray travelled to Bournemouth on Wednesday the 11th July to compete in the Bournemouth beach aquathon. The event is a 400m sea swim followed by a 5k run.
The race started with a mass run through the surf to enter the water to swim out to the buoy and back to the beach, Jack left the water in 3rd place in a time of 6.12 min and changed out of his wetsuit for the run.
The 5k run starts with a fairly steep climb and finishes on the beach, Jack completed this in 20.04 min giving an overall time of 26.16 min 1st male junior and 6th out of the 61 athletes who took part.
Island Games results
Jack arrived in Rhodes on the 27th July so that he had enough time to acclimatize to the heat and conditions of competing in a hot country.
The first few days were hard with the heat being overwhelming, but after that the training went well and he felt that the heat would not be a problem for the competition and was confident of a good result.
The race started with a 1.5k swim in the warm waters off the islands coast, so warm that wet suits were not needed. Jack finished the swim in 10th position and ran to the transition area to collect his bike and start the 40k cycle route.
On the bike he was looking strong and had already passed some competitors on the first lap when he rounded a roundabout and hit a ridge of concrete in the road. The impact of riding over the ridge punctured both tyres on the bike and ended the race.
Jack was devastated by the way that his race ended as he had been going so well and had wanted a good result for the team, but after the disappointment Jack was able to analyze the good points of the event and although the event will not be forgotten he is now thinking of the other events he has entered and how he can learn from the Rhodes experience.
Jack Grundy in the Island Games 2007 Triathlon
Jack Grundy in the Island Games 2007: triathlon: swim
Jack Grundy in the Island Games 2007: triathlon: run
Jack Grundy in the Island Games 2007: triathlon: cycling
Jack’s International Debut
Jack Grundy Wight tri triathlete sponsored by Wightlink and Gamson Gray was invited to compete in the Corus Elite National Triathlon Series, the first of which took part at Strathclyde Country Park Glasgow on the 27th May.
The starting lineup for this event included four world champions in the field of triathlon, and aquathlon and athletes from South Africa, France, Ireland, Germany, Switzerland, Netherlands, New Zealand, Jersey and the UK.
64 athletes started the race 9 failed to finish through injury, accident or cycle breakdown with one swimmer needing rescue from the lake after an injury.
The 750m swim started with a mass start from a pontoon with the swimmers channelled to swim under a narrow bridge before following the buoys in a square route back to the shore, into transition area to remove wet suits and get onto the bikes for the hilly fast 20k cycle course, Jacks swim time was not as good as he expected due to his start position on the pontoon but he did well on the bike to gain a few places.
After the cycle the transition area is used again to change for the 5k run which again was hilly from the start, again Jack managed to pass a few competitors and of the 55 that finished Jack achieved a position of 49th in 1hr 06m 21s which was an excellent result in this class of international event where Jack was one of the youngest competitors.
