I completed teh Olympic Distance race on the 29th Septemeber. All events were delayed by 60 mins due to the weather conditions which were pretty bad, wind and heavt rain, but we were notified by text well in advance in the morning which meant we had more time to register and set up but did lead to quite a wait for my wife and daughter doing the 10k.

The parking and registration were efficient and I was in transition very quickly and directed to a racking position. Plenty of space for racking and kit and plenty of space between the racks.

A walk down to the waters edge, cut my toe on way down so maybe throw away flip flops advisable. Good race briefing before orderly entrance into the water. The water condition was not good due in part to the amount of rain falling overnight but the course was well marked out and easy to sight. The narrow river section was very crowded and I got clobbered a couple of times LOL but an enjoyable swim I have to admit even though  the visability in the water was non existant! 

T1 was neutralised due to the conditions so a slow slippy walk into transition and a leisurely transition onto the bike with a muddy walk to teh mount line.

The bike course was very well signed and marshalled, hilly, undulating but fair two pap course. The conditions were trickey but the hazard areas were very well controlled although there was one nasty bike incident that required an ambulance. 

Out of T2 onto teh run staright into an off road uphill section that got the breathing working! Very quickly into a very very muddy section of the run which was more Bambi on ice than running as there had been racing over the whole weekend and the course was well and trully churned up! 

In normal conditions this would be a stunning run route but having to concentrate on not falling face first into 6 inches of mud detracted from this a little. However the run itself was enjoyable and was ceratinly a challenge (not a PB course!!)

The finish was lovely running around teh back of the castle before running up the carpet to be announced over the line. No finish tee shirt unless you paid for it (a bit disappointing as the race is not cheap!) but the post race snacks were a bonus.

Overall an enjoyable event in very tough conditions. Very well organised and marshalled, very friendly and unusaul to have multiple events oin at the same time (my wife and daughter completed tthe 10k (actually 11.5K) just ahead of me.

I thank British Triathlon for the race place from a twitter competition and I would recommend the series of events for all abilities.