I entered this race ast minute as a bit of practice for the Ironman in Kona. There are very few tri's available in August so its great that Race New Forest offer this race - where you can do the middle distance, standard or novice event on the same day.

I did the Middle distance and turned up the day before to register at Moyles Court School. That was a very quick process, but no check of my British Tri race licence was made.

The race format is a little odd, to take account of the local conditions and transition location. A 1.9k swim (supposedly (more on this in a min)), 1 mile run, 97km bike and a 21km off road run.

The race briefing takes place at the lake, using a loud hailer which I could hear but I'm not convinced everyone could. Then we all made our way into the murky, weedy water which took a while so for those of us in the water first, we got pretty cold bobbing about waiting. Then it was gun time and off we set only to be diverted onto a different course half way round. I can only assume there was some confusion about the swim route by the marshals, or minds were changed half way through but it was not very satisfactory as half the field went one way and the other half the other. Not a good start.

Anyway, the rest of the race is ok. Yes, there is a long run to T1 but everyone has to do it I guess.

The bike is three laps through the New Forest so you have to keep your eye out for animals, but its a pretty fast course.

The run is off road and hilly. Nice views, nice tracks, but not easy.

The race venue at the school is ok, though the showers and changing rooms cannot cope with the number of athletes I'd say, and there is very little in the way of post race food and drink.

All in all, a nice race, though not at the top end of tri's in terms of the offering. Though, saying that the cotton finishers tee shirt is great!