Endurancelife Classic
Roadford Racers
Barry Matthews (endurancelife) / 29.07.2004
The Roadford Reservoir Water Sports Centre proved to be an ideal location, with over 700 acres of open water for the 4.5 mile kayak leg and great off-road running and mountain biking trails in the nearby forests and fields for the 12 mile run and 20 mile mountain bike sections.
Competitors came from all over the country to compete in the race. The solo category was extremely competitive with previous event winners returning to defend their titles. The team event was also keenly contested with newcomers looking to make their mark in this new sport.
A sunny day with a light breeze greeted the competitors on Saturday morning and after breakfast, removal of last minute stray campers from the transition zone and the mandatory safety presentation and race briefing – the race was ready to commence.
At 11am, as the air horn sounded the solo competitors sprinted to their waiting sit-on-top kayaks, lined up along the shoreline. endurancelife veteran Chris Wotton took an early lead and was soon setting the pace on the water. The Open category racers racing in their own boats and in a separate competition to the mass field on endurancelife’s boats showed the difference in speed between racing kayaks and sit-on-tops as they soon stretched ahead.
Meanwhile in the pack the race was really hotting up. Jason Sawyer, Graham Walton and Graham Sheldon were battling it out to be first out of the water. Endurance athlete and Iron Man Jason Sawyer won the battle in an impressive time of 47 minutes and 3 seconds, Graham Walton was hot on Jason’s heels only 15 seconds behind and Graham Sheldon only 11 seconds behind him.
The three men set off on the 12 mile run, looking to put more distance between themselves and the chasing pack, but soon marathon runner Nick Janvier was closing the gap. Nick had more than 2 minutes to close on Jason Sawyer, but at the end of the 12 miles, Nick had over taken the 3 front runners and had taken the lead with the fastest time of the day, in an impressive 1 hr 36 minutes and 4 seconds.
Graham Walton finished the run only 1 min and 7 seconds behind Nick and during transition to the mountain bike he had already gained ground and began the final leg with a slight lead. Graham Sheldon powered his way past Nick during the mountain bike leg, but couldn’t catch his rival. The quadrathlete finished the 20 mile bike leg in the amazing time of 1hr 17 minutes and 7 seconds, winning the race and maintaining his unbeaten record from the first classic race in the series, with a total elapsed time of 3hrs, 44 minutes and 30 seconds.
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