Hatton in top 15 at Outlaw Triathlon
QUORN triathlete Ollie Hatton was in action at the Outlaw triathlon last week in Nottingham, tackling a 3.8km swim, 180km bike ride and then a 42.2km run for good measure!
The event is regarded as one of the most competitive long course triathlon courses in the UK and Hatton finished 15h overall and second in his age group in a total time of 9:43:07.
After weeks of heat waves the competitors were greeted with ale-force winds and torrential rain which didn’t lend itself to fast times on the Iron Man distance course, but Hatton completed phase one in 55:16.
He said: “The water was warm for a wetsuit swim and I soon felt ready to get going. The swim passed quickly, I felt that I swam well even though the chop knocked me about a bit.”
Hatton admitted that the cycling phase was tough, and despite struggling in part of the cycling, he completed the bike ride in 5:15:34 at an average speed of 33kph.
He said: “Within 100metres I felt the wind and knew this was going to be a tough and lonely 180km. At 90km in and despite the conditions my average speed was great, then the turn point on the northern loop and the block head wind hit hard. I battled all the way back to the southern loop and was still feeling strong until about 140km in and then really struggled. I went through a really bad patch for the best part of 20km, but pulled myself back together and salvaged a good bike split.”
The transition from cycling to running went well and Hatton quickly settled into a rhythm and started to pass rivals ahead of him.
He said: “I soon settled in to it and the first 20km flew by. Family and friends lined the course and the support from other spectators too was insane.
“The final two laps of the lake were a whole heap of mixed emotions. Knowing the race was so nearly over and all the support was incredible, I finally crossed the line in nine hours and 43 minutes.
“To go under 10 hours is a bit of a holy grail in Ironman let alone go sub 9.45 so I was over the moon.”