Newbie in need of guidance

Hi all. I'm considering making the switch from running to tri, to mix things up a bit. I'm looking for an event to pop my cherry at and wondered if people had any suggestions. I'm thinking that a sprint would be the best place to start. I live in Doncaster and have so far looked at Hatfield and Rother Valley for this year. Does anyone have any advice on these events and their newbie friendliness, or just any advice on starting out would be greatly appreciated.

Ta

Hi....sorry i don't know that area..........i know thw natwich ones in chesire in september are bery beginner friendly......not sure how far that is for you.....

most sprints are suitable for beginers and have all sorts there.......

good luck and enjoy

Check the events sections of local clubs.

Bike, bike and bike some more!

yep I agree with Claret, bike,bike and then try to run after. Rother valley is a good starting point if you want to go straight into OW tri and it is just down the road from you. The organisers (Onestep beyond) know their stuff.

SJ,

I'm a few miles away from you in sheffield if you want to play two very good and beginner races are haversage sprint and matlock tri. Both pool biased and both very much beginner friendly. They do both involve hills through for the bike and run. matlock is the chepest race I know of and the entries for this year should hopefully be up soon. Got no experiance on hatfield but rother valley is good. Afraid if hills are a problem your going to find it hard to get in a local race as most of them will involve them on the bike.

I would say you want to do a pool swim first off through or your buying/renting a wetsuit you might never use again if you don't like it. Other race I know is very good for beginners is the tri for nantwick. I've stuck some links below you might find useful sorry if they don't work to well RW has just changed format.

If you need it I'm just on the edge of stocksbridge in sheffield so might be able to help with any local knowalge but put the links for sheffield and wakefield tri clubs below both very friendly bunch's and both good for the pub after as well.

http://sheffieldtriclub.com/hathersage-hilly/

http://www.matlockac.org.uk/events

http://www.fun2tri.co.uk/

http://www.xtramileevents.com/events

http://www.wakefieldtriclub.co.uk/

Big thank you guys. Plenty of info to go on. Cheers for the links Cake, I think that you're right. pool based to start off with makes good sense.

Agreed - start with a pool based sprint. If its local go and swim in that pool and have a ride round the course too. In training, practise your transitions - i do this by short fast bike/run/bike /run sessions (eg 10mins bike, 1km run, 10mins bike, 1 km run etc) - gets you used to getting your bike gear off and your run stuff on in a hurry while out of breath! Clubs can often organise swim/bike brick sessions too - great for practising swim to bike transition, which is a tricky one unless you know the pool owners/organisers. Enjoy and good luck!