Meet our triathlon winner

Last month Body Confidential reader Richard Jones won a place on the Man-Tri beginners course. Here's how he got on...

“I'd never thought of doing anything like this before. I don't do any running, I haven't got a bike, I do go swimming from time to time but my front crawl is rubbish. So I couldn't do any of it really. But it was fine. It's a mixed ability group so its not too intimidating and the North West champion was there helping out on the day. There are a few hundred members so some are seriously competitive and others are just there for the fun. It's a great set up with coaches helping out.

I turned up in the morning at Moss Side Leisure Centre in the Missile hall. I was like 'Missile Hall? Really?' but I think it's just called that because it's long and thin. We swam for an hour and I was really out of breath doing front crawl but I improved as I was taught how to do it correctly. If I do a real triathlon I'd have to really knuckle down and improve more on that one.

After the swim, we went to the track in Chorlton where we had a talk on equipment and all the things you need for a triathlon, the rules etc. Then we had a go at the transition of running after swimming and then cycling. You have to run with your bike because you're not allowed to jump on it straight away. We were shown how to jump on and off it when it's still moving as it all saves time. If you're doing it properly, you have to take off your wet suit and you already have a special suit underneath that doesn't get wet. The official triathlon rules say you're not allowed to get naked.

The last phase was running with plenty of technical pointers although the swimming was the most useful for me. With swimming it always seems quite difficult to do it well but if you can pick up a few lessons it does become a lot easier. I was really impressed by how friendly and welcoming the whole thing was. The sport itself is intimidating because it's very difficult and it can seem expensive to buy all your own equipment, but they discuss this and go to great effort explaining how it's possible to beg borrow and steal stuff and really get into it.

I would go again, although the problem I have is that I'm not good at any of them. People were either in cycling clubs, already did jogging or were pretty good swimmers and although I wasn't the only one, I felt if I'd have been good at at least one of the three it would have been a lot easier.”

For more information on Manchester Triathlon Club please visit www.man-tri-club.org.uk. Joining fees to the end of the year are now £165 for Gold (including free training sessions with qualified coaching staff from the British Triathlon Club of the Year) or £25 for bronze with a £4 per session cost for those who want to see if they’re really keen before committing.

Key triathlon dates for Manchester...

July 19th – Boundary Breeze Sprint Triathlon (entries on Manchester Triathlon Club website) – perfect for juniors, women and novices with separate starts in the open water

August 2nd – Ironman UK, Bolton (2.4mile swim in Rivington/112 mile bike/26.2mile run).