The morning of Gullane beach was once again very cold and the prospect of getting in the North sea was not a welcoming one, until the race marshall informed us that the water temperature was 14.2 and outside the water it was 14, hmm. Let me in, except first we had to contend with the jelly fish!!

At the race which doubles as the Scottish National Championships we had Phil Gray, Mic Golightly, Mike Adams, Iain Haslam and Phil smith racing, all enjoying the opportunity of going up against a certain Scot Neydli 2007 Ironman UK winner.

Mike Adams was first out the water for Total Racing in 20:54 one minute in front of Neydli and 3rd overall but really did not enjoy his swim and ended up swimming through 'the swarms of jelly fish' with his head permanently out the water, he learnt the same lesson that Iain had learnt some years earlier that swimming in the pool is very different from swimming in the sea.

Mike was followed by Phil smith who was 12th with Phil G right behind in 18th Iain 32nd and Mic G 45th.

Onto the bike and as what seems to be usual these days the rain started coming down and the wind kicking up a storm. Running through T1 Phil Smith had noticed a certain Phil Gray coming into T1 as he was heading out, 'better get going'. The chase was on and Gray decided to tease Smithy by waving at him every time he checked over his shoulder to see the gap. Gray was sitting comfortably and waiting for the moment to put the hammer down.

Approaching a junction a marshall brought Smith and another guy to a stop due to a car, they both stopped but Gray couldn't and came skidding down the road on his knees!!!

He managed to pull his tub back on and got going feeling sorry for himself and decidedly annoyed by the guy who got in his way by stopping in the middle of the road.

Smithy posted the 3rd fastest bike split of 1:08:15 moving up to 8th, Gray who if he hadn't come off may have had the fastest split posted a 1:09:37 coming in 12th, Adams road a 1:17:26 losing his time gained in the swim, Mic G posted a 1:11:44 making up for his slower swim and Iain road a 1:19:13 which took him straight back to the van where i found him after the finish eating a sandwich with all the heaters on full blast, still shivering!!

Onto the run and the usual hill sent Smith backwards which Gray spotted from T2 and it served to pull him out of his misery thinking right I'm after him. Which he was until the usual random run course sent him the wrong way, same thing amazingly happened to Adams who was working his way back up the field until then. Onto lap two and it was a chance to see the gaps, it seemed the positions had been decided with David Mcnamee way out in front but this didn't stop Gray taking the wrong turn again!! It seems the crash affected his sense of direction and memory!!

Smith came in 6th overall with a 42:40 run, Adams 13th 42:15, Gray 14th 44:15, Mic G 22nd posting a 42:28 (groin must be getting better).

All in all it was a cracking if somewhat eventful race, just think it could have been very much different if certain individuals hadn't came off their bikes and gotten lost on the run!!
Roll on next year!