Jonny Brownlee Completes Six Triathlons on Day One of Record Weekend Warrior Bid at Supertri Blenheim Palace

Jonny Brownlee successfully beat the cut-offs to complete six sprint triathlons on Saturday, the opening day of his bid to become the first athlete in the history of the Supertri Blenheim Palace Weekend Warrior to finish 10 across a single weekend.

Racing wave after wave alongside the thousands of amateur athletes who make up the Supertri Blenheim Palace field, Brownlee moved through day one on schedule and now has four races remaining on Sunday to complete the record, albeit on fatigued legs and with a tighter schedule.

Each triathlon covers a 750m swim, a 20km bike on closed roads through the Palace grounds and a 5km run. Ten of them across the weekend amounts to roughly 7.5km of swimming, 200km of cycling and 50km of running.

A race against the clock

The defining challenge is not the distance but the fixed daily swim cut-off times, after which no further race can begin. Saturday's swim closed at 15:40 and Sunday's closes at 14:20, leaving Brownlee a finite window each day. With each triathlon taking a little over an hour to race, plus the significant distance back to the swim start to join the next wave, he has to hold a turnaround of roughly 75 minutes race after race to get every swim away in time.

How day one unfolded

Brownlee set off at 9:09am and was metronomic through the morning and afternoon, his swims starting almost exactly 75 minutes apart and his early triathlons raced in a little under 68 minutes each, before the pace eased over the final two. The even pacing eventually built a comfortable cushion against the cut-off: his sixth and final swim of the day got under way at 3:27pm — around 12 minutes inside the 15:40 close — and he crossed the line for the sixth time at 4:45pm to bank the full day-one set of six. With the day secured and a demanding Sunday ahead, he eased the final lap, completing it some ten minutes slower than his earlier races.

The timings — day one (Saturday)

• Triathlon 1 — race time 1:06:57, followed by a 7:22 transition

• Triathlon 2 — race time 1:08:47, followed by a 6:43 transition

• Triathlon 3 — race time 1:07:57, followed by a 7:10 transition

• Triathlon 4 — race time 1:07:44, followed by a 6:17 transition

• Triathlon 5 — race time 1:12:27, followed by a 6:28 transition

• Triathlon 6 — race time 1:17:42

Total time for day one: 7:35:34.

Looking ahead to Sunday

The second day is the tighter test. Sunday's window runs from a first wave at 10:30 to a swim cut-off of 14:20 — room for only four races, on legs that have already raced six times. Complete those four and Brownlee sets a record no athlete has previously achieved.

Jonny Brownlee said: “It was absolutely brilliant and what the sport is all about. There are elites, first timers and everything between racing on the same course together. The weather made it more brutal and more of a challenge and I think I underestimated the challenge because of the weather. I felt great on the fourth one and it poured it down and then I felt awful.

“I was measured on the bike, looking at the average speed and trying to be consistent. When it dried out it was much easier, when it got windier and wetter it was harder. By the end of the run I was just glad to get around.

“I can’t think of anything worse at the moment (than racing again tomorrow). I will get some food and some rest and then tomorrow might feel more realistic because at the moment it feels a long way off. I actually have to go a bit faster tomorrow for the four. Hopefully drier weather will make it easier, but I need to think about three and not four because of the swim cut-offs.

“This is my first triathlon as a dad and it has changed me. I was looking forward to seeing Freddie at the end and I want to be positive in front of him as well. I will come early to watch the pros before I race because I am a massive triathlon fan and a massive Supertri fan, but firstly eat everything I can and then some sleep as I am in a separate room to Freddie and we go again!”