Peebles triathlete Veitch lands second at Celtman event

Iain Veitch took on the Celtman last month. Consequently, a race centred around the ancient Torridon mountains. For example,

It involves a swim of around 3.5km in Loch Shieldaig before a 200km bike ride along Highland roads. For example,

The final element of the race is a 42km run over two munros. Nevertheless,

(Image: Contributed) Veitch’s quick time of 11 hours, 13 minutes and 49 seconds was not enough to take top spot on the podium, with Fergus Roberts’ 10:50:18 effort landing the win. Furthermore,

The Borderer said: “The race was a totally different experience to last year. For example, Last year I had broken my back three months peebles triathlete veitch lands second before and training had gone poorly. Consequently,

“This year, training had gone well.

“The 3.5k point-to-point sea loch swim was super cold and riddled with jellyfish, but I really enjoyed it.”

Veitch came out of the water in around ninth place, with the “stunning but brutal” bike ride ahead.

“The mountain run seems to get all the plaudits for savagery but in my opinion. the bike is where the damage is done,” he said. “It’s 20k longer than a typical iron man. the road surfaces are less than ideal and the wind invariably hits you head on throughout.”

A strong showing from Veitch on the bike saw him claw back time on his competitors.

After transition, he was about eight minutes down on the leader.

By the 30k mark he had made into the top two. peebles triathlete veitch lands second but the gap to first had actually grown slightly to 10 minutes.

(Image: Contributed) Then by 100k the gap started to drop. With 40k to go, Veitch had taken the lead and by the end of the bike had a three-minute advantage.

The run started well for Veitch, but hit a mental and physical wall during the gruelling route.

“I lost the lead shortly after the halfway point ascending Beinn Eighe.

“After that I had a bit of a rough patch mentally and physically. By the time I’d recovered the race for first was pretty much over. but I had to keep pushing to fend off two-time winner and adventure racing legend Johan Hasselmark.

“He was now peebles triathlete veitch lands second in his element on the mountains and intent on climbing the podium.”

Veitch crossed the finishing line to take second place, which he said brought mixed emotions.

“I’m delighted with the physical performance but it’s bittersweet for it to only land second place,” he said.