Tim Male takes Midnight Man title

Tim Male of Thames Turbo Powerbar Race Team won the Midnight Man triathlon, which is a full distance race with a difference. Consisting of a 3.8km swim, 180km bike then 42km run Midnight Man started at 6pm on Saturday 18th August with competitors racing through the night finishing the next day. This is the fourth full distance race in which Tim has completed and his first win at that distance.

Tim, an ex-Olympic rower, has a reputation within the club as well as both the triathlon and rowing world for his tough racing attitude and the ability to push himself beyond his limits. This extract from his race report gives an insight to this:

“I am suffering so much. But if I can, I will finish this. I am leading an Iron Distance Race. I have a chance to win. This chance may never come again. So I can either suffer the same amount and risk losing, or see if I can go deeper and risk all to win.”

“Lap 5 was just gruesome, and even the compliments on my ‘strong running’ did little to distract me from the pain. But that wasn’t the point. The point was to find it, and devour it. The hamstring was now pinging to the point that I had to stop every 2k as it locked up. However, I got through to the final lap, and estimated I had kept enough of a buffer to keep in front. My hamstring and quad had other plans, though. As I reached the aid station for the final time both locked up completely.”

“I was screaming in pain and defiance at my muscles lack of cooperation, which bemused some of the aid station staff. I would have been embarrassed had it not been for the fact that I wanted to know how much of a gap I had. When I finally got moving again, I worked out that I had an 8 minute gap for the final 3.5k. Two minutes per k should be enough, but I was crawling. I was not going to blow it and the last lonely section was hardship in a bottle. Down the finish straight and WINNER!!!!”

Tim is part of the successful Thames Turbo PowerBar Race Team which is sponsored by 2XU, Newton Running and PowerBar.