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Event	Virgin Active London Triathlon
Distance	Sprint triathlon
Date	27.07.2013
Location	Royal Victoria Dock / ExCeL London
Condition	Sunny, 28C
Kit Highlights	Trek Equinox
Entry fees	Free

Swim	Bike	Run
750m	20km	5km

Goal	Result
Finish the race	✅ Done
Not embarrass myself	✅ Probably
Identify mystery celebrity at finish line	❌ Still unresolved

Finish Time	Age Group	Gender	Overall
1:30:42

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I didn’t sign up for this one. I won it.
Virgin Active ran a competition; I entered and somehow ended up with a free race entry, which also included a VIP wave spot and a rather fetching red Virgin Active cycling jersey. That jersey would become my race kit, paired with cycling shorts, since I didn’t own a tri suit. This was my first triathlon. I was doing it properly.
What I did have was a Trek Equinox TT bike. So: aero on the bike, cotton-adjacent everywhere else. Priorities.

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Royal Victoria Dock is a genuinely lovely place to swim. Calm, flat, contained — none of the chop or swell anxiety that open water can bring. The wetsuit went on, the wave went off, and I got through 750 metres without incident.
The post-swim experience is one of the race’s signatures. Volunteers hand you a bag as you exit the water — wetsuit goes in, they take it, job done. Then you run the length of the dock toward transition, up a few steps thrown in for character, and into what is reportedly one of the largest triathlon transition areas in Europe. It lives up to the billing. Enormous, well-organised, and slightly overwhelming when you’re doing this for the first time and have no idea how fast you’re supposed to be moving.
18:30 for the swim. Happy with that.

The post-swim experience is one of the race’s signatures. Volunteers hand you a bag as you exit the water — wetsuit goes in, they take it, job done. Then you run the length of the dock toward transition, up a few steps thrown in for character, and into what is reportedly one of the largest — if not the largest — triathlon transition areas in Europe. It’s a long run to your rack. Budget time for it.

This is where the race loses a bit of shine.
The London Triathlon has a longer bike route that takes you out through the city, past Westminster, proper London landmarks — the sort of course that justifies the event’s reputation. The sprint distance does not get that route. Instead, you get a truncated loop near the ExCeL that feels more like a car park circuit than a London landmark experience.
I rode it on the Trek Equinox, which is a proper time trial bike and therefore completely overkill for a 20km sprint course with more corners than straights. Still — 38:51. I’ll take it.

Flat, which is about the best thing you can say about it. The Docklands give you nothing to look at and nowhere to hide. The course near ExCeL was also crowded — a lot of athletes funnelled onto a relatively small stretch of road, which makes for a claustrophobic few kilometres.
I got through it in 27:00. The legs worked. The scenery didn’t inspire.

Here’s the thing about the finish line. I crossed it alongside a woman who, based on the VIP wave context and general demeanour, I’m fairly certain was a celebrity. Twelve years on, I still have no idea who she was. If anyone recognises her from a 2013 Virgin Active London Triathlon finishers photo, please do get in touch.

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Swim	Bike	T1 + T2	Run	Finish
0:18:30	0:38:51	0:06:21	0:27:00	1:30:42

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This race was a gift — literally. A competition win turned into a first triathlon experience, and whatever its limitations (short bike, crowded run, lingering celebrity mystery), it did its job.
I was grateful for the entry. Grateful for the swim. Grateful to finish. I didn’t know at the time that this would be the first of many — that sprint distance would eventually give way to Olympic, then 70.3, then full Ironman, then five full Ironmans, including a near sub-10 at Challenge Roth.
But it started here. Red Virgin Active jersey, Trek Equinox, race number 888, Royal Victoria Dock.
Not a bad origin story.

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Organisation	8/10
Course	5/10
Atmosphere / Crowd	7/10
Post-Race Experience	5/10
Value for Money	10/10
Overall	6/10

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