The winner of last weekend's Big Woody, Darren Treadway, put a race report up on his personal blog and has kindly allowed Tri247 to extract from it.

This is probably the most satisfying race win I've had to date for a number of reasons. Firstly I had to contend with crashing my bike while doing a recce of the course five weeks before the race and secondly I contracted a stomach bug three weeks before which really messed up my training. Not to mention having to work six days a week covering holidays. But I hoped the work that had gone in pre-Austria would see me through and whatever the result was it would be something to build on and improve. Ironman Austria, which I didn't finish because of back problems, was my only taste of Ironman-distance racing thus far.

Unfortunately my arrival was delayed by tailbacks coming past Oxford and I didn't make it to the campsite until 10:30pm and Rod and Simon, my Tri-Force clubmates, had already set up camp and had left me half a pizza. I tucked right in and got to bed by 11pm, not great race prep I know! Didn't get to sleep until 1am as a group of yobs, hoodies, youths, whatever they are called these days were keeping everyone awake until they eventually got bored and left.

The alarm went at 4am and it was time to force a bagel and some cereal down in preparation for the big day ahead. I felt much better after the sleep and we left the camp at around 5am taking a slight detour to get to the lake! Eventually arrived in plenty of time to set up the bike and started to walk to the start. Everyone seemed so relaxed and chilled out, absolutely no ego flying around, maybe it was because we all respected what was ahead and were more intimidated by that than each other.

Before the race I did have my eye on the prize of a wetsuit for leading out the swim as I broke the collar on mine at Bedford the previous week. I bodged the old suit together rather than buying a new one because I knew if splashed out for a new one then I would end up winning it! The swim start was quite a relaxed affair and I settled in nicely behind the leader before the first buoy. It was evident that if I wanted that wetsuit then I was going to have to go into the red to get it and in the end I made the decision to hang back rather than sacrifice the whole race. The swim was an interesting and enjoyable affair, starting in one lake climbing out and doing two laps in another lake then back to swim across the first lake. I enjoyed getting in and out because it broke things up a bit and kept it interesting. On exiting the water I checked my watch which said around 40min so the swim was obviously short as in Austria I managed the swim in 53:04! I didn't dwell on this as it is the same for everyone and I was about 2:30-3:00 off the lead man and feeling fairly good.

Onto the bike. Now, having done a recce five weeks earlier, I have the utmost respect for this course and if anything I probably started a little too conservatively. The first time heading up English Bicknoor I treated it very gently and was well within my comfort zone. On the first lap I was getting regular time checks from people out on the course and towards the end of the lap I was 4 minutes down. I was feeling awesome and thought 'let's up things little and see how the legs are today'. The next time check was 2 minutes so I knew I was closing, then at 80 miles I caught the leader and he wasn't looking in good shape at all. This was like a red rag to a bull and I immediately attacked the last 30 miles. Every climb I got out the saddle and I really went for it. In hindsight maybe I pushed too hard as I was later to pay the price on the run. The bike course was never going to be fast, on a course like Austria I would expect to clock around or just under 5 hours, at Big Woody I rode 5:39 to take the fastest bike split of the day. The difficulty of the course had a large impact on the times and only a handful managed to sneak under 6 hours.

It was a big lift to hit T2 leading the race and I had built up a reasonable cushion. What I was wondering now was would my lack of training and fitness show and had I over-cooked the last 30 miles on the bike! The run consisted of five laps of a playing field and an 'out and back' loop though the forest with a very steep section right in the middle. I had never run a marathon before, let alone after an Ironman bike leg, so this was uncharted territory. For the first lap I was actually feeling surprisingly good and full of running. I took on board what I could from each aid station and tried to avoid the 'coke' until a little later on. At the turn point I could see my chasers and work out the gap I had, I reckon it was about 6 minutes and the race was now mine to lose.

On lap 2 I was starting to get a little bit uneasy and the constant change of terrain was upsetting my rhythm. On lap 3 I started to have my doubts as to whether or not I was going to finish, let alone win. By lap 4 I was walking the aid stations and not in good shape at all. I could see my winning margin slowly being eaten away. I was relieved to see Simon who gave me some encouragement which really helped because it made me realise I couldn't quit as I was racing for them too, and it made me think of everyone back home who has helped me. The last lap was sheer hell, my lack of run training was starting to show and the win was slipping away. I did hang on to win by 90 seconds but I was too wasted to even celebrate and collapsed over the finish line.

So, I am delighted with the win and I did it tough against everything I had thrown at me in the last few weeks! It was clear that the swim and run were short but you can only race the course that's put in front of you. The bike though was mega tough which almost balanced things up and I hope they at least keep this element of it for next year.

The plan now is to head out to Texas at the end of the month to stay with my friend Mark Cathcart and race the Long Horn Half Ironman. I am hoping to improve upon my best half to date, which was at Lisbon earlier in the year where I clocked 4:03:54. Work has settled down again so I should be able to get at least a good 2/3 week solid block with plenty of recovery thrown in. I have taken a lot from my win here and I know what needs to be done to improve and start making the top 15 in some M-dot races next year.