On a Friday in mid-September, AVRs Luke Reed had a slight mishap on his push bike, deciding to take a trip over the handlebars, writes Dave Mutter.

This wasn’t the best preparation for the following Sunday’s Etonman Half Ironman at Dorney Lake in Surrey.

Reed got to the start line slightly battered and bruised, but ready for the challenge ahead.

The Swim was 1900m around the Olympic rowing lake and Reed emerged from the swim 12th out of 145 starters!

On to the 10 lap 56 mile bike course, and it was soon apparent that there was a problem as one in three competitors seamed to get punctures.

Unfortunately, Reed didn’t avoid this and, on lap three picked up a puncture which he managed to fix inside five minutes before carrying on.

On lap seven he suffered a second puncture and was forced to run back to transition to get some spares after which he ran back to the bike, fixed the puncture and finished the lap.

This time the repair hadn’t worked, so he ran back to his car, got a spare wheel, swapped it over and managed to eventually finish the bike course in 3:04:11, losing around 27 minutes to punctures!

Reed swiftly put the bike problems behind him and stormed around the four- lap run course in 1:31:21, picking up 22 places, finishing 17th overall.

Reed would like to thank all those that have helped and supported him this season. He’s now off for a few months deserved rest!