WITH temperatures reaching the 30s at the weekend, even a gentle game of pétanque in the shade could leave the average person gasping for air and rehydration with sweat dripping off the brow.
So imagine having to play 90 minutes of football on a baking plastic pitch during peak Saturday afternoon heat against a physically strong semi-professional side inside a sun-trapped Springfield Stadium. Or how about racing in a triathlon on a Sunday morning under a beaming sun for over two hours that involves a 750m swim, 40km bike ride and a 5km bike ride.
Imagine doing both.
Because that is what Jersey Bulls full-back and sometime hobbyist triathlete Frank Tobin did.
On Saturday, he played a full game against Isthmian League side Hashtag United in a 3-1 win in the inaugural Bulls Cup. Then, 15 hours later, he was taking up his starting position in the Jersey (so-called) Sprint event of the Accuro Jersey Triathlon. He would finish 27th out of a field of 50 in a time of 2hrs 9mins 57secs.
‘I think I would have done a lot quicker time if I hadn’t played on the Saturday,’ said Tobin.
‘I’d done a couple of triathlons before Covid and then this one came about in Jersey and I booked it before I knew about the intense pre-season with the Bulls.
‘I was a bit nervous about it as I saw a few people fainting and collapsing and had to be carried over the line and I didn’t want that to happen to me.’
As if Tobin’s body had not been through enough in 24 hours, Jersey Bulls manager Gary Freeman even named Tobin on the bench for the Bulls Cup final against FC United of Manchester later that afternoon, but, thankfully for Tobin, that was where he remained for the duration of the 6-1 defeat.
‘I got home after finishing the triathlon and I didn’t even have my kit, so I was like ‘’Gary, I don’t think I can come on and play even if we do have injuries’’. It was probably the first game where I am actually thinking ‘’please, please keep me on the bench, I do not want to put my football boots on,”’ he joked.
‘The triathlon was really intense. I had a cracking headache from the heat, my legs were tired and my hips were pretty bad.
‘I’m not used to the biking and it was up a lot of hills to St Ouen and it was quite hard. My calves were feeling it.
‘But I loved it and I would happily do it again, even it did clash with a football match.
‘I reckon once I stop playing football, I think I might like to get into doing triathlons properly.
Knowing that he would be competing in the triathlon, it might have been understandable if Tobin had taken his foot off the gas a bit during the Hashtag match to prevent any unnecessary injury, but the defender says he was grateful that he had less to do than anticipated.
‘I was surprised how well we played and dominated the game against Hashtag. I thought it would be a closer game,’ he added.
‘I’ll be honest, I’ve played in harder games where I’ve had to run more.
‘I don’t want to come across as arrogant but I wasn’t super tired after that game.
‘As a team we played really well but FC United were bloody good.
‘It was a very good weekend and a well-run tournament.
‘Maybe a bit of rain could have helped.’
There were a couple of other well-known Jersey sporting faces taking part in the Super Sprint with former Manchester United physio Jonny Picot and Jersey Reds director of rugby Harvey Biljon finishing seventh and tenth respectively.
