Upton Aquabike Standard Distance
Race report by Ant
Let’s see if I can remember how to write one of these!
Yesterday I competed in my first race of the season at the Upton Aquabike standard distance race. 1500m river swim and a 2 lap 40km bike course.
For once it wasn’t an early start. So no need for the early alarm.
I got there and set up with no issues, saw fellow Solihull Triathlon Club member Chris pottering around getting himself ready for his race, and way to many BRAT members who were up for a bit of banter… (we will see who the pretenders to the Birmingham area are at the relays ????)
Safety brief given, then it was a 1.5km walk to the swim start…(mental note not to put wet suit on before the walk ???? I looked like I had done the swim by the time I got there)
A tricky ladder down to the water to navigate and I was in. It was cooler than I expected but not uncomfortable.
A quick warm up and we were off!
Now this is where I come up against my first problem, not sure if it was nerves, adrenaline or my first outdoor swim of the year but for the first 500m I couldn’t get my stroke and breathing in sync, twice I had to breast stroke and calm my breathing down. After the second time I gave myself a mental kick, reset myself and got back into my stroke, this seemed to work as I went from a first 500m average of 1:50 to a 1:30 second 500m and a 1:38 final 500m passing many of the swimmers who got away from me in the first part of the swim.
Transition to bike was fine, even had a deadman zone where the time stopped and you could get your breath back before entering T1.
Helmet on, bike collected and off out into the course I went. This was a 2 lap course of the surrounding Upton area, the course was pothole free and relatively fast apart from 2 hills one midway and one near the end of each lap that kept you honest.
Got back into transition and it was a quick loop to rack the bike and a short dash to the finish line to collect my medal.
Total time was 1:39:15
This was a world qualifier for Australia 2025 and on the down low I registered my intent. Now I do believe that to the top 4 from each age category at each event qualify for this. I managed to finish in to the top 4 of the 40/45 year olds so tentatively Ive got my fingers crossed.
I also wanted to say that the first part of the year I kind of fell out of love with racing. Injuries, work and personal life have gotten in the way, I had all but stopped running, gave the TT bike season a miss, and have missed a lot of training. Yesterday made me realise how much I miss racing and all the lead up to it. So this have given me a much needed kick up the behind to get back into a consistent training and race plan.