Race Report - Scottish Aquathlon Championships

This one is on my list as an Annual Target.

"Stretch Targets

Medal at the Scottish Aquathlon Champs. "

Every time I have raced this event I have finished on the podium. Every time I have failed to win it. This year there were only 4 starters on the list, and having looked up their race history, I couldn't tell if I would finish 1st or 4th. In previous 7 races there hasn't been more than a minute and a half between all of us and last time I raced each of them I got beaten. I know I am running well, I think I am almost back to swimming well so this is as good a chance as I am going to get to put my name on a Scottish title.

Ayr is just out of same-day-racing range. It is technically possible now that they moved the start time back by an hour, but it would have meant a very early start and racing straight off the back of 3 hours sat in the car. So, a friend and I travelled down the afternoon before and stayed in a local hotel. That meant a chilled out dinner in the local pub / restaurant and a relaxed night in front of the TV watching Carapaz blow up on the second last stage of the Giro.

I did some yoga first thin and then we headed to the course early for registration and to do a short recce. I knew the course from racing it last year, but it is always worth a quick look at the course to make sure nothing has changed and that the transition entries and exits are the same as your memory.

Everything was good, and the transition area was a free-for-all, so I set up in exactly the same place as last time to avoid any confusion.

Then I wandered round and said hello to some people, got suited up and watched the Women's race. The swim threw up some strange results with some of the weaker swimmers out fairly high in the pack and expected leaders further down than they should have been. I didn't get a chance to watch them finish their run as I had to go for a bit of a jog warm up and when I got back we were called to the water for a warm-up. I decided the same as last year to avoid going in and out and risking the cold, so I just waited until we were called to start and took the 50-60m out to the start line for a quick warm-up.

I picked a spot in the middle this year rather than take the safer outside line that I went for last year. That meant I was straight in to the washing machine when the hooter sounded. But I was ready for it and I went with the hard early pace. I recognised bodies around me early on the swim and despite pushing the pace it seemed like they were slower swimmers that I should have been dropping them. I got a clean line round the first turn and found a new set of feet to follow, still pushing the pace. Then round the second turn things got a bit weird. I felt like I was backing off but I was starting to pass people. Not in a gradual way either, every 10 strokes I was past another person and looking for new feet to follow.

The third turn is a tight left hander and I expected a bit of shoving. Instead I just went past another swimmer in two strokes through the turn. I was properly suffering from the pace now but I had in my head that maybe I had done something wrong with my sighting to account for being too far down and passing so many people late one, so I kept pushing to try and make up lost time. It turns out that wasn't the case, and talking to people after, it was just that everyone else had paced it wrong, gone out way too fast and fallen apart.

I was out of the water in 11:56. My first time under 12 minutes for an open water 750m race. And I was quick through transition. I was heading out as some of my usual rivals were just arriving. One in particular I had raced at a 3k the week before and had been right behind the whole way, so I thought with a head start on the run I might be able to hold him off.

I went out at 3:54 pace through the first km, and started to try and work out who was around me and in front of me. That was as long as it took for my 3k opponent to come cruising past looking completely comfortable. I tried to go with him but just didn't have it in my legs. I was just behind plenty of people that I recognised, and that finished last year 1-2 minutes ahead of me though, so I tried to go with them and hoped to close them down in the later stages.

I couldn't see any of the others from my age group. As the course goes out it does a short turn at the top and even approaching that turn I couldn't see any of the others from my age-group heading back in. I recognised nearly everyone in front of me and I was starting to make ground on a few of them, including the world #2 24-29 year old and two of the guys who have previously one my age-group but have now moved up.

I put in a full set of sub-4-min kilometres, and having passed the kid I could see three guys just ahead of me that were all fighting for medals in another age-group. I pushed as hard as I could to close on them but was just running out of road. I finished with a 3:36 but that wasn't enough to quite catch them. It was enough to go 2 minutes faster than last year and to win my age-group for the first time though. And it turns out the nearest guy behind me was 10 minutes back.

I am now Scottish Champion. Target done, and then some.

Great swim.

Great run.

Scottish Champion!