We had to wait until August, but finally multi sport events are back in England. I had my first outing of the season at the Ultimate Aquathlon organised by UK Triathlon at Alderford lake in Shropshire. Here’s my race report.
As well as 2 aquathlon distances, there were 3 triathlon courses – a full iron distance, a half and a ¼ . I’m doing a standard distance in 3 weeks so opted to do the aquathlon as a warm-up event. This was a 1.2 mile swim and 6.5 mile run. My husband, Simon, also chose to do this event – his first multisport competition.
Covid19 Precautions
We’d had emails leading up to the race outlining the procedures for combatting covid19.
The first obvious sign was the enormous bottle of sanitiser outside the portaloos. Incidentally I’ve never seen cleaner portaloos at an event! I diligently used this before and after my pit stop and then headed to registration – where I was asked to sanitise once again.
We had our temperatures taken before being allowed into the registration tent one at a time to pick up our race packets.
At previous UK Triathlon events we’ve had race number tattoos but not this time (hurrah – lots of skin scrubbing avoided). We also used our own swim caps.
Transition
The aquathlon transition was just an open area by the lake start rather than the secure area that the triathletes had. We each had a numbered position (well spaced out) where we could leave our run kit. We were also asked to bag up our wetsuits, goggles and hats after the swim rather than just throw them on the ground as usual.
The Start
In the original race notes we’d been told that we would start in small groups. This was changed at the last minute to a rolling start with competitors setting off at 5 second intervals. This also meant there was no opportunity to acclimatise.
We had to wait until the final competitors from the previous wave (1/4 triathlon) had exited and then we were called to line up in number order.
The marshall assured us that the lake was lovely – “like a warm bath, about 17 degrees”. I don’t know about you, but I like my baths rather warmer than that! However, she was right – the water was gorgeous and perfect for swimming.
The Swim
I was second into the water and quickly into my stroke. And quickly overtaken by nearly everyone else. But I had a good swim. Just a couple of sighting hiccups and my pace was on a par with my Olympic distance tri last year. Total time for the 1.2 miles was 50:38.10
Transition
Simon was still in transition when I arrived. He’s a faster swimmer than me but had never swum this far so was unsure how he’d go. He had a good swim too but spoiled it somewhat by hanging around for a chat in transition! I got out of my wetsuit, into my trainers and set off with no faffing about.
The Run
The run course was multiple loops round the lake. Really lovely course but tricky to maintain social distancing completely. Especially around some narrower parts.
There was one aid station where you could help yourself to water or electrolyte drink and also get gels.
I don’t usually like multi lap courses (we had 4 to do) but I enjoyed this, and with runners from various tri and aquathlon distances on course at the same time there was always plenty of company. There was ample room for spectators too which made for a good atmosphere.
I went for a “run 4 minutes, walk 1 minute” strategy which is my preferred interval and had a solid run with a time of 1:10:42. Not my fastest 10k but a big improvement on last year’s triathlon.
The marshals were brilliant and gave lots of encouragement. Having names on the race numbers really helps, especially for us slower athletes who need the support.
Simon also had a decent run and was waiting to cheer me across the line.
The Finish
Once across the line, we collected our goody bags (a nice selection of snacks) and medals.
No results on the day however, due to the staggered starts. My final time was 2:03:38 to finish 8th of the 10 women doing the longer aquathlon.
Overall this was a really great local event and showed that you can put on an enjoyable triathlon ond aquathlon with Covid19 precautions.