Antwerp – The Swim
Unlike Monaco last year, I managed to get a pretty decent nights sleep – though I did wake just before the many alarms I’d set to make sure I didn’t oversleep. My first thought was that I could hear rain, and not just a light shower, proper, full on drenching rain. I opened the curtains to find a grey and rainy morning – an unwelcome change after a few days of pleasant (and perfect racing weather).
The later start time, meant I was able to enjoy breakfast in bed, then gather my stuff together to ride over to the start via Mum and Dad’s hotel. The ride turned out to be a good chance to blow any remaining cobwebs out, even if I was getting a thorough soaking at the time. It also saw the first glitch of the day as I rode through the streets and slipped off an almost imperceptible change in pavement height and skidded across the greasy streets.
The foot tunnel across the river not only provided a brief respite from the rain, it also provided the entertaining sight of many athletes racing through the tunnel, I would not have wanted to be walking in the opposite direction.
The left bank was now getting even more of a battering from the rain, as I cycled down to the start, I was staring to worry about keeping warm before the start – after a few minutes of this I realised this wasn’t really an issue. Putting my wetsuit on is kept until the last possible moment, as it’s like being locked in a Sauna, however for once I wanted to get it on as soon as possible.
Having got my transition ready (lots of space which was good), and chatted with a few people around me (as ever the Driven to Tri kit prompted conversation with people), it also turned out that a guy in the next row was from Brackley. Of course Antwerp is probably the closest Ironman 70.3 outside of the UK, so hardly surprising that it’s a popular race.
Met up with Mum and Dad and handed them my incredibly soggy bag and clothes, then headed onto the start box for my wave.
The start was interesting, having descended the steps that had been built and got into the lake and kept to the back, I was expecting to wait a short while before we got off, but no, we started almost instantly, and off we went.
I had a much better position in the water, so was able to swim in my own space pretty much, however I was really struggling to see where I was going – I’d opted for my non tinted goggles, which are getting a bit old, and they had really fogged up. Not only that all the reference marks were on my left, and I breathe on the right. This means that it’s pretty alarming when you can see buoys on your right! OK so I’d obviously drifted a bit, an adjustment and back off we go again. Excpet next time I look, I have a red buoy on my right again, and I can see the large buoy for the turn ahead – that’s not right, it’s too close – it was in fact the second turn of the triangular course. At this point, it’s fair to say I was lost! Bearings reestablished off I go again in the right direction – but a bit wary – at this point I can’t work out how I’ve gone so badly off course (by 90 degrees to the right).
I’ve settled back into the swim, and I’m going in a straight line, and I realise that the spit of land by the start must have an inflow into the lake, and this was pushing me (and others) off course. Mystery solved, and back to the swim – which was pretty straight forward from here, felt good once settled, and even got a bit better towards the end.
Finally I got back to the steps, and climbed up out of the lake, and headed off for Transition 1, as ever being a slow swimmer makes finding my bike not too bad, and apart from the fun of rumaging in all sorts of plastic bags it’s off we go on the bike.
Filed under: Race Reports, Races | 1 Comment
> at this point I can’t work out how I’ve gone so badly off course (by 90 degrees to the right).
LOL. I feel for you on that one. In my race i somehow ended up swimming back to the start when I was supposed to be going for buoy 1. A girl in a canoe was shouting at me to turn around, but I didn’t hear her at first.