c’mon in the water’s lovely
The Loneliness of the Long Distance Swimmer – Saturday 10th July 2010
Forget the World Cup. Don’t even consider the Tour de France. This Saturday saw your intrepid slippery fish take to the water in both his first ever official swim race and first ever attempt at the 3.8k Ironman distance. Surely an event worth noting.
Tony-triathlete-Marsh, Grant Wyatt and I were competing in the 3.8km race (57 entrants) with Paul Broomfield taking to the water for the first time this year in the 1.5km one against 53 other participants. 22 degrees potentially made wetsuits unnecessary for the proper swimmers (Paul) but the rest of us were happy to bubble and boil away for the reassurance of the additional buoyancy. Having never undertaken this distance before (ditto Grant) I thought a 90 minute target would be half-decent and so, at the crack of the starting gun we all sped off up the lake. OK, sloped off to the right hand side to avoid any hassle, unwanted contact and collision would be slightly more accurate.
And then what? Well, nothing, really. The fast boys were gone (never to be seen again until they lapped me) and the slow boys sauntered along in the swimming equivalent of an afternoon punt on the river. The only excitement came when I was sure the guy in front of me (followed by the guy behind) went the wrong way into one of the lakes’ fingers where I was convinced high-speed water-skiing was taking place. Uh oh…I feel a Kirsty McColl moment coming on. I stopped swimming (whether this was actually detectable or not is open for debate) and started shouting and waving to them to come back this way. In a scene strangely reminiscent of the 1970’s public info advert, I was growing a tad concerned until sure enough, a minute or so later, two swimmers safely re-emerged from round the corner immediately followed by a speeding boat which obviously had not seen them. I reckon it was the fastest either of them have ever swam!
Back to the slog and later rather than sooner the end was in sight; I finally crossed the line in 1.29.31. Not THAT bad but a very lonely 53rd out of 57 indicates the true position and I couldn’t stand up for five minutes. The positive news is I finished and now know I can at least grind it out in the big event in three weeks’ time, the 2010 UK Ironman. I should at least be able to get out of the water within the cut-off point whatever shenanigans go on in the 2000 competitor mass start. It’s certainly a long way though, a long, long way. And I don’t even want to consider the 112 mile and ride and 26.2 mile run thereafter.
For the record Tony and Grant (who annoyingly only took up swimming two months ago and competed in an ill-fitting borrowed wetsuit) swam incredibly well and finished 31st/1.07.37 and 43rd/1.12.56 respectively. Paul glided home in an efficient and controlled 25th position in 30.56. Onwards and downwards!
