Alcatraz Challenge - Aquathlon

Got the clearance, jumped off to the side, started coming up and BAM, knee right to my kidney. Turned and glared at the girl that just jumped on top of me. Man, that hurt. Turned up this was all filmed from above and put on the Tri Cal website,so I have proof.

Water temp wasn't bad, got used to it in a few seconds. Started heading for the golden Palace dome. Sure enough, a few minutes in the fog completely lifted and the GG Bridge was bathed in morning sunlight. Stopped to look around, the bridge, the Bay Bridge, Alcatraz, the City, Marin, it was gorgeous. I had bought a waterproof camera to tie to my wetsuit pull but in the rush of getting on the trolley didn't get it sorted out.

Found a guy without a wetsuit about my speed so I decided to draft off him, figuring he had experience here. Unlike other Alcatraz swim, I never really felt all alone out there, there were always swimmers and kayakers about. And the course is a funnel to the beach, so we're easy to wrangle I guess.

The other guy and I got near to the yacht club breakwall. We had been told that near shore wasn't the best as eddies formed there that reversed the current, and I think we were a bit too close. Naked guy swam out a bit, but I thought I knew better and stayed inside. Next time I saw him, I was about 100 yards behind him.

Soon enough, the beach was right there. Some had angled in and were running on the shore. Some were still swimming at an angle to the finish. I am a slow runner, but still faster than swimming, so I swam in and ran to the transition area.

Not much, lots of fun

It was weird coming out of a wetsuit into running shoes and no bike. There were lots of rocks embedded in the dirt, and I stepped on one hard, giving me a nasty bruise and painful run.

Started out the run feeling OK, except for the foot. Nice run flat along the dirt promenade with good bridge views. About 1.5 miles in hit the uphill. First about 100 stairs, then 2 or 3 paths upward, under a troll-ish bridge with about 5 feet of head clearance, then up to the bridge.

What a great run this is! There are suicide fences about 100-200 yards in. Stopped about halfway across to look down. It was the first run I had with "Don't Give Up Hope" signs, I'd like to make a joke, but having looked down from the bridge, it's not very funny.

The "up" on the bridge is verrrrrrry long. Sort of a false flat, but the middle takes a long time to get there. Then it's downhill, then back up to the turnaround. I was getting passed a lot, but that was OK. I was still enjoying it mostly.

Coming back is more down than up, which is nice. Finally got to the end of the bridge and back down. The steep down was tough on the quads. By the time we hit the flats, I was pretty much done and looking for the finish line. No all out sprint here.

This was overall a tougher run than I was expecting. The bridge is hard. There were two aid stations, one about 1.5 miles in before the stairs and one at about 3.5 at the turnaround. Speaking of which, have a minor issue with that since it should be an out and back, with the back probably a bit quicker. My splits are 34:10 for an 8:59 per mile (ummm, no) and 31:39 for a 9:53 (more like it). But one of those distances is off (it's like a 3.2 and 3.8.... but it's an out and back... weird)

Was pretty happy with my overall time, and I wanted about a 1:05 run. Voila!


Nothing, it was just fun. Would definitely do it again. For the swim only earlier this year they gave out cool Alcatraz Challenge beanies. They didn't for this race, but I was able to buy one from the website.

Drive back to the hotel and walk to breakfast. My planned raid on Ghirardelli's didn't pan out, primarily because it was only 10:30 a.m. :(


Fun, unique race. Definitely recommended, and enjoyed this more than just the Alcatraz swims I've done (but I prefer ending in Aquatic Park, as the hotel is then right there).