I positioned myself towards the front. Actually, thought about drafting off of these twin lifeguards (18 year olds) from our fitness center. Although, these guys are unbelievable swimmers, they aren't that good at sighting, since once they slowed down to sight, they did breast stroke and I bumped into them a couple of times. Then they were off and I think they finished 4th and 8th overall and 1 and 2 in their age group.

The rest of the first 200m was kind of a washing machine, but not too bad. After the initial go, it settled down and I switched from feet to feet and really never found anyone to draft off of. The wind was blowing at us, so the way out seemed much harder. The waves weren't huge, but just enough to give you a mouth full of water every now and then.

After the first turn, I settled into a smooth stroke and my sighting was very good, which means all the OWS I have been doing has been helping. On the way out on the second lap, a guy passed me going just a bit faster than me. So, I latched on to him. He made me pick up my pace and I just tried to stay w/ his bubbles/feet. This worked until the final turn when he started to veer off course. So, I had to go the last 700m or so alone.

Near the second to last buoy (around 200m left), I started to pick up my pace to all out. Since there was no biking or running afterwards, why not? I tried to keep it smooth and I felt strong the whole ending. I came out and many of the milers were there at the finish.

Very fun, and much faster than I expected!

Not much. I need to find the perfect starting spot, and also draft better. When I had that guy's feet on the 3rd length, I was moving much faster w/o much more effort.

Got a towel and some food. Talked over the race with my wife, who showed up with the kids. Always great having them there!!

Didn't realize that I place first in my age group or I would have stayed for the awards ceremony. My wife said that there was about 15-20 other people in front of me, so I figured there was no way. Oh well.

We then came home, showered up and headed over to Hanglooses for some shrimp on the barby! Or at least hamburgers, hot dogs, and brats. Had a couple of cocktails, talked over the race with the other BTer's. Watched the Tour De France and just had an overall good time.


More training, better drafting.


The race started a bit late b/c of the poor packet pick up set up. They could fix that pretty easily. Overall, though, a great race. I think they need to check their GPS system, as the course had to be short.

And they need a little bit more information passed to the racers. i.e. when they are starting, waves, awards, food, gatorade. All that stuff was provided, just hard to find.