Surf n Turf Aquathon Christchurch

An article by Debi Hazelden    No Comments

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Last night was the first race of the Christchurch Surf n Turf series. They have lots of races going on at the same time. Last nights options were:

• Short run – 3km
• Long run – 5km
• Short course ocean swim – 400m
• Long ocean swim – 900m
• Short aquathon – 400m swim + 3km run
• Long aquathon – 900m swim + 5.5km run
• Multisport surf ski / kayak

Scott and I entered the long aquathon (900m swim + 5.5km run). The race was out at Pegasus Town lake. The swim is in the lake, we swam out to the island, around it and back to shore. The weather was freezing standing around before the race. The water was warmer than the air which was good. Everyone seemed to be very confused as to how many laps of each disipline we were doing since there were lots of different races starting at the same time.

The transition area for the aquathon race

Athletes getting ready in the freezing cold!

Me getting ready for the start.

People warming up

We were off racing! I swam around the island, following other swimmers and watching the island. hmmmmm yes I should have looked where I was going instead of at the swimmers in front of me. I ended up following the swimmers in the long swim race that were doing an extra lap around the island. I realised once I was about to head around the back again. After treading water for a while, very confused I swam against everyone, off to the side, back to the finish of the swim. It’ll pay for me to keep an eye on where I’m swimming next time. Lucky it wasn’t an important race!

Off onto the run, I had a look at what I thought was transition and there was only one towel! Everyone else was gone onto the run already! But aha I was looking at the wrong place. I quickly whipped off my cap, goggles and wetsuit, put my running shoes and stop watch on and headed off on the run.

The run went well, it was two laps around the Pegasus lake. A very flat course with lots of turns. About 100m on the run I saw Scott standing there watching. He had pulled out after only swimming a short distance because of a sore shoulder after his accident on his bike earlier this week.

The run went well, I managed to catch up quite a few places. Although I think I must have been at least 4 mins down after messing up my swim.

You can see the results for all the races here.

Can’t wait for the next one! Check them out and come along. It’s good practice for the Triathlon Festival on Dec 19th.

These photos below are from a practice swim day off www.surfnturf.co.nz – looks like a much better day than the weather on race day.