First swimrun race of the year! We were looking for Ötillö merit races that fitted our schedule and that were easy to get to – important practicalities given everything else we have on this year. Swimrun CostaBrava fitted the bill and once I had watched the race video from last year I decided we had to go! With 34km of running, 7.5km of swimming, loads of transitions, technical terrain and some hills, it was also a perfect preparatory race for the rest of the year.

Sunrise the morning of the race

So, after an easy flight to Girona, pick-up of the hire car and 30 minutes drive we were in Platja d’Aro. It was difficult to find a vegetarian sandwich for lunch, and we ended up with cheese in fried bread. Hmm, luckily culinary options improved after we had time to browse around looking at menus when not in a state of extreme hunger 😀

We were staying in the resort where the finish line and race HQ were. The season hadn’t really got going, so it wasn’t heaving, and we had a delightful hotel perched on a rocky outcrop at the end of the beach. Our room had a balcony overlooking the sea, what could be more perfect? Oh, the sun was shining!

The rock archway we swam through on Friday

The race wasn’t until Sunday, so we spent Friday exploring some ruins, a hidden cove with an amazing arch to swim through, trails and generally awesome scenery and exceptionally clear water. It was also delightful to swim in 14^oC, since our latest Scottish training sessions haven’t yet got into double figures. We also checked out the start in Begur and had some amazing ice cream. Saturday waas a trip to walk round the walls in Girona and a last minute pop into Decathlon for a new waterproof case.

Ice Cream!!! We may have had time for one or two on this holiday.

On Sunday morning we had to get up early. The coach was at 06:30, so despite hotel breakfast on offer, we ate some soaked oats in our room and headed down at 06:22. The reception manager seemed perplexed that we weren’t popping into the dining room for food and there were still several racers sitting at the tables. Was this Spanish time?!

The race starts on the top of a hill with the remains of an old castle on it. We were looking around for any other female pairs, but all other girls we spotted seem to have a bloke with them. The start lists hadn’t had the classes on, so we had been guessing which competitors had girls’ names! It was odd to race thinking we were probably the only ones in our class, but we had other goals; to show that women could place well overall and to chase our stretch target time of 7h30.

The start!!

Soon it was time to go and we had a steep downhill, which we had agreed to take easy. I was pleasantly surprised to hit trails almost straight away as we twisted and turned down through the trees to a cove. There was a slight bottleneck and we had to slow, but nothing too bad. I was impressed that everyone was so chilled, there was no pushing and shoving from behind. I liked this race already!

View of the first swim – I *think* it’s us front-centre of this shot

At the bay we got straight into the deliciously cool, clear water. I wasn’t at all sure where we were going, so just followed everyone else. The exit was onto a large rocky outcrop that rose above us. Someone in front actually fell on top of me and I was pushed back in the water, but Izzy didn’t even notice as she has really sped up transition recently and was already by my side and leaping out! No harm done and off we went, slogging up and up.

We wanted to admire the views as the steep sides dropped away beneath our feet to the sparkling blue water, but we had to watch our footing. On one of the hills we overtook quite a few teams. We both had the same thought – it was like the trail race we did at Glentress – except for the weather. Swap wet trails and sleet for dry paths and sunshine! It felt good to know we’d done some race-specific practice 😀

Most of the teams we passed then all came past again on a technical descent. Then another swim and repeat! Except that on the downhill this time, the teams in front got away but we held off the ones behind.

Manon (Francois’ partner) on the climbing section!

Some of the sections were quite tricky. In two places we had ropes to help us get either up or down – one of them suddenly had us swim-climbing as well as the usual swim-clambering!

The swims also took us to places we wouldn’t know were there, as we hopped from cove to cove. We were led through a passage with high cliffs either side, the water dropping away to the depths beneath us.  On every swim there were many fish flitting below and it was difficult to concentrate on what we were doing. It almost seemed a shame to have to race…

A typical swim start / finish

Us swimming in sparkling seas

Swim then run

Swimming into the narrrow channel with high rocks on both sides

Halfway through the race and I remarked that we all seemed to have found our places. The teams we’d been going back and forth with had all disappeared and we were on our own in this amazing landscape.

Many of the trails were shady

Sun, sea and sand

A great place to run!

The course marking was superb, we only put a foot wrong once, well, about 3 footsteps! The feed stations were well spaced and veggie options clearly marked. They had some fruit jellies that I love – I’ve never thought of these as race food before but they went down so well! All the marshals and helpers were super friendly, and we were offered water at many points outside the feed stations, though we never took any.

Let us attack this hill!

The locals and tourists were taking the race seriously as well. As we ran through someone’s garden the owners were out cheering us on and offering refreshments. A row of trekkers shouted various words of encouragement as they moved over to let us squeeze past. Bravo! Vamos! Girl Power! Allez! One chap even did a full solo Mexican wave! We shouted back, waving our arms and grinning like loons (well, I was, but I can’t speak for Izzy 😉 ).

Some of the colourful flowers we ran past

In addition to the breath-taking views, there were flowers and herbs out in abundance. In particular, we often caught the scent of jasmine on the breeze, which never failed to lift my spirits. In places the path round wound the coast, popping in and out of little tunnels. Without fail, these prompted ‘poop-poop’ and ‘chooff-chooff’ noises, along with laughter 😀

Castle!! I love a good castle, shame we couldn’t poke our noses in as we passed this time

After about 5 hours we were approaching the place where we had played on Friday. Psychologically, it makes a difference to be somewhere you recognise. It also marked the point at which the nature of the race changed. The switches between swims and runs came more often, and we passed through some bigger towns, with mixed receptions. We also started catching and passing the occasional team, with some amusing reactions especially when I shouted a cheery ‘hola!’ – sorry guys, you peaked too soon!

A swim exit – look at Izzy beating me to it

Simultaneous watch action

Let’s go!

Francois loves this pose – says we’re gardening, or fishing, anything but ‘racing’ …

Eventually I said to Izzy “Just 6 runs and 5 swims to go!” “whaaaat?!” was the reply … “but don’t worry”, I added, “no run is more than 1.2km!”. We kept whizzing along, up and over and down three massive rock bars. Then we hit a lot of sandy runs and the whizzing slowed to something more like ‘plodding’. On one beach we were walking until someone sunbathing cheered, so we felt obliged to run again!

The large blocks which made up the ‘bars’ we swam between and ran over!

Eventually we had to run right past our hotel. If we’d been on the ground floor we’d have seen straight into our room! This signalled just one more swim and then a run into the town with assisted police traffic control and up to the finishing arch. We were indeed the only women’s team, but this also meant we were the winners! We were whisked away to stand on a very high podium and to be presented with roses for Saint Jordi (St George) day.

Podium – I’ve still got my hat on!!

Overall we were 18^th. This was the second year of the event and the quality of the field had gone up since last year! This was out of 51 registered teams, though not all started and only 44 finished. Even better, we came over the line in 7:28:41 – mission accomplished!! Full results here.

I can’t recommend this race enough – well done to the organisers. If you don’t fancy the full length course, then there is a sprint and a short version as well 🙂 Also thanks to various photographers including Head, www.risck.com and Swimrun France. Our friend François carried a selfie stick the whole way to get his ‘on course’ photos, and you can see his video here. Official race video here.

Thanks also to sportextremeswimrun.com for our Head Aero wetsuits. This was my first race in mine (Izzy used her at 1000 Lakes as well) and it was so easy to run in whilst being plenty warm enough for us. Also Gococo socks, which we don’t hesitate to use in every race. Our hardest decision is deciding which pairs we will both wear to make sure we are coordinated!