I am getting very behind with my race reports, and the races are coming thick and fast!

I had a busy summer planned, including throwing in a triathlon (more on that in a later report). In an effort to get 6 counting races for our swimrun ranking, Izzy and I entered Borås swimrun (near Gothenburg in Sweden) even though it was only one week before Isles of Scilly. We later discovered that the 6 races could be over two years – but by then it was too late!

Ready, get set ..

I was quite excited to be going back to the scene of our first ever swimrun. I wanted to see how it would feel now that we have two years of experience and training behind us, instead of cutting our wetsuits and practicing transition routine the night before! We also had the advantage that Izzy hadn’t been sick and not eating the week before.

The day got off on slightly the wrong foot; when we registered we were handed one buff between us and were told to share … a slight that was keenly felt when the male / mixed teams all seemed to have one each!

We got changed and were nearly ready to go, though Izzy seemed a bit distracted trying to program the car gps to get her back to the airport after the race. She had to whizz off a day early to get back for a big work thing and was going to miss her in-car navigator (i.e. me)!

Grand beginnings

The start line was significantly beefed up compared to last time, using a big arch that was already installed from the previous day’s triathlon. The race director, Jonas, had chatted with us when we arrived and said the water was on the cool side. We begged to differ, since we had been splashing around in it without a wetsuit the day before…

The race starts with a steep uphill through the woods. Last time we really backed off here, but had a plan to start a bit more confidently. However, Izzy slipped on a rock, saved it, but I was having to keep pausing. I didn’t feel like I was going fast, but with the adrenaline of a race situation it can be hard to judge. I let her run in front a bit to set the pace and soon enough we leapt into the murky first swim. Something wasn’t quite right as Izzy wasn’t on top of my toes and on the exit she shouted we had to slow or go on tow. This was the technical tricky bit of the course though, so I just pegged it back until we got down.

Still doing OK this close to the start!

The next couple of swims and runs we seemed to settle down, until it was off up the side of the hill again. I was pulling hard but I am not sure Izzy was really appreciating the sentiment!! However, as we headed down again and across the lake with the first of three longer swims, things got back to ‘normal’.

We would run with a little group, lose them on a swim, find a new group and so on. The long swim across the end of the lake went much more smoothly than last time, with only a minor detour to avoid the spiky reeds at the end. I think I did a better of job of sighting – ignoring the house and instead picking some slight feature on the horizon.

Creatures wading out through undergrowth, totally normal..

The river swim was still exceedingly jungle-like, now with added crocodiles, whales and other assorted out-of-place creatures. I got hit on the head by a floating stick, we had to doggy paddle under fallen trees and pause to check which way to go round the various obstacles.

Crocodile infested waters

As we exited, hauling ourselves up a rope, I was feeling the pressure on my bladder and only now finally managed to let go a pee… how bizarre that even when swimming around in water for so long you can get so bursting!

The long run was upon us and it was raining. It occurred to me that this was quite a rare experience for us in swimrun, though we barely noticed and it was quite welcome relief. At some point along here, we glimpsed a couple of female teams up ahead. We could only see them because we were now moving faster than them, but it was a bit of added pressure. Every swim we’d catch them a bit, then they’d maintain or pull away on the run.

En route

We’d done quite a good job of running down the trails on the tow so far. I’d been surprised that Izzy had let me do a little pull, assuming she was just getting used to it. It’s a fine line on downhills between giving just enough encouragement to let it go and keep moving, and pulling too hard and causing an instinctive counter-reaction. On the final downhill I crossed the line and soon knew about it…

Last swim exit

But then it was some final swims and we were flying. We overtook one team and were catching another – just on their heels at the final exit. But they jumped out and raced up to the arch, with us a few seconds behind.

Final position was 5^th females, which was a disappointment as we had been targeting the podium. Indeed, looking at the splits our second half was easily second fastest, but we had too much to do to make up for earlier mishaps. We just needed the race to be a couple of hours longer! 😀 Results here.

Pre race, at least we both started smiling!

However, when we added our points to the swimrun ranking it was well worth the day out, probably because we placed OK overall (about 25^th) and times were tight. It also seems points devalue by 75% (not by 25% as I had thought), so those six races this year all matter! It can be hard for both in a team race when one of you just has a bad day, but you’ve got to take the rough with the smooth and move on…

And in our case, we had the Isles of Scilly swimrun coming up just one week later!

Ah … post race ‘relief’!

Thanks to Andy Kirkland for most of the pictures, except the crocodile one from Patrik Magnerius. Also to the organisers for a well-run race, BuffGate not withstanding 😉