Pure Blonde Aquathlon series RR

Thursday was my dad' birthday, but since he's some 15000km away from Auckland I missed the dinner and drinks and went to the races instead.

This time around Pure Blonde Aquathlon was special, as all funds from the race were going to the Christchurch earthquake relief appeal. We were quite a few but could have done with a few more. The conditions were optimal (very light breze, tepid water and a not very punishing sun).

The race started with the usual 3km run split into two laps. There is a bunch of us in pretty good form at the moment, so I knew that at some point it would be a race. A bunch of 4 went to the fron on the first lap at a very civilized pace. We weren't having a conversation, but there was air in the lungs to start one if necesary. Towards the end of the lap we go down and then flat for about 300m, this was a good breather and we then went up to start the second lap. My mate Martin was driving the pace, but then Reado took over. He's a great runner and I knew he woul'd get the better of me if he was at the front. At midway point I felt there was room for an effort, if it all went well it meant I was gonna swim by myself and keep a good lead. I went with a good effort and when i looked back a couple of minutes after, I had a 50m lead. I kept it that way until T1.

Got in the water quite relaxed and swam a steady first lap of the 1000m course. I decided to put a bit of a hammer on the second 500m, and started swimming a bit harder, but my googles leaked and I was itching the eyes. It turned out I was waaaaay off course and when I got back into it, the other two guys had made an insight into my lead.

I got off the water with 15 secs to spare, I did a flash T2 (hopefully I can keep flash T2's for the next couple of weeks) and got running with all my might for the first of the last two laps. After the first one I knew it had enough to relax the pace a bit. I did and apparently reado and Martin as well, as when I went into the final 200m I had like 20 seconds advantage.

I don't know what was my time when I crossed the line, but I was back to being first and happy to have another one under the belt. We had a few laugh afterwards and we went back home to get ready for the final two days of training. After Saturday the tapper week starts!

All the winners donated their prize money to the red cross to match the organizer's spirit.