For the crack event construction team, that is!

Yep, it was our first Merchant Taylor morning Aquathlon! Race 3 was a dawn raid, once the general public had absented themselves.

The sun was high in the sky for this one, rather than a low slung fireball obstructing your sight towards the first turn buoy.

Registration was before you got to the lakeside, in the car park. Jacqui was there to hand you your race number & free visor, and our professional race tattoo team (Or Barbara as we like to call her) was there to indelibly mark you.

Once suitably branded, you strolled through the August sunshine through to the lakeside where competitors were already staking their claim to the best transition positions.

Again the questions were all about wetsuits & lake temps. As before, unless you were 60 or over, it was skins!

The Super Sprinters went off at 11, turning the water white as each looked to gain an advantage, ably supported by the crack canoe/paddle board teams making sure we were always safe.

As with all our events, the hard work that you don’t see includes full Health & Safety planning, no stone being left unturned, which we are incredibly grateful to Martin & Team for.

Talking of Martin, one of his many hats on the day was that of MC, taking over duties while our regular announcer was at the zoo!

Sprinters all briefed, the Super’s were coming out of the water, ready to start their lap of the lake. Thanks to all the volunteers who helped them on their way, called out the race numbers & made notes of each competitors transition times.

Warming up in the water, ready for the klaxon were the sprinters – I say warming up, poor Caroline’s teeth were chattering so hard, we nearly missed the countdown despite the lake being a balmy 22 degrees!

The gun went off & the Sprinters were on their way, 750m between them & a damp jog around the sunlight dappled woods.

Who am I kidding, once again the water was white, the transitions were a blur (for most) & the trainers were on in the blink of an eye, bodies flying through the transition tape, onto the run in a flash!

“Put your numbers at the front!” was the familiar refrain from the James & his team of marshals.

Mark, Clark & Jason out of the water first & on their way to some nip/tuck racing all the way, a sprint finish deciding the colour of their medal – No spoilers, see the link to the race results on the Website!

One by one, swimmers emerged, runners came through transition to either start another lap of to make their way to the finish.

The cheers & encouragement was fantastic to see, a cracking atmosphere for our inaugural morning start! Everyone had had their 3 Shredded Wheat!

And so onto the finish line where competitors, volunteers, supporters & all were waiting to see you pick up your medal.

Thanks again to our wonderful time keepers, allowing us to have a presentation ceremony on site & also to you, the competitors – without you & the effort you all put into your races, it would just be a quick swim in a lake.

From Registration to Marshals, H&S to Timekeepers, Coffee delivery to Water safety – a massive thanks to all!

Top smiles this weekend were, in no particular order Mark Krull, Lauren (& Jenson) Jacobs, Alice Sheehan, Francis Treanor & Richard Nash!

That concludes our massively popular Open Water Aquathlons for this year, but the final race in the series is at the Uxbridge lido, a 50m pool based Aquathlon with a closed road run too! Don’t miss out, the link is - Events

Results - … Race 3 Results