During the Finnish Midsummer festivities Daniela participated in an aquathlon here in Mallorca. This was a small local race we spotted a couple of days after the IM 70.3 Mallorca. There were two distances: short with 3k run, 1 k swim and 1.5k run; long with 5k run, 2k swim and 5k run. Daniela immediately wanted to participate and choose the short distance race. I was intrigued and almost signed up for the long one, but decided against it after imaging the cramps which would follow after jumping in to water after a hard 5k run. So I continued my job as the photographer.
We thought the race would be super small but the group gathered near the starting area was bigger than expected. The race was held in the bay of Alcudia, at the same beach as the IM 70.3 Mallorca race center is located. The race location was just a little bit further on the beach than the Ironman venue.
The short course started at 9 AM and we were at the site 45 min before the start. First job was to get the race package and then to prepare for the race. The idea was to enjoy the day and have fun. We did not do any specific training for the race and my main advice for Daniela was to take the first run conservatively enough to have a solid swim. The transition area was right at the beach and rather surprisingly there were boxes for everybody to put their swim gear in.
After a confusing pre race briefing and a 15 min delay the short course race started. The run was completely on the path close to the beach so that would be easy enough to follow and in the swim there would be people around her, so there shouldn’t be any problems with staying on the course. We met a brit before the race when we were walking to the race area and he informed us that this race is “always a chaos”.
There were a couple of start groups and Daniela was on the third one of them. So, of to a short 3k run.
The male winner of the race was clear basically after the start gun fired. He increased his lead through every discipline and rocked the first 3k run in a solid time of 9 min 34 s.
Daniela came to T2 with a time of 16 min 18 s and after a good transition went to the sea. The organisers were very strict that you could not exit the transition area if you did not have your swim cap and your glasses on.
It is a beautiful place for a race and I did not have anything to complain about when walking between the beach and the finish line. Not a bad way to start your weekend.
Less than 10 minutes after Daniela started her swim the race leader was already out of the water.
We anticipated that the t2 would be interesting affair and it sure was. There was plenty of people trying to clean their feet with water or towel – which was funny because when you have a 1.5k run to do, it doesn’t matter how much sand you have on your shoes. Just get on with it!
I expected that the race winner would finish before Daniela would be out of the water so I went to wait for him at the finish line. His pace was a lot of slower for the second run than the first (3.48 vs 3.18) but he might have taken it easier because he knew that the win would be his.
After a 22 min and 12 s swim Daniela was out of the water and feeling happy. A quick transition:
and of to the second run. Note, she is putting the race number on top down because we did not have any race belts with us here in Mallorca anymore and we had to make our own from the lace of the race bag. Worked that way too..
After the short 1.5k run (8 min 20 s) Daniela got to do a sprint with the only other scandinavian on the race!
So, after a sweaty 48 min and 9 seconds the Saturday morning had started very nicely and Daniela was happy about her performance on the day. The Alcudia Aquathlon is a fun local race and if you have the chance to participate, go for it! Entry fee was 20 € if you don’t have your own chip and the important parts of the race are run well.
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