North Bondi - It was one of those days where it paid to enter both swims - and experience 2 swims in quite different conditions on the same morning.
The earlier 1k swim (1.2k?)was like a gentle paddle around an aquarium - no wave, calm sea, crystal clear water - following the schools of little fish and track marks of sea creatures accross the sandy bottom.
After the SouthEaster blew in mid-morning and chopped up the course, the organisers sensibly shortened the 2k course (1.8k?) and moved the 3rd turning buoy in from past Mackenzies point to give swimmers some cover from the worst of it. Water was still clear and could see the bottom all the way, but the chop all the way made the course much more challenging. Especially the trek to the first turning buoy -trudge 50m through knee-deep water then swim 400m straight into the chop with no assistance from any rip on the day.
The organisers were well-prepared for the extra numbers of swimmers this year - short queues at registration, wave starts on time and well-spaced, very little congestion - I had clear water in front of me most of the way on both swims, except for the "gate" - got caught up in a little traffic jam there on both swims - not sure what was the purpose of that little zig-zag turn near the finish. Plenty of fresh fruit for all and the presentations were right on time. Water safety was everywhere in their fluorescent green skivvies, some might say too much, after I almost rammed a surf boat that was stationed to shepherd me back onto the course.
I'm looking forward to doing both swims again at North Bondi at their next event in February
Time "1k" 26:34 easy / warm-up - time out spotting the little sea creatures
Time "2k" 40:09
Not so good, I've got slower in Dec/Jan, Need to get back on track with more doing more squads and interval training.
No comments:
Post a Comment