Dingo - Race Day - Swim

The day had come. Awaking about 3am to get LOADING, the first thing I saw was a white flash, and then a large bang. Oh CRAP it’s a thunder storm. I then realised that it wasn’t someone showering, it was POURING. I walked out to greet the world to see Lisa a little white, she was outside and observing the storm, verdict – IT WASN’T GOOD.

We departed the house about 4am, and the flooding on the road showed that this storm had been here for a while. There weren’t many people at the start when we checked in, but the numbering tent quickly filled as athletes refused to go out into the pouring rain (oh by the way it was 10 degrees). Gina and John had managed to corner Ken, who hadn’t decided whether the swim was to be cancelled. So we waited.

A brief pause in the rain gave athletes enough time to run out and prepare there bikes. It was funny to watch people trying to dry their seats and top tubes, as it was obviously going to rain again. And it did. The wind was cyclonic and wasn’t blowing the storm away. It was only blowing rain in at a horizontal position. After a few minutes of preparing, the rain started again and everybody ran back to the tent.

About 5:30am, it was advised that the swim was a go and race was delayed till 6:30am. SWEET. I was really looking forward to a swim.

Transition shut at 6am and everybody walked to the pier and realised that the crystal clear water of the past week had turned in to a grey ugly washing machine. All week the athletes were informed about this spectacular race opening that was to occur. When the lady started signing the national anthem and the arrival of the helicopter I thought, ‘WOW, that was amazing’ (sarcastic tone). Why is it that singers can’t sing the anthem properly, and want to put their own signature to it? But then it happened, the fly by, made by the RAAF in the acrobatic jets. Being a major fan of the RAAF, and having a childhood dream of being a RAAF Pilot, this was a great start to the day.

After the jets had passed the cannon started us off, and the wide swim start made first few hundred metres a real easy job. No nightmares of Forster or other tight starts. I quickly found myself in clear water after starting on the front line (orange caps) behind the pro waves about 30m off the jetty. I managed to hold myself clear of the congestion next to the pier and found myself swimming very easy. The chop for the first part was small , 1-2 feet and didn’t affect me at all. After about 10 minutes of swimming I started to notice that oranges caps were changing to pink and green. I remember thinking to myself that these pros need to do swim work.

The swim turn was about 40m past the end of the pier, and it was the first time that you got to experience the real size of the chop, sorry waves!. Turning the can I joined a group of green and pink caps, and a few orange. At this point the swell had picked up to about 4 feet as the pier no longer protected us. The swell was coming across the course which occasionally picked you up and moved you about 3m closer to the pier. I made a wide arc to steer clear of the pier and headed for home. One little pro wom a n was inside me, using me as protection from the swell, but unfortunately every 50m or so a wave would pick me up and dump me onto her. After a few minutes of this she got the picture and jumped on my feet. I had done more ocean swimming than pool swimming for this race and this played as a major advantage for me, and the swell didn’t bother me at all, while other members of the group continually stopped to get air and compose themselves.

Getting back on to land, I thought I had a slow swim, but with conditions and the length of the course, I would be happy with low 60 minutes. When I stood I saw 58m, so I was happy. Just after crossing the line I saw Lisa just in front of me (1 second), wow I had a pretty good swim. If only I knew earlier I would’ve gone for line honours. I checked my watch for eaxct time and relaised I hadn't started it. I started about 59 minutes late. Swim time 58:45, 5 minutes slower than race plan.