April 26, 2009The start was at Canoe Beach in knee deep water and I was out with the lead pack to the first turn. I was in the first three swimmers to the turn and came out in the lead. I swam at a strong steady pace off the front, but only briefly, because I was caught and swam side by side with the eventual winner. I got in his draft for a little while and would have been happy to stay there, but when he surged I could not match his effort.
He put about a 10 meter gap on me before he settled back into his pace, and I was resigned to swim in second place. There was a glimmer of hope when I was passed one more time by another young swimmer making a strong move. I sat on his hip, and then his feet, and we were gaining on the leader. If we had worked together, we would have caught him and it would have been a three way sprint for the finish. I'm not sure what happened, but the 2nd chaser dropped off when I took over leading the chase.
We had gained enough ground that I thought I might have a chance to catch the leader, I worked and worked and pulled up to about two body lengths behind. He was taking an outside line for the final turn, so I cut to the inside to gain as much time as possible. I almost had his feet again going around the turn, but I got tangled in the buoy's anchor line and was slightly disoriented.
At this point I failed to look up and spot the finish line on the beach, and zig-zagged my way back in 10 seconds behind. A win would have been nice, but I think the fastest swimmer took the race today. Congratulations to everyone who competed, it was a lot of fun! From The Life Upcountry
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