Another great weekend of racing in eastern B.C. 3 races in two days. Over 70 competitors this year! First race on Saturday was a 3.5 mile short course race covering 4 laps and 7 turns per lap. Last years 2nd place guy Norm Hann was first to the first turn, with Stuart from Comox in second and me third with Mike from Deep Cove right on my heels... and thats how it stayed. Norm and Stuart showed great buoy turning skills that allowed them to gap me on every corner. I'd catch back up, only to drop 30 feet on the next corner.
Later that day, we did 200 meter sprints, 100 meters out, 180 degrees turn around a buoy then back to the beach. 4 guys at a time an you could go around the buoy either direction, causing some exciting collisions and sent some folks swimming. Top 2 from each race advanced... In the 5th semi-final heat I fell after colliding with someone and was out... or so I thought. One of the guys didn't want to race anymore, so he gave me his spot in the final heat. So I ended up 4th in the sprints. Ugh.
Sunday left us with the 10 mile race the length of Kal Lake. To keep it all one division, they simply gave the 14's a 10 minute handicap, which meant that myself and all the other 12'6" guys got a 10 minute head start. The entire race I was running scared, waiting to get caught. The story of the day was female winner Lina being less than 4 minutes behind me the whole way!
I managed to hold off the chasers and claimed first place in the 10 miler.
Norm Hann won the weekend series, with me second and Stuart 3rd. Lina was first for the ladies.
I highly recommend making the trip sometime for this race... great people and a great event.
