Loveswimrun Llanberis

~ Team: Paul Skipper, Mike Alexander; Position: 2nd ~

With swimrun’s arrival in North Wales I of course had to sign up. Chloe Rafferty was race director and it was her vision to make this an accessible event offering both a solo and team entry.

Although a relatively short swimrun the amount of swimming was significant. I entered with my brother-in-law Paul, a thoroughbred and seasoned triathlete… although the last 6 months of study, marriage, impending first-born, moving house and my mum’s meals had taken it’s toll on his fitness. This race was to be a bit of a shake-down and trial of our partnership before the more brutal Brecaswimrun.

I really enjoyed it. For the first time in my swimrun race life I was running on familiar ground, this coupled with the length of the race helped us to eat up the miles, so much so that we entered the final swim in 1st position. This last swim was long enough to highlight Paul’s lack of training, especially as our tow system had snapped in the previous run. We slowed up significantly, but still came in in 2nd place. A friendly race that I am sure we will do again.

Thanks to Chloe for bringing swimrun racing to Wales!