Loveswimrun Llanberis 2019

- Photo by Sport Pictures Cymru -

Racing at Llanberis once again with Paul Skipper in what's become a very sociable event. It was a hot day so I pulled out my "hot-pants" version of the HEAD Aero. 

This year we felt our swimming was fairly strong but neither of us had kicked in with our run training. Our teamwork had really developed at OTILLO Uto 2018, as had our speed in transition.

We started steady, running just behind two teams, entering the first swim in third place. First swim complete (500m), we got out of the water sharing the lead with another team (Team FFH, who I recognised from Loveswimrun Holy Island, 2017). They made a burst up hill which was fine with us. It became clear that the top two positions would most likely be us and them.

We settled into a sustainable run about 100m behind them until the steep descent where we just overtook them entering the second swim (500m), very close together. We stayed close throughout the short run and third swim (1km) - ready for what would be the shake down - the 8km run with a long steady ascent and steep technical descent. 

They set off with a burst which they couldn't sustain as a team, we saw our chance and overtook just before the long ascent into the quarries. It looked like one was a stronger swimmer and the other was a significantly stronger runner. If they'd worked better as a team they would have pushed us harder.

We didn't look back and grew our lead all the way to the final 1km swim and the finish line. Great to get a Llanberis win after some mis-haps in 2016 and 2017. Having just looked back through the results I've just realised we set a course record at 2hr 11m 19s - bonus! 

Well done to Chloe, Johnny and all the LoveSwimRun team. It's a shame this event doesn't get more teams entering - there seems to be less teams and more solos each year, not sure why. For me part of the joy of swimrun is shared experience.

- Hot pants - Photo by Sport Pictures Cymru -