Blenheim Palace Triathlon

Triathlons! Crazy races to test your stamina and endurance in swimming, running and cycling, which is why I didn't compete.

I know what you're thinking 'why are you doing a post about a triathlon that you didn't complete?!' well although I didn't compete in it I was on the lake as a safety kayak for those that were.

This was the entire water based crew. We had the management, lifeguards on the bank at both the start and the finish, power boat crews and the kayak crew.
We had a variety of coloured bibs (like the ones used in sports at schools) to identify what teams we were in. This made it easier for everyone to know where we were suppose to be and to know if you were in the right place.

We split the course up into 5 main sections with a 6th the shorter races.  These were zone 1, 2, 2a, 3 ,4 and the start. Each team would have 1 section to cover for a period of time then we would rotate round.

This was a weekend event, which meant Saturday night we were allowed to stay in the palace grounds and camp! Let me tell you waking up and watching the sun rise over Blenheim palace is quite something. Unfortunately I didn't get a photo of this as I was very sleepy and content with just watching it while not being on my phone.

Sunday morning was a slightly later start allowing me to have a slower start to the day, before heading down to the boat house and kitting up for the water. The sun decided to come out on Sunday as well, so with sun cream, sunglasses and a hat on I hopped onto the water to start my first shift of the day.
Time flew by with working on the water, reapplying sun cream and constantly refilling my water bottle that it was soon the last wave of swimmers! we followed them to the exit of the lake, handed our bibs back and made our way to the start point to get out kayaks out the water. The start point was closer to our cars so we had less distance to carry them.

Thankfully the crowds that had gathered at the start point had all moved on to the other sections of the race leaving the whole area for us to get out of our boats. Then came the hardest part of the weekend, carrying my boat back. Friday night I had been able to drive to the boat house to drop my kayak off, but today I had to carry it all the way back to the car park. With many breaks, some for resting some because I had to wait until it was safe to cross the race course, and a little complaining I made it back to my car.

Whist loading my boat onto the car, I laid my kit out to dry. Once my boat was loaded and tied onto the roof I put my now dry kit into the car, opened the windows to let the heat out and with one last trip to the toilet set off on my journey home!

What a beautiful place to spend the weekend!