| Race Report - 8 Mile Lake Champlain Race |
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| Written by Jeremiah Friday |
| Wednesday, 12 August 2009 14:13 |
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The theme of the entire race was "go with the flow!" The event was supposed to start at 9:00, but at the pre-race meeting the night before, the director moved the start time to 8:30. The race didn't actually start until about 9:10. Go with it...
We drove from our hotel in Burlington to a YMCA camp (think Camp Crystal Lake from Friday the 13th), about a 45 minute ride up the lake toward Canada. We were told balloons would mark where we were to park and meet. Of course, with the Type-As on this team, we were the first people at the camp, beating all of the swimmers and the race organizers, as well as the balloons! They did have decent facilities for pre-race needs that nerves cause. (I was thinking that Sarah would have been very happy with the set-up!)
We met Jamie and Becky's kayakers. Jamie's was a nice girl from the area who paddled for this race last year. She was pretty confident on the course, which made us feel a little better. Becky's kayaker was a young kid, or should I say thug, named Tim who was pretty quiet all morning. He was overheard saying to someone, "I've never kayaked before." That gave us a great confidence boost. (He was also seen covering a hole in his kayak with duct tape - draw your own conclusions.) My buddy Nick was my kayaker... needless to say, we put our trust in Jamie's kayaker Liz..
The water was absolutely beautiful. It was a cool morning when we started, in the lower 50s. The water temperature was in the lower 70s, but it felt cold as we were standing around waiting for the gun. We decided that we would swim together, especially at the beginning. The race director shouted, "READY?" before all of the kayaks were even in the water. It was very crazy at the beginning. We weren't sure if we were going to hear a gun, a beep, or a verbal command. Finally, we hear the GO! through a bull horn.
We took off in a perfect "Flying V" formation, cutting through the lake water and competition. I was in the front, Becky was behind me to my right, and Jamie was behind me to the left. We swam from this camp on the shore of the lake in Vermont, through a little lagoon that was protected from the open lake. I thought of Moraine at the beginning because of the underwater plants, not as gross as the lilly pads, but pretty weird. I know Becky was looking for eels as we swam through this vegetation!
We led the entire field in this formation, with a Coast Guard boat right in front of us, and our three kayaks surrounding us. It was awesome! We were moving great, and it was so easy to sight! We swam this way until we got to an inlet called "The Narrows," which led us into the open lake.
Once we got into the open water, our kayakers should have been able to see another boat two miles across the lake on the New York coast. The boat was not there. Our kayakers basically let us swim for about little more than a mile, not sure where to lead us. They tried to call the race director, but her phone was not on! Here we are, the leaders of the race, in the middle of the lake, with no idea where to go. We were probably close to a mile off course. We stopped to consume some Goo and Gatorade, and prepare for the next phase. Another Coast Guard boat stopped to check on us. We told them that we were lost, and they agreed to lead the way for us.
We got back onto the race course, and as we were getting near the turn around , we saw a racer had stayed on course and passed us. We decided to blow his doors off, and our armatta passed him. Again, we did not know exactly where we had to turn around. We basically went to the shore and turned back for Vermont, half way done!
As we turned around we got back into formation, but we were beating each other up. We had to rearrange so that we were breathing on the correct side and not fighting each other. This is where everthing gets crazy. At some point we stopped, and I'm not sure how it happened, but Becky was seperated from us. I thought that I saw her kayaker, but he was on the wrong side of her. The current was pulling us toward Canada, and we made sure to have a kayak on our right side so that we would not get away. Tim was on her left, and she could not see us. He let her lead the way, even though she could not see anything, and she ended up swimming too far off of the course. I am not sure of what exactly happend out in the north lake, but I do know she beat up her kayaker a bit, which he deserved! The Coast Guard gave her a ride back to the Vermont shore. They told her that she was swimming in 100 feet of water, while we were in 20 feet! No wonder it felt so cold to her!
Jamie and I got in the zone on the way back. Liz held the course for us on the left, and Nick held a boundary for us on the right so that the current would not pull us toward Canada. We were working as a well-oiled machine! We came to another swimmer who had turned around early, and we passed him with ease. We stopped to eat one last time before we went back through The Narrows, toward Vermont.. We were now swimming against the current, and we were starting to tire! To make matters worse, there was another swimmer behind us, who we did not want to let pass. (In reality he was a good two minutes back, but it was hard to tell in the water! Nick was also yelling at us to go because the guy was close! I guess we did need whipped a few times!)
We swam through The Narrows, back into the lagoon, where we swam the last mile. We were tired for sure, but we kept going strong. We kept a solid pace the entire race, not really loafing at all. Again it was hard to know where exactly where the finish was located. They told us that backstroke flags would mark the way. It looked like the finish was going to be between two boats in the water, but when we got up to it, it was actually on shore. During our last stretch Jamie and I argued about who was going to finish first. I told her that we would dead heat it, but she didn't think she was going to be able to hold the pace. She did. We swam until our hands were scraping the rocky ground. Then we stood up, in a very unstable manner, grabbed hands, and stumbled across the finish line together at four hours and nineteen minutes (we actually swam 9.17 miles instead of the 8 miles - my buddy wore my GPS running watch). We posed for pictures, our legs shaking and we hugged. The next finisher was over two minutes later. We were both excited and exhausted - we were the champions!
I know that we could never have done it that quickly alone. Not only did we have each other to pace off of and support, but we also had Liz and Nick to help us get to the finish. Not only did they provide guidance, nutirition, but they gave us a lot of support! We can't thank them enough.
Unfortunatly, we did not win a medal, plaque, or even certificate. We did win some prizes from corporate sponsors, such as a lunch box. We didn't even get a t-shirt for the race! At least Becky got a boat ride out of them! I guess that we went with the flow with all of the problems, but it was a beautiful swim!
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| Last Updated on Wednesday, 12 August 2009 14:28 |