Report by Sam Juson
After spending a few days sightseeing in Paris, I made my way over to Château de Chantilly for their ‘Multisport Festival’ as part of the Castle Race Series – competing in the standard distance aquathlon. It was an incredible setting, with the open water swim in the Grand Canal, a 1.5km long tributary of the Oise, and the 10km run through the woodland grounds of Maison de Sylvie and a circular loop of Chantilly Racecourse, with the finishing straight back towards the Château itself. Quite a bit of logistical prep went in to this race, with the added complexity of it being hosted in France which required a medical certificate from a GP, as well as a ‘Competition Race Pass’ – not to mention the travel and accommodation!
The event itself was very well organised, with plenty of (thankfully) English speaking volunteers! Saved me embarrassing myself with some very dodgy French. They also had a great runners village set up, with live music, food, post race massage, and also a Chantilly cream stand! I picked up my wetsuit and made my way to the swimmers brief.
It was my first time racing in open water, so I really wasn’t really sure what to expect with the swim. I went out hard, then settled in to a pace that I felt comfortable with from what I know from the pool. Major difference was the temperature, and the fact I couldn’t see a bloody thing! I kept getting little nudges from the marshals in kayaks to tell me to keep straight.
After zigzagging through the course, it came to the transition – which was a big faff! I very much underestimated how difficult taking a wetsuit off is, so wasted a couple of minutes squirming my way out before setting off on the run. I didn’t have much of an idea of time or position coming out the water as I wasn’t around anyone, so just decided to settle in to a steady pace from the start. There was a few of points on the course where I was unsure on which way to go, which meant having to stop and ask the closest person I could find – marshal or not! Thankfully, my girlfriend Sophie was ready to cheer me on at 5km – who to my surprise also told me I was in 3rd place! There was still no one around me, so just decided to keep steady and carry on with the pace I was on. It was only in the second half of the run where I started to feel the heat, a deceptive 22 degrees started to become pretty uncomfortable.
I finished with a total time of 1:08:41, broken up in to a 25:13 swim and a 38:54 run. Like I said, the rest of the time was made up with faffing to get out of my wetsuit! I was super pleased to come 3rd overall, and 2nd in my age group in my first aquathlon. Looking back at the times, 2nd place would have definitely been a possibility with a bit more practice in transitions, and if I upped the pace a bit more on the run. However, I wanted to embrace the whole event, crowds and beautiful scenery that Chantilly had to offer – it was an awesome atmosphere and overall experience, and I wouldn’t have changed anything! Lots of lessons learnt, and I’m looking forward to the next one – maybe a bit more local..
