Ironman ‘10

Kayaking for Radiant lake (see previous post) motivated me to kayak for Ironman, this time recruiting Louie to assist.  Lets just say this was a different experience.  Instead of a sprint Triathlon, in which was kayaking part maybe lasted 45 minutes, this was 2400 athletes, swimming 2.4 miles.  We were asked to be on the water by 5am.  EARLY!  The race didn’t start until 7:30am, so we were a little annoyed we had to sit for so long in the kayaks. 

   5 am was not exciting for us as I feel into the water when I tried to get into my kayak.  Louie thought that was hilarious though.  It was cool to see the moon and water the sunrise though.

This is the crowd watching the start of the race.  If you haven’t watched the start of 2400 athletes enter the water all at one time, it is pretty amazing.  This time we got to see it from the water.

These are the elites athletes, which get 50,000 if they win. Luckily they get a different start time.

The elites swimming their second lap, while the “normal” athletes start lining up on the beach.  The paddleboarder is along side the first female swimmer so we can keep track.

The mob, 2400 racers.  It was a madhouse.

And they are off.  I lucky never had a swimmer hold on to my kayak for a rest.  Louie had to help several swimmers though.  I heard that there were somewhere between 25-30 people that had to get pulled out of the water all together.  It was pretty intense.  If only we didn’t have to sit in our kayaks for so long, I would consider volunteering again.  It was just a long time to be on the water and wait.  A good experience though.