Three weeks three races.Sunday 9th was the 2nd part of the Setagaya Aquathlon tournament. This time a much bigger event and of course a lot more competitive.
It was held in Komazawa park. The swim (300 meters) in the olympic outdoor pool and the run in the running course of the park (1 lap 2,150 meters ... total of two laps: 4.3km).
Many athletes attended, just in the men's group 106 people. All looked very well prepared and really professional, some wearing their full body swim suits and Iron Man swim caps.
If you read my previous report ... I already had 10 points in the tournament as I was 2nd place in Nihon Gakuen Aquathlon by less than 1 second (damn).
Yusuke (the guy I lost against) was taking part in this race as well.
Let's take a step back in time ...
The race began at 9:45 ... that is all I read in the paper I got ... I missed the part that said that registrations closed at 9:15. And waking up at 7am the one day I don't have to (I work 6 times a week) can be hard at times ... but I usually get away with just on time entries in this country. This time though they did not buy it ... "I am
sorry," they said, "you cannot participate".So I put on a sad face like the cat in shrek, and told them, "but I will win this race, how can't you let me participate...it's 9:30 I have 15 minutes".
So they made a brief meeting and decided to let me go ... but with the condition of no registration. If I won like I said it would not count.
I then went down to the meeting area and saw the competition and the amount of people ... man I thought ... this is going to be hard to proof.
The race:
Men were divided in 3 groups ... each group with about 35 athletes ... after the last swimmer of each group finished then next group began. I was in group C (so actually I had like 30 - 40 minutes before the start ... JTU people are so damn strict) and Yusuke in group B ... with no registration my only goal was to beat his time.
We had a talk before the race and he was actually happy that I missed the registration as now he had big winning chances.
Groups A and B looked really strong. The swimmers were definitely triathletes and fast ones.
My group came up and the swim part began ... I sprinted the first 25 meters to not be caught in between people like before and got a comfortable second spot. The first place was really fast ... he was going at under 1.10 / 100 meters pace (if there were no turns). By the time he finished I still had 30 seconds left of swimming ... but had managed to keep the 2nd spot.
Takako said the swim was funny because some of the judges did not know I was swimming unregistered (thus no numbers on my arms) and were wondering and asking each other who is that swimmer there without number...how did he get in there!!!
The run began ... 4.3km that I was going to do hard this time.
Again I catched the 1st position within the first 500 meters this time keeping the pace ... catching people from group B every second that went by.
When I finally saw the finished line I made a final sprint to pass the bycicle guide and finish first (in my group at least). I ended with a YAPPARI KATTA to the judges faces.
You could see they were surprised ...
It was not over yet though...group B's winner had been Yusuke ... he got out of the pool 9th or something and once again had catched everyone.
We waited for the results and he was absolute champion of the race ... his time 21.01
My time ... not official ... 20.29 ...
So I am the non official meguro aquathlon champion and by FAR. I could have stopped to take a quick pee and still win the race.
It is ironic and sad ... finally got my first place in an individual event in Japan and it was a quite competitive one as well. However it did not count.
Well at least all the judges and the winner know who had the better time. Next year I guess.
Things learned:
1. Wake up early and get there ON TIME
2. I am quite good at this aquathlon thing, who knows maybe I could end up been a good triathlete ... won't do one this year unfortunately.
Oh if anyone is interested the awards to this are a trophy and a 2000 yen gift certificate.
For a video of the swim part click here
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