Glorious weather at Shewalton Water in Irvine welcomed Inverclyde trio Danny McLaughlin, Marian Monk and Campbell Cromar to this year’s Scottish National Aquathlon Championships. There were 75 athletes participating and all three athletes were defending their 2021 national titles. As always, Ayrodynamic Triathlon Club did an excellent job organising the event.
The water temperature on the day was 15C, 1C above minimum, so wetsuits were optional. When this was announced Campbell decided to ditch the wetsuit and trade off a slightly slower swim time for a faster transition. Danny and Marian, being the more experienced (and some would say more sensible) triathletes, opted for wetsuits.
Big chunky medals on show in the presentation area prior to the start was motivation enough for all competitors to give it their all. The aquathon was split into male and female waves, with the women set off first in the 750m swim.
With a few GB athlete’s in the race, the day’s proceedings got underway at a blistering pace. Marian came storming in with the leading group and had an impressively fast transition.
Marian proceeded to pass a few in the 5km run, finishing fastest overall V40, V45 and V50. For this she was justly awarded the V50 gold medal and Best Female vet’s cash prize. This got as far as Nardinis in Largs for ice creams all round!
With the ladies’ run underway, the men’s race was promptly called. Campbell, an experienced open water swimmer, started with the leaders and finished well up the field, despite not having the benefit of a wetsuit. Danny however, who has recently recovered from COVID-19, struggled to catch his breath and had to swim breaststroke for the first few minutes, allowing the main pack of swimmers to get away.
Campbell finished a minute behind his main rival in the swim. Thankfully with just running shoes to put on, he left the transition zone a few seconds ahead and proceeded to open up a further four minute gap on the run to win his age group comfortably.
Danny’s swim left him quite far down the field. He was unable to repeat his excellent performance of last year and unfortunately finished out of the medals.
Full results from the race can be found here
A video of the event can be viewed here
If you are interested in Aquathlons, consider joining :
https://greenockglenparkharriers.com/ and https://www.inverclydemasters.com/
