This was Team Mermaids third trip to the RG Active Relays. The first year Manda and I emerged victorious but the second year we were pipped into second place. Would it be third time lucky for Brian (standing in as merman in Manda’s place) and I?
The format is 6 laps of around 500m of Ham Lake (plus a little bit further on the start lap). You can have a team of between 2 and 6 people and the only rule is that you need to change over each lap by running up a hill to the start and high fiving.
Brian and I tossed a coin to see who was going to start and swim the slightly longer first lap. I lost and lined up with around 12 other teams at the start of the race. Everyone set off like a rocket and it took me until about half way up the straight to overtake all but the leading swimmer. I tried to catch him but ended the lap about 100m behind. Brian luckily however managed to overtake this team’s second swimmer during his first lap. From there we stayed in the lead finishing in a time of 50mins and 31 secs. Title regained!
It is always fun to do something a bit different and especially something which requires a bit of sprinting. I think it was a bit too enthusiastic on the first lap as I was pretty sluggish when I set out on the second but I soon warmed back up. I tried to start a bit more sedately on the third lap to have something left for a sprint finish.
We really enjoyed the event. The atmosphere was nice and relaxed and there was even cake at the end!
TEAM Mermaids 