2024 a look back.
2024 was a super season for Team Ash Triathletes. 70+ athletes in 2024.
Since the program began, 11 years ago, we had the largest number of participants in the Half Ironman Santa Cruz 70.3 (27) and the largest batch for the Full Ironman Sacramento 140.6 (10). Our new triathletes took part in the Sprint and Olympic distance races in Santa Cruz. We continued our annual traditional of participation in the Alpine Fresh Water Donner Lake Swim with about 15 of us making the trip up to Donner
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| Santa Cruz 70.3 check in day. |
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| At the finish! |
Our swimmers completed the Alcatraz Crossing and B2B swims with Odyssey Swims. We continued to improve our mentoring and Open Water Support with 5 folks on SUPs as water support. All in all a fantastic year for the team.
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| Santa Cruz swim group! |
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| The Alcatraz escapees! |
Personally I had a great year too. Kept active and volunteered for TA and other organizations:
Feb: Ran The Kaiser San Francisco half (virtual).
The race was a washout as San Francisco had a major storm. I ran the half in Sunnyvale.
April: Ran the Big Sur marathon (my first marathon since 2019!)
Shashi having dropped out of Big Sur due to work commitment he transferred his registration to me. I had not run a marathon since Covid. This was as good a reason as any to get back into it. Managed to to get a decent amount of training in and finished in 4:10:04. Not too shabby! It was a beautiful day and I started right up front with the top guns :). It was great to see a bunch of Team Asha folks along the way. Good to be back in the marathon game!
June: SUPed to and back from Alcatraz as support for the Alcatraz Sharkfest wim.
Rather than swim the event I decided to volunteer to Paddle for the race. This was my first time paddling out in the San Francisco Bay. Most of my paddling is in Santa Cruz. It was a great experience - 200+ swimmers. A few of them did need some rest and they came by to hang on to the SUP for a few moments till they gathered their wits and breath. Having done this swim many times, I know how intimidating it can be. Towards the end, near the Aquatic Park (AP) entrance, the current and chop got the better of a lot of swimmers. Assisted a few and calmed a few down and worked with the life guards to reel them all into the AP opening. Wonderful experience and will definitely do it again in the future.
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| The start line |
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| Paddling with the GGB in the background. |
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| Approaching Alcatraz |
July: Alpine Fresh Water Donner Lake Swim (2.4 mile swim).
This was the 6th year of camping and swimming at Donner Lake. I love this trip. Great place to unwind and relax up in the mountains. I did manage to run around the lake as well this time - love the campsite and to have our dear friends living just outside the campsite makes it a super trip. Camped with new friends this year and it was great fun!
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| 6 years of swimming the Donner event. |
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| The Podium Beer! |
Aug: Santa Cruz Rough Water 2 mile swim.
Vishal, Harshita and I decided to swim this event. It was really well organized. I've never been this close to the wharf - but it was safe as the life guards had cleared out all the fisher folks and the sea lions. I did end up getting super cold towards the end but all in all a fun swim.
Sep: Santa Cruz 70.3.
My 8th time doing this event since 2003. One of the most beautiful courses around. 1.2 mile swim around the Santa Cruz Wharf, 56 miles along highway 1 and a 13.1 mile run along cliff drive and the coast. Stunning!
I did have an eye issue during this race and should have gone to the medical tent after the swim for a quick eye wash. But I did not and ended up with minor abrasions due to sand. The problem was caused due to us running late for the race. In my hurry I borrowed a gel defogger for my swim goggles. While rinsing the goggles in sea water (I did not have by water bottle) I must have got some sand into the goggles. Over the 40 min swim some of that sand got into my eyes and caused a lot of pain. I went to the medical tent at the end of the race (6 hours + later!) and got it rinsed out. Had to make a trip to the doctor on Monday to have it checked. Luckily no major issue. Unfortunately could not celebrate with the team as I had to rush home as I was in a bit of pain.
Over the years.
2004: 6:26:08 (Big Kahuna)
2014: 6:21:46 (Big Kahuna)
2016: 6:39:28 (Bought by Ironman )
2017: 5:38:14* (short swim due to fog)
2022: 6:32:38
2023: 6:28:35
2024: 6:12:19
Sep: Bridge to Bridge swim (10K)
On a whim I pinged Radhika, Vishal and Harshita to see if they would swim the B2B with me. They all said yes, we contacted James Dilworth and he fixed a date for us. It was an experience, plenty of chop and eddies and currents. At one point we had to make a detour around Alcatraz as we got stuck in an eddy. It only added to the fun. James is a fantastic captain and I highly recommend him for your Bay swims.
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| The Strava tracker |
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| Under the GGB at the start |
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| Alcatraz. Half way there. |
