2025 a look back at the year!
2025 was another fantastic year for Team Asha - we had 80+ athletes taking part in a multitude of events. Open Water Swims included: Alcatraz, Bridge to Bridge, Donner Lake Swim, Santa Cruz Wharf, Gull Park, Coyote Point Park.
Triathlons included: Tri Santa Cruz sprint and Olympic, Santa Cruz Triathlon Sprint, Santa Cruz 70.3, Oregon 70.3, Ironman California 140.6.
It was great fun to train with a big group of athletes, 25+ of our team participated in the Santa Cruz 70.3 (Half Ironman) and the team was supported with a huge cheering squad!
 |
| Santa Cruz 70.3 finishers. |
7 of us started the Full Ironman in Sacramento, CA - including 3 first timers! Once again we had a big support group turn out and cheer the athletes on the 11 to 16 hour race! Huge congratulations to all the finishers and a big thank you to the cheering squad. Great to see growth in this grueling distance event.
All in all a great year for the program. 2025 was my 21st year of coaching Team Asha - it was also the last year. I decided that it was a good time to move on and let the next generation take over. I will still be part of the team, but as an athlete only. Over the years we have groomed coaches from within the program who understand the needs of the team, I look forward to seeing them take the team and the program to new highs. My best wishes to all of them and the mentors, coords, volunteers.
My year was pretty active with a host of swims, runs, and triathlons.
February: San Francisco Half Marathon 13.1 miles
April: Prison to Prison 9 mile Swim (San Quentin to Alcatraz) - details below.
June: Cupertino Splash & Dash 1
July: Donner Lake 2.4 mile swim.
August: Alcatraz Sharkfest Swim (my 16th Alcatraz crossing), Cupertino Splash & Dash 2, Tri SC Swim/Run, Cruz Cruise 2 mile Open swim.
September: Santa Cruz 70.3
October: Ironman California DNF!
Prison to Prison Swim - April 2025.
As I rolled into my 60s I decided to do a marquee swim in the San Francisco Bay. The swim is called Prison to Prison - The route is from San Quentin to Alcatraz (or the other way around, depending on the tide). The distance is about 9 miles and although it is a tide assisted swim, it is still considered one of the more challenging swims in the Bay. After signing up for it with Pacific Swim Co (the best captains and bespoke swim organizer in the Bay Area) - I began my training in earnest in December 2024. I white boarded the plan (at least the long swim days) and worked my way up to that distance.
The challenge was getting extended times in the pool and managing longer swim in the Bay. It was a mix of swims at Aquatic Park (AP), Gull Park (GP), Coyote Point Park (CP) and Santa Cruz (SC). The AP swims were during my work lunch break - where I'd cycle from office to AP and get in a 40-50 min swim and bike back to work. The Aquatic Park Swim group (a Facebook group) was of immense help as they took care of my stuff on the bleachers while I was in the water. For CP - I'm make it there when the tides were right and often have company from my Team Asha friends - Harshita and Bunty would accompany me whenever they had the time - thank you both!
A visit to India in Feb 2025 disrupted the training as there was no pool big enough to get long swim in at Udaipur - but in hindsight that break was a good rest for the shoulders - once back I managed to get those 3:00 and 3:30 hour swims in the pool. I kept the calorie intake simple at 50g of carbs and hour - mostly either a Gel or a sports drink that I had on the pool deck or in my swim buoy during open water swims.
On the saw day in April I got the Horseshoe Bay (across the Golden Gate Bridge) nice and early. It was a spectacular morning!
 |
| Golden Gate Bridge in the early AM |
Sylvia, the captain who would be guiding me throughout the swim, met me and went over the route and the conditions. The coast guard said that there were whales in the bay! I was super excited and was hoping to see them from the boat or while swimming! But as luck would have it - they stayed away! Sylvia dropped me off at San Quentin - the conditions were perfect - pretty calm and the water was warmer than normal! With a swift ebb tide assist I kept up a decent pace and stopped every half hour for a quick feed (sports drink and gel) that Sylvia would toss out to me from the boat.
 |
| Golden Gate Bridge in the distance. |
The conditions changed with the wind and it did get choppy at times but nothing too rough. The course charted was hugging the coast near Tiburon and past Racoon Strait to Angel Island. As the protection of the land on my right would disappear, like at Racoon Strait and the open bay past Angel Island, the winds and chop would pick up. Swirling eddies and white caps would leave me a bit confused about the direction I was going but looking up to see Sylvia smiling and pointing out the direction I had to swim was super calming and you felt totally safe out there. The views while swimming are superb, I never get tired of swimming in the bay - it is truly a unique view and we are blessed to be able to be out there. I had already swum sections of this course when I swam along the coast of Tiburon and when I did swim around Angel Island a few years ago so a lot of it was very familiar. Give my training and the swift ebb tide I covered the distance in under two and a half hours! That was much quicker than I had anticipated. I would like to thank Sylvia and Pacific Sim Co for guiding me through this swim. They are the best in the business!
 |
| Strava snapshot. |
All in all a great swim and a fantastic way to ring in my 60s :)
