We had a super busy aquabike racing weekend on the British Islands with 149 athletes finishing one of twelve races at eight events. Meanwhile on the continent we only had one aquabike event this weekend. Though the aquabike race at the Triathlon des Gorges de l’Ardèche in southern France is one of the hardest but also one of the most scenic races in Europe and certainly worth some attention.
Last weekend we had the probably biggest aquabike race ever in Europe (except World and European Championships of course), the first ever aquabike race in Sweden, as well as races in Slovakia and Greece. Meanwhile on the British Island the next station of the Castle Triathlon series saw a strong aquabike field especially over the middle distance, besides other middle distance races and also some shorter races.
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The Ripon Triathlon which was planned to be held last weekend had to be cancelled earlier this year. At the 1066 Triathlon in Hastings the swim had to be cancelled due to bad weather conditions. While the Triathlon was converted into a Duathlon, the aquabike races eventually had to be cancelled. So what remained was a rather quiet weekend of racing. The aquabike races at the Stewartby Lake Triathlon were the only aquabike races in England this weekend. We had a big race in Austria at last year´s location of the European Championships though.
When there are any changes in the top ranks of the Aquabike Ranking Europe I usually write about it in the weekly race reports. But a new number one certainly deserves a little bit more attention.
With no races on the continent last weekend it was a purely British aquabike racing weekend. We had two middle distance races at the A Day In The Lakes Triathlon and the Metric Aquabikus at the Centurion Triathlon Herts, where we also had a long distance race with the Imperial Aquabikus. The races which attracted the most aquabike athletes were a bit shorter though.
With races in Portugal and Austria and of course a bunch of races in England, another busy aquabike racing weekend lies behind us. But let´s start with the National Aquabike Championship race that we had in Ireland last weekend. It was carried out over the sprint distance at the Fingal Skerries Triahtlon. Ross HAMILTON was able to defend his title with a clear win, putting about four and a half minutes into second placed Jack KENNEDY and Michael MCGLOIN another 48 seconds behind. Much closer was the women´s race though. With four women starting the bike leg separated by only 17 seconds the decision had to be made on the bike. It was Danielle O’ RIORDAN who had the strongest bike legs, winning the race by only eight seconds ahead of Jennifer O’SULLIVAN with Cathy CUNNINGHAM following in third also just one more minute behind.
Last weekend the 24th country joined the world of aquabike racing. Poland had it´s first ever aquabike race which also was the National Championship over the sprint distance. With Nationals over standard, middle and long distance also following this year, Poland will be the first country to host championships over four distances. But let´s start with the sprint race which was held at the Triathlon Rzeszów.
Seven years after the last edition of Swim & Bike Werbellinsee (see Aquabike History) we finally had the first and long awaited aquabike races in Germany at the Vierlanden Triathlon near Hamburg. Unfortunately the weather was not particularly inviting. With 15,7°C in the water and 11°C and also quite some rain outside many registered athletes decided not to appear at the startline. However, there were still 19 cold-resistant aquabike athletes competing in the middle distance race.
And what a race it was!
Dennis MÖLLER came out of the water first, with Jonas HAFEMANN about a minute behind. But with the fastest transition time, Jonas came out of T1 five seconds ahead of Dennis. Apparently the two of them stayed together over the bike course, with Dennis Möller coming into T2 11 seconds ahead of Jonas Hafemann. But they weren´t leading the aquabike race at that point. Because Frank ERK, who started be bike leg about six minutes behind stormed to the front, getting into T2 five seconds ahead of Dennis Möller. But neither of them managed to take the race win.
We had a pretty busy weekend of aquabike racing in England with no less than 13 aquabike races on the British Island. But first of all let´s have a look over at mainland Europe where the 100% Half Empuriabrava in the Northeast of Spain included a middle distance aquabike race for the second year.
Fabian BADIA VICENT was able to repeat his 2021 win at this event, though it was much closer this time. In a time of 02:50:36 He was five minutes faster than last time, to beat Marc SANGRÀ LLUCH by only 59 seconds, with Alex PAGAN MONTORO only 26 more seconds behind. The women´s race was won by Audrey SYREN, with Paqui MIRANDA MEDINA taking second place about four minutes behind and Duna SALLENT SALLÓ coming in third.