We are heading into the last few weeks of the racing season in most parts of Europe. The biggest races of the year are yet to come though. The World Championships are just around the corner (check out our race preview) and the European Championships are also just about a month away. There haven´t been a lot of races over the last two weeks, but certainly some interesting ones in Austria, Slovakia and of course in England.
Only a few days are left before the Aquabike Long Distance World Championships take place in Samorin, just a few kilometres outside of Slovakia´s capital Bratislava. I hope those of you who are on the startlist are well prepared and enjoy their tapering period.
The x-bionic® sphere is an awesome race venue for a multisport race, the weather forecast looks pretty good and we can expect a perfectly organized race. However, this year´s Aquabike World Championship race marks a noteworthy change in the race format that probably not every aquabike athlete is delighted of.
Since the launch of the Aquabike Ranking Europe, the men´s rankings remained quite stable. Adam Lambrechts taking clear wins in last years European and World Championships and also other athletes performing well in both big races, there haven´t been too many changes in the the top rankings eversince.
The situation in the women´s rankings is quite different though. With no female athlete in the top ranks in both big events, it´s still possible to get to the top with some top performances in smaller races. After Amy Sole dethroned last season´s number one Clare Crabtree in June, Amy had to pass the scepter on to the new leader in the women´s ranking only a few weeks later.
There haven´t been too many aquabike races in Europe over the last two weeks. While we had also races in Hungary and Ireland last weekend, the weekend before was a purely English aquabike racing weekend. Some of the aquabike events attracted quite a big number of competitors though.
It´s been a rather quiet weekend of aquabike racing in Europe. The only race that was scheduled on the continent was the National Aquabike Championship over the middle distance at the Poznan Triathlon in Poland. Unfortunately there was a bathing ban at Jezioro Maltańskie – the lake where the swim should have taken place. The local authorities closed the lake the week before the race due to bad water quality after a spread of cyanobacteria. While the Triathlon was switched into a duathlon, the aquabike race obviously had to be cancelled. However, after the championships over the sprint distance in June aquabike athletes in Poland still will have two more championship races (standard and long distance) later this season.
So we only had four races at two locations in England last weekend.
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.
About 13 weeks left until the European Aquabike Championships in Bilbao. It´s about time to get prepared. And we can help you with that.
We proudly present: Your 12 week aquabike specific training plan for the European Aquabike Championships in Bilbao (or other late season races).
Coach Steven Moody creates training plans for aquabike athletes of all performance levels. And I´m very happy he offers a 12% coupon for all this training plans to our little aquabike community. Use the coupon code AQUAEVENT12 to get 12% off your 12 week training plan!
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.