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.
In 2019 the traditional and popular Ch´Tri Man Gravelines hosted the first ever aquabike race in France. The format quickly gained interest among athletes, so we now had a field of no less than 154 aquabikers on the startline. Wow! As of my knowledge this was the biggest ever non-championship aquabike race worldwide. The event takes place in northern France, not far from the Belgian border. And it were two athletes from Belgium who topped the podium in the men´s race. Jan VANALLEMEERSCH took the win one minute and 23 seconds ahead of Quinten DE RIDDER with Frenchman Germain DEBOFFLE completing the podium 41 seconds behind. The women´s race also saw only one French athlete on the podium. The race was won by Anne STELLAARD from the Netherlands in superior manner more than 13 minutes ahead of Nathalie PONSODA from France with the second Dutch lady Karen OUD coming in two more minutes behind.
The first ever aquabike race in Sweden took place at the Challenge Vansbro. But it was Søren NIELSEN from Denmark who won the middle distance race in 02:41:56. After coming out of the water about four minutes behind, the fastest Swedish aquabiker Tommie SJÖDIN came pretty close, missing the win by only 16 seconds. His fellow countryman Mats NÄSHOLM was the third athlete on the men´s podium. Third fastest athlete of the day however was Alex SMETHURST from Great Britain, winning the women´s competition with a time gap of more than half an hour to second placed Jessica HÖGBERG from Sweden.
At the Black Swans Aquabike in Slovakia last year´s winner and Vice European Champion Dalibor RIŠKA was also the fastest athlete this year, winning the race with a time gap of more than 20 minutes to Milan HESEK, with Zsolt PERLAKI finishing third only 30 more seconds behind. Please note: due to a little bug the points for this race were not included in the current update of the Aquabike Ranking Europe, while the points from last year´s race fell out of the rating. That´s why Dalibor, the actual #2 in the ranking, currently appears on #3. This will be fixed with the next update of course!
In Greece we had the second aquabike race of the season at the Lake Doxa Triathlon in Peloponnese. Winner of the sprint distance race was φωτησ ΠΑΠΑΖΟΓΛΟΥ, taking the win almost four minutes ahead of παναγιωτησ ΔΕΡΒΙΣΗΣ and about six minutes ahead of αντώνιος ΒΟΥΛΓΑΡΆΚΗΣ. Fastest woman of the day was Katerina SILIVRIDOU – the only name in the result list I could actually pronounce.
The Castle Race Series with races in England, Ireland and France always attracts a big number of aquabike athletes. And so did the Festival of Endurance at Hever Castle which was the latest station of this race series. 45 athletes finished the middle distance race. After the swim Stuart HAYES, Colin NADIN and Wayne HITCHCOTT were separated by more than six minutes. At the finishline only 50 seconds separated the three men on the podium with Hayes winning the race only 16 seconds ahead of Nadin and Hitchcott coming in close third. In the women´s race however Michelle DILLON ensured clear conditions. Coming in 4th overall only about two minutes behind the men´s podium, she won the race about 13 minutes ahead of Catherine SEN and almost half an hour ahead of Yvie JEANNE.
The field in the long distance race was a bit smaller. After an impressive swim performance Robin HUGHES came out of the water after less than 49 minutes. He managed to hold on to the lead on the bike, winning the race five minutes ahead of Jaime HERNANDO while third placed John KENNELLY was already more than 50 minutes behind. Fastest women of the long distance aquabike race was GeCharlie OLPINmma WOOTTON, taking a clear win ahead of Evgenia KATSONI.
At the middle distance aquabike race at The Original Swanage Triathlon Festival the only woman on the startline showed the men how it´s done. Hannah PAULL was the fastest athlete of the day, with Derek BARDSLEY coming in about 15 minutes later, winning the men´s race ahead of Charlie OLPIN and Jack LEWIS.
At the Osborne´s Grays Triathlon Daniel CRACKNELL was the fastest of the only three finishers of the aquabike race. The sprint distance race at the English Riviera Aquabike race had the same number of finishers with James MOLYNEUX completing the course the fastest, while Ben FLOWER was the faster of the two aquabikers in the standard distance race.
You can find links to all full results at our aquabike race result search or check out the current Aquabike Ranking Europe.
Chapeau and congratulations to all aquabike finishers of last week´s races!