Accel Triathlon Relay 2019

On Saturday I was lucky enough to race at the Accel Triathlon in Waterloo with 2 friends. We signed up to race the Olympic distance race as a relay team. I did the swim, my friend Justin did the bike, and my friend Matt did the run. The best part of the race for me was getting to pair triathlon with a chance to catch up with a couple of friends.

I drove up to Cedar Falls on Friday evening and camped with my parents at Black Hawk Park. I got up early and headed into town to pick up Justin and his bike. We headed for George Wyth State Park to meet Matt.

Justin getting his bike ready to go

Pre-race selfie

After picking up our packets and getting marked, we headed to setup Justin's bike in transition. This is my first time doing a triathlon as a relay so it felt strange how little setup and preparation was needed. The water was 76 degrees (although I'm still not sure that I believe that), meaning the race was wet suit legal. After meeting up with my parents, we headed down to the water and I got my wet suit on. 

The swim 1,500 meters and I was in the first wave. I felt really strong during the swim and ended up finishing with a time of 37:05 which beat my previous Olympic distance swim PR of 43:53, set 2 years ago at the same race, by nearly 7 minutes! I quickly ran up to transition and got the timing chip handed over to Justin who headed out onto the bike course. 

Finished with my swim and enjoying being done

Justin had estimated finishing the 40k bike course in around 1:30, so we were a bit surprised when he returned to transition in a little over 1:20. Matt followed Justin into transition, got the timing chip and headed out onto the run course. 

Justin heading into T2 with Matt chasing behind

A very proud cyclist

The 10k run included 2 laps so we got the opportunity to cheer Matt on at the half way point. It was starting to get pretty hot during the run but that didn't slow Matt down much as he finished with a blazing fast time averaging 7:30/mi. 

Matt at the half way point of the run

Our overall time was 2:47:41 and we finished as the 2nd place relay team. I don't think I'm going to be turning in my bike or my cycling shoes anytime soon, but I did really have a lot of fun doing a relay and will definitely do another one sometime. 

Proud 2nd place finishers

My parents came to cheer us on

Official results

My next race is in 3 weeks at the Bluff Creek Triathlon where I will try to set a new PR for an Olympic distance triathlon. That will also mark the end of my triathlon season for the year. I have had an awesome racing season in 2019 and hope to keep that rolling with my last 2 races.