Athlete Race Recap: Great Clermont Aquabike & St. Patrick’s Day Sprint Triathlon

‍Great Clermont Aquabike

On Sunday, March 9, 2025, Neil Beck kicked off his multisport season when he raced the Olympic Distance of the Great Clermont Aquabike in Clermont, Florida!

While triathlon is the most well-known multisport event, there are actually many other disciplines of multisport, to include the aquabike.  An aquabike is a multisport race that consists of swimming and cycling (in that order).  They can vary in length, but they often align with the standardized distances of triathlon.  In Neil’s case, he did the Olympic distance, which featured a 1,500-meter swim and a 40-kilometer bike.

There are many reasons why an athlete may select to do an aquabike.  Maybe they hate running.  Maybe they are injured and can’t run.  Maybe they are better at swimming and cycling.  Maybe it’s a combination of some or all of these.  No matter what prompts an athlete to compete in an aquabike race, this is a fun format that can be incredibly competitive.

Neil has been swimming for literally more than 65 years and he is a strong cyclist.  He tends to get passed on the run in triathlons, so his choice to do this aquabike race was rooted in curiosity: How well could he do if he didn’t have to run?

The answer is excellent.  Neil swam well and felt good for the entire 1,500-meter swim.  The bike course included some punchy climbs (bet you didn’t expect me to say that about a race that takes place in Florida!), but despite the fact that Neil has been training on flat terrain all Winter, we have been able to build his fitness and durability up enough that he was able to manage his efforts well and to successfully deploy the race strategy we had developed for him.

Neil learned a lot during this race.  We also were really happy to see that the training we’ve been doing together over the Winter is working well, and we feel that he’s on track for his A-Race in a few months.  We look forward to seeing how things progress from here!

Perhaps most significantly, Neil had a great time doing this race with his son, Christian.  Christian raced the Olympic Distance Triathlon and being able to participate in this together was something meaningful and enjoyable for both of them.

Way to go, Neil!

St. Patrick’s Day Triathlon

Jacquie returned to the St. Patrick’s Day Triathlon on Sunday, March 9, 2025 to kick off her multisport season!

This race is one that Jacquie has done many times and really enjoys.  Jacquie was wise enough and self-aware enough to mark this race as a B-Race on her Annual Training Plan; she knows that she cannot actually race any race as a “supported training day”, which is what a C-Race is.  As such, we used the St. Patrick’s Day Triathlon as a check-in to see how things are going so far in her training this year as she is enroute to her A-Race later this year.

The weather was not great for this race.  Jacquie made some wise choices to accommodate for this (to include choosing to ride her road bike instead of her triathlon bike on a technical course that included five u-turns in 14 miles).  She was able to handle everything safely and successfully because of the decisions she made.

Like Neil, Jacquie has been swimming for literally 90% of her life.  She managed the swim very well and maneuvered around the other swimmers with confidence.  She also did well executing her fueling and hydration plan.  Finally, she handled her paces and efforts well on the run, and was able to execute a negative split.

While there were so many things that went well, there were some things that didn’t go as well as we hoped, and thus this race was also a good gauge for what Jacquie needs to do and focus on in her training in order to successfully train for the goals she’s set for herself this year.  Races have a nice way of highlighting both what we’re doing well and what we can improve upon, and this is especially true for B-Races and C-Races.  Now we’re armed with this information, which is going to make us that much more thoughtful as we make decisions about Jacquie’s training throughout this year.

Nice work, Jacquie!