Brasschaat Photos

Photos of the race on Sunday......


Bike setup and not showing the nerves I'm really feeling. Check that tee shirt...

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Mayhem at the start, I'm on the nearside and I think I can see my stroke....just to left of nearest big buoy just above the bow of the boat.



Cammy the fish...I like that position, head down and the low arm shows I'm thinking about it. Feet high up in the water so I'm not dragging and hand closed. This is a few hundred metres from the end and I was really cruising. I could have done a victory lap after the swim I was so happy.

Showing the colours....they still all spoke to me in Flemish, must be a cycling thing.


40k and not out...aber noch eine runde...nuer fuer spass....naturlich(Once more round , just for fun of course)

Looking surprisingly fresh, my ribs had chucked it in about here.




The end, face showing the strain, I'd shed 3kg during the race. Arms and legs showing signs of a long day session. Might still have to shave those legs though.


The end of a long day and all I have is a big black bag and a tough session in the training bank and a bucketful of pride....

Race times - Brasschaat 2009

Swim then bike then run.....

Pos Nr Name Age Time Gap Pos Name

Swim Leg
390. GBR 355 KENNEDY Campbell 42 57:39 +26:51 133 V1H

Bike Leg
389. GBR 355 KENNEDY Campbell 42 2:42:19 +51:48 135 V1H

Run Leg
386. GBR 355 KENNEDY Campbell 42 2:09:52 +59:36 123 V1H

T1 Time
385. GBR 355 KENNEDY Campbell 42 4:17 +3:10 130 V1H

T2 Time
330. GBR 355 KENNEDY Campbell 42 2:12 +1:34 101 V1H

Official Link

I knew the swim was under an hour which is fantastic. Bike leg at 2:42 is 22 minutes faster than Switzerland but with 10K less so about right and the same pace or a little faster.

Run leg as you can see is a disaster at 2:09:53 for 20K. I did 21.1K in Switzerland in 1:56 so my suffering during that leg yesterday is evident. My split times on the lap was fast,slow,slow,fast. T1 was shorter than Switzerland and T2 longer but not much in it either way and probably down to zone layout.

Pre Race - Thoughts

I was at Brasschaat today for the race briefing and to register. I picked up my number(355) and a nice new bag. I had a quick survey of the swimming course and right away I was blown away by how long it was, it was enormous. Its a full two circuits and I'd say from what I could see today that one circuit looked about the same size as Rapperswill in total. The distance should only be 800m-1100m longer as its somewhere between 2.7 and 3km( must be within 10% of 3K). Rapperswill swim leg was only 1.9km.

I'm not actually as worried about the distance as I am about making the time cut off which is only 70 minutes. Its a 12:00 start for professionals and then a 12:05 start for everyone else and anyone out of the water after 13:15 is in the broom wagon and not allowed to continue.

Therefore I'm officially bricking it and can see from my previous 42mins for 1.9km that 70minutes will be very very close, especially given the swim looks enormous. The full ironman swim distance is 3.9km and you get a full 2hrs20minutes, so twice the time for only 30% more distance.

Weather is forecast to be 25C and with potential thunder storms. I'm just hoping that is the max temp as its right on my limit heat wise. I've packed plenty to drink and a good whack of Gels for the bike leg. I hope I need them.

Big Race # 2

I've managed at short notice to get a starting place on Sunday's ITU race in Brasschaat near Antwerp. Its a bit of a different format from the Ironman 70.3 in that its a longer swim(2.7km) and a shorter bike leg at 80km. I think its also has 2 different transition zones but I'll get that cleared up on Saturday at the pre race briefing. The different format is probably down to local routes but the bottom line is the swim will be a real stretch for me and a big test with the cutoff time being very tight as well. Time wise it should be similat as 10K is about 20 minutes on the bike and 800m swim is about 18mins. The flat circuit should mean a slightly quicker average speed though. The best thing is its only an hour from my house so why not have a go. Worst case its an Open Water training day.

The bike leg looks to be flat so no big climbs so that should be OK. The run leg will be similar topography and its a straight half marathon distance(21km). I'm just hoping the weather isn't too hot(needs to be under 25C) and its not raining. I may not start if its really really chucking it down. I don't fancy another bike crash this year.

I'll limit my training this week and hope to carry it off on my base fitness and I have had a couple of bike rides and runs in the last 2 weeks so i haven't been totally lazy. I'm still carrying the foot injury on my right foot but having had a break from running for nearly a week now its not feeling anywhere as bad as it was.