Cleveland Steelman Middle Distance Aquabike, 19 Jul 2025
It’s hard to believe it is 12 months since I competed in the 2024 ‘Steelman’, my first middle distance Aquabike and what a year it has been. I qualified for the 2025 European Middle distance championships in Pamplona with my ‘Steelman’ time and competed in May placing seventh and fifth GB athlete in my age group. Although I missed out on automatic qualification, I wanted to secure a place in the 2026 European championships and have had this event in my diary for 12 months.
As race day got closer, I began to get things ready. The bike, which performed well in Pamplona, needed attention to the rear brake, which was managed after more drama than required.
I’ve had several shoulder injuries over the years, one particularly bad one was a torn ligament caused by a calcified bone spur. A surgical procedure to repair the ligament and remove the bone spur was successfully undertaken and I’ve been fine ever since. That is until the night before this year’s ‘Steelman’. While reading in bed, I felt a twinge, not just a normal twinge, but one which was remarkably similar to the one I had which culminated in the surgery I alluded to earlier. Despite the increased swimming, I thought I was in good shape. Shoulders occasionally ache after a hard swim session, but this felt different. The last thing I wanted was to pull out of the race, but if I couldn’t swim, then I’d have to. This wasn’t an option, so I jumped out of bed, took some pain killers and rubbed a liberal amount of Volterol into the offending shoulder and the other one for good measure. After a reasonable sleep. I got up, shoulder wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be, so I continued with preparations, but added the pain killers and Volterol to my repertoire.
The weather forecast for the day wasn’t good. I’d been looking at all the weather apps I have on my phone, but all were the same, warm but wet, getting wetter as the day progressed.
Ah well, it is what it is. A last minute application of Volterol, check on my bike and equipment in the car and I was ready. Being only 35 minutes away, and a 10:00a.m. Start, the drive was relatively leisurely. I arrived, registered, got my numbers and started to get ready. Yes I was nervous, but they were good nerves. I knew I was well prepared, thanks to Catenary Caching, and the self medication of the shoulders seemed to be working. The briefing by the lake was immediately before the mass start, although there was time for acclimatisation, not that this was necessary, the air temperature was 18°C, the water temperature 20°C just right. The course, familiar from last year was unchanged, the only thing we had to contend with was the risk of electrical storms. We were advised what to do if the risk heightened. Fortunately we didn’t have to put this into practice.
The countdown commenced, and quick as a shot, three, two, one, the klaxon sounded and the ‘washing machine’ started. I got into a rhythm quite quickly, my sighting was good, although there always seems to be at least one competitor who decides to wear a bright orange swim cap. They must like being swam around! The practise I had done on the lake paid off, I felt fresh coming into the third buoy which marked the end of the first lap, time to crank it up a bit. The second lap was equally good and, after the third bout I made a beeline for the exit having identified my exit route during my way in to the lake. A quick glance a the watch as I left the lake and entered transition suggested a faster swim than last year. Unbeknown to me and I dare a number of other competitors it started to rain during the swim. Transition was wet, and as visibility on the open roads was going to be poor, I ensured I switched on my lights. Yes, it added a few seconds to my time, but I felt it better to feel safe.
Despite the rain, which didn’t abate, the ride was enjoyable. Visibilty was poor, and traffic at times got in the way, however, having cycled the course before, I felt confident. There was the usual yo-yoing with other riders with positions changing quite frequently, UNTIL, I got to the front of the riders around me, came out of a roundabout, only to feel isolated. Nobody in front, and a quick glance behind me confirmed my worst fears, nobody behind. Had I gone wrong? The course was familiar, so I didn’t think I had missed a turn, however, my thoughts went back to the briefing in which it was mentioned, another cycling event was taking place on the course, ‘so be wary of their signage’. The trouble was there hadn’t been any signage. What do I do? Stay on the course I’d taken, or track back? All the while this self doubt was eating away at my self belief, still nobody passed me, and there was nobody in front. It was a good few miles until I saw a rider ahead, and a good few minutes after this sighting that I got close enough to see their number. Panic over and no time lost. My plan for both the two lap swim and the two lap ride was to have negative splits. As the end of the first lap neared, it was time to inject a bit more pace.
The rain was still falling, the roads were getting wetter and puddles were getting larger and deeper which meant the line of attack was limited to the higher part of the road. I started picking off riders and the yo-yoing reduced as I maintained my increased pace. The home straight soon came into view, time for another injection of pace, slowing down for the sharp right hand turn and a controlled decrease in speed to ensure I didn’t overshoot the dismount line. Off the bike and a short sprint to the finish, where I found out I was third overall and first in my age group, with a quicker time than last year.
Bryan Harding