“Swim from Alcatraz??? Aren’t there sharks there too?”, before I knew it I had entered ‘Alcatraz – Escape The Rock’ a 1.5 mile swim from Alcatraz Island to the San Francisco Bay followed by a 7 mile run to the Golden Gate Bridge and back. All in aid of The British Lung Foundation.
With my fellow entrants Coral & Tom Hill, supported by my wife Hannah we arrived at the Frisco Bay. Daunted by the sheer expanse of water in front of us and the choppy waters there was no turning back now.
It was touch and go as to whether we would be allowed to start but as the fog cleared and the super tankers got out of the way we and 500 other participants made our way to the ferry.
Jumping out of the ferry into cold cold waters we scrambled to our starting positions behind the bobbing kayaks. Two blasts of the ferry fog horn and we were off, chaos ensued, bodies’ going in every direction, the swell was tough, the currents fighting against us. About ¾ of the way Tom & I were picked up by ‘boat assist’ and dropped back in the water a few hundred meters from the finish.
Reaching the shoreline we were both relieved, but it’s not over yet, quick transition out of our wet-suits in preparation for the run. Coral exited the swim just as we started our run, no boat assist for this champ.
The course to the bridge and back was filled with Sunday joggers and tourists on bikes, we bantered with our fellow contestants on route to distract from the task at hand. 2 hrs 9 min after jumping off that ferry I was done. All the preparation and training has paid off. What a fantastic experience! I loved it!
~ Craig