Mission accomplished... Race completed and over £5,000 raised for Help for Heroes!!

We’re now back in the UK after an awesome trip, we both had amazing races last Sunday and we’ve spent the last week recovering in LA. If we include GiftAid, you have helped us raise well over £5,000 for Help for Heroes and the money is still coming in so a massive thank you to all of you!!

We thought we’d give you a report on our trip to San Francisco… Enjoy!

We arrived in San Francisco a few days before the race, just enough time to get over the jet lag. On Thursday morning we assembled our bikes and went out to ride the bike course, it was a slow ride and we took a few wrong turnings along the way, lots of hills but we felt good about it. In the evening we were lucky enough to swim in SF bay with Pedro Odones, he’s swam the Alcatraz crossing over 900 times and knows the water more than anyone else, it was a windy evening and the water was really choppy – thankfully we only swam the last 500 metres of the swim course.

At the Legion of Honour - a few miles into the bike course.

On Friday morning, we headed out to ride the bike course again but this time with a local cyclist called Mike who gave us a good tour of the course. In the early evening we drove out towards Baker beach to face up to the dreaded sand ladder on the run course, followed by a light run from Fisherman’s Wharf to Marina Green and back.

The dreaded Equinox sand ladder - sheer pain.

All in all, the course looked mighty challenging and befitting of the epic surroundings - Alcatraz island, the backdrop of hilly San Francisco, the Golden Gate bridge, Baker beach, Ocean drive… all breathtaking!

On Saturday we headed over to Marina Green to pick up our race packets, get our bodies marked and to listen to a race briefing.

Race day arrived, we were up at 4am and cycled through the dark city streets to rack our bikes at the transition area on Marina Green. As dawn broke, weather conditions were perfect, warm sunshine, blue skies, very little wind – it was going to be an awesome day to race!

Race morning...

At 8am, the elite athletes hung off the side of the boat, and through two swim caps we could hear the muffled sounds of The Star-Spangled banner being played, peering through the window we could see TV helicopters circling overhead and safety boats getting into position – we spotted a safety boat sail past waving a Union Jack flag, Luke (Josh’s brother) who had flown out to support had managed to blag his way onto one of the safety boats… what a boost!

The foghorn sounded, the elite athletes hurled themselves into the water, the exit doors swung open and we rushed towards the jump points, minutes later we were in, no time to waste we had to get away from the boat as fast as possible. The water wasn’t too bad, about the same as back home (12c), what really makes the swim different is that you don’t swim at the target, instead you have to use four different sighting points in the city to navigate you through the strong bay currents and land you safely on the beach – aim at the target and you risk being swept way off course towards the Golden Gate bridge and being picked up by a safety boat. We finished the 1.5mile swim in 29:54 (Josh) and 35:49 (Ramsey).

After a quick half mile run to transition it was straight out onto the hilly out and back 18 mile bike course that took us through The Presidio and towards the Golden Gate National park. We had trained hard in the previous months and got to know the course well in the days leading up to the race so we both felt strong on the bike and finished the course in 59:17 (Josh) and 01:01:42 (Ramsey).

The crowds cheered us on as we started the 8 mile run, the run course was hard, lots of climbing and tough terrain. The sand ladder was pure evil – 400ft of almost vertical sand steps. The crowds were awesome, supporting us all the way, we crossed the finish line in 02:42:43 (Josh) and 02:52:46 (Ramsey).

With Chief Supporter - Luke! You were awesome!

The organisers pushed out all the stops to make the 30^th anniversary Escape from Alcatraz a race to remember. This race has everything, from the moment you jump off the boat to the moment you cross the finish line, it’s absolutely epic, definitely one to race!

Thank you to all the great crowds of San Francisco for cheering us around the course!

Congratulations and big thanks to fellow RG Active athlete Marsha who had a brilliant race. Special thanks to family and friends who flew out from the UK to support us – Luke (ace photographer, flag waver & honorary triathlete), Tina (SF local knowledge) & Des (surprise supporter) – thanks for making our SF trip one to remember.

Special thanks must also go to our friends and sponsors for all their support, they are: iVitta, 2XU, Sigma Sport, MuleBar, RG Active & SwimSolutions.

Finally, a massive thank you to all of you for your generous sponsorship and support!

Josh & Ramsey

See here for more pics... (thanks to Luke for some great race pics), or click play below for a cool animation of all our photos.