If you want to go long in triathlon you may opt to chase PRs on a fast or possibly short course, or you may select to find a hard and challenging event instead, and the Celtman Extreme Scottish Triathlon fits that latter option perfectly. But the overall champion Harry Wiltshire did break the course record at CXTRI - in 11:39:48. That time bested the previous effort of Swede Johan Hasselmark by 2 minutes. The top female (and 11th overall) was Mirjam Allik from Estonia in 14:05:25. All images courtesy of Kai-Otto Melau / CXTRI
Athletes await the start of the 2018 CXTRI on a day that had 9-12 C degrees air temperatures and water temps around 11 C degrees.
Harry Wiltshire was first out of the water of Loch Shieldaig and he was fully prepared for the cold temperatures. This lake is apparently 400 meters deep.
Not all athletes opted to wear booties and gloves, but this athletes seems content that swim is done. Sadly the air temps were not much cozier.
There was plenty of support at the swim exit and that included musical entertainment by Clann an Drumma a popular tribal band from Scotland.
Cruising through the beautiful landscape in Scotland on this 202km course with 2,000 meters of elevation gain.
Wind and rain and cold temperatures made the event harder but most athletes hung in tough. David Fraser from Edinburgh on the way to 10th place in 14:04:20
Alone with nature.
A smile for the photographer from Orla Nielsen. As you can see there is very little car traffic on the course and massive drafting packs are not happening here either.
The conditions were very tough as Cornelis Erstad can likely attest. Erstad however managed a 14:06:52 and 12th place overall.
Full focus for James Gregory.
But no one was able to catch Harry Wiltshire on this day.
Thankfully there was some relatively flat terrain to run on too.
The run course is a mix of gravel and asphalt.
It is not apparent if the support crew or the athlete is having more fun on this course.
Run, run, run and do not look behind.
Up, and up we go and it was cold up high, very cold.
When you finally get above the clouds.
All images © Kai-Otto Melau
