Sunday the 10th of July was the return of this amazing yearly event and the first as a city for Southend, and oh boy what a day it was.
Blue Therapy Active had been invited to manage the swim section of the event along side the Chalkwell Redcaps/ Surf Life Saving Club of Great Britain.
Meetings a plenty prior to the day with the event organisers to put into place all the logistics ahead of the swim to ensure we had covered all bases.
With a very early start on the day for kit checks, safety briefings and plenty of coffee plus a bacon sarnie to fuel us for what lay ahead from some some of the team.
While the athletes arrived and began to check in and ready themselves, the whole safety team discussed any last minute details and carried out a pre paddle of the course to obtain our own visual sighting points.
A water briefing followed with everyone confirming their positions, radio call signs with time for questions before the triathletes took to the water for the first of two waves of swimmers.
Nearly 200 entries for the Sundried Southend Triathlon meant we would be looking after approximately 100 swimmers across each of the waves.
With everyone in position, the lead kayaker and tail kayaker chaperoning them around the 750m course in beautiful sunny conditions before their transition to the bike segment.
What an amazing swim and even more amazing day, with music, stalls and more to create a truly inspiring atmosphere for competitors and spectators alike.
The sheer amount of time and effort that goes into not only the planning of an event like this but the manpower especially on the day is incredible.
We would like to express our sincere thanks to Andy & Peter for involving us and to Iain and Rob and the team from Chalkwell Redcaps for all their help.
To my team a special thanks for their assistance and hard work in ensuring the safety of everyone on the water. To Suzi for the SuziSarnies ;) and Sasha for the plying of coffee, thank you all.