Trent Grimsey's Blog: June 2012 - Capri-Napoli Grand Prix, Italy

Hey Everyone!

I returned home this morning from Italy. It was a super long trip, 30 plus hours in transit, Ahhh...

This was a very successful trip for me as not only did I win the race but I also broke record for the fastest ever crossing, it was set back in 1982 by Paul Asmuth in a time of 6 hours 35 minutes. I swam 6 hours 29 minutes. The next day Paul sent me an email congratulating me, which was very nice. Thanks to everyone for their messages of support this last week, I've really appreciated it!

The Capri-Napoli Marathon is one of the most prestigious on the Grand Prix circuit. It's from the Island of Capri to Naples (the mainland), 36km. It's a beautiful race, water is clean and the scenery is awesome.

During the race I was involved in a three person break away early in the race with two strong Italians - Andrea Volpini and Edoardo Stochino. We worked really well together and managed to open quite a big lead over the rest of the field. At the five hour mark I stepped up the pace and the two Italians both fell behind. I end up winning by 3 minutes from Edoardo, then Andrea was in third. Click ‘here’ for the post-race article.

I'm now ranked third on the overall Grand Prix rankings. I've only competed in two of the four races so far this year, the two in front of me have competed in all four races but I'm not far behind them on points. A strong performance next month in Lac Saint-Jean can potentially move me to number one. Fingers crossed!

For this race I had one of Italy's best ironman triathletes Edith Niederfriniger as my coach/ feeder. She did a fantastic job, I couldn't have done it without her. Thanks Edith!

Edith (my coach), Pilar and me

As usual for most Grand Prix races some simple Fina rules were not followed. No lead boat was provided even though I brought up in the pre race meeting that they should have one. The race was also started before all the coaches had boarded their support boats. My coach was one of the last to get let onto her boat which meant I didn't get my first feed until about 45mins into the race, most other swimmers have had three feeds by that stage. The race should never have started until every coach had been let on their support boat. Other than these things it was a great race...

Over the next four weeks I'll be doing a lot of hard training and big kms with my brothers - Codie and Ridge, before my next trip away to compete in the World Cup and Grand Prix races in Canada. I leave Australia on the 17th of July.

Preparations for my English Channel attempt are coming along nicely, everything is starting to fall into place. I'm swimming really well and putting on some decent weight. The races in Canada are going to be very important for me to get my body used to swimming in the cold water for long periods. Click 'here' for the latest news.

Special thanks needs to go to my physio Dean Sullivan for seeing me the day before I left for Italy. I'd hurt my neck and couldn't turn it. It was a public holiday but Deano still made time to see me!

Below are some cool pictures from Capri and Naples...