It was an 8 hour drive to Berkeley split between Friday and Saturday. On Sunday the woman's race kicked off before sunrise, and the men's race followed an hour later. There were 23 men in the elite/collegiate draft legal race, and I placed around 17th. The water was freezing, and the leading pack of 12 swam very quickly, gapping me the rest of the race. I was in a chase group of 5 (3 from Berkeley, 1 from UC Irvine, and myself) on the bike, and we averaged 22.0mph; which was much slower than the 25mph average of the front 15 pack. The bike was a strange 5 loop course with 10 U-turns, so there was a lot of sprinting and 180 degree tight turns. Everyone in my bike pack ran 17:XX for the 5k and I struggled to break 20:00. Overall, it was the fastest race I had ever been a part of and I was glad to not come in last. MTR was fun to spectate, and I did not participate this time.