Gravenhurst Olympic-2'nd OA 1:59:57

The Gravenhurst triathlon is one of the more unique races in Ontario.  The race starts with a steamship ride to the middle of the lake, where you are dropped, lined up, and then required to swim back to land.

Loading the boats

I had the pleasure of staying over with the McCoy family at their cottage for the weekend.  They were extremely hospitable, and it made for a very nice weekend up in Muskoka.

Race Summary

The long run up to transition

The swim segment was pretty typical with no real surprises.  Jackson Laundry and I headed onto the bikes about the same time, and headed onto the hilly/winding bike course.

The bike course proved to be much more eventful, with a lot of fast, tight turns, small/steep hills, and a fair amount of loose gravel.  I saw one of the women favourites Emma Plater (her race report here) got an untimely flat midway on the course.

Out on the bike

I was back from Jackson the whole bike, but near the end, I lost sight of him completely. I thought he just hammered out a big lead, but it turns out he got hit by a car!  There is much more detail to the story, and you can find his report here.

I didn't see the incident, so when I headed out onto the run, I thought I was in second.  It was only at the halfway point when Jackson went by me that I found out what happened.

I guess I was too fast on the bike, so the camera man wasn't in position and only got my back

He didn't seem significantly hurt, and must have had a huge adrenaline surge, because he ran by me fast.  It was good to see he was ok and was able to claim his rightful win.  I finished a bit of a ways back of him in second (where I got tripped up on the finish banner).

I was good to see Jackson was alright.  Huge props to him for such a strong finish!

The race went well and issue free, which is good for this point in the season.  Up next I'll be racing in Kingston for the long course race, and then looking to give another 70.3 a go.

Toronto Triathlon Festival- 1'st OA, 1:55:19 Olympic

I always like racing at the Toronto Triathlon Festival.  The venue is one of the best around, and the bike course is especially nice with closed highways to ride on.  I won this race last year and became the provincial champ in the distance, so it was only natural that I wanted to be back this year and defend my title.

After a difficult race in Mont Tremblant a few weekends ago where I had muscle tightness problems on the bike, I was hoping for a better race this weekend.  I was able to see Scott at Fitt 1'st during the week leading into the race (and we were able to make some good changes to my bike), so I was feeling much more confident in my bike/aero position.

Race Summary

Unlike last year where I started in the fourth wave, at this years race I started in the first "elite" wave.  The elite wave consisted of three people...one who swam faster than me, and one who swam slower, so I pretty much just had a solo swim.  Kirk Hopkins beat me out of the water by around 3 minutes, so I had a lot of time to make up on the bike, but it was nice to have someone to chase.
I caught up to Kirk about 25km in, but just as I was about to pass him, he started swerving back and forth on the road, and I nearly crashed into him.  Turns out he got a flat right as I went by (I didn't know this until after), and it was fortunate that there were no injuries.
I had no one else even close to me off the bike, so I had a solo run too.  On the back portion of the run course, I saw Daniel Clarke chasing from a ways back (he had started in a later wave, so there was a time gap).  When I crossed the line first, I was unsure if I had actually won.  I waited for Daniel to cross the line, and after the math was done, it was announced I had won by 25 seconds (results say 37).

Overall

It was a pretty awesome event in downtown Toronto.  There were a bunch of athletes from Mettle Multisport racing this weekend, as well as a large group from Harvest Bible Chapel (doing the sprint relay), so I was surrounded by great people.  My family also came to watch, and it was my Dads birthday, so it was great to get a win for him!

My next race is Multisport Canada Gravenhurst this upcoming weekend, so its a pretty short turnaround! Check out some pictures from the race below:

It was an early morning race start.  6:50am gun went off

When there are only 3 people in your wave, its pretty chill

Heading up the DVP...my parents got this shot from an overhead bridge

Coming in off the bike.  My eLoad didn't fall off my bike this year

Running into the finish in my Skechers Go Run 4's

Successfully defended my provincial title!

On the podium in my Skechers

Some of the relay members from HBCYR.  Great job everyone!

With fellow Mettle coach Christine who also won her AG!