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!