Challenge Penticton – Cdn Long Course Nationals – Race Report

It’s taken me over a week to finally sit down and write my report. Pretty easy to sum this race up – just awesome! Never thought I could say I am a Canadian Age Group Champion.

So after the long trip back from Germany on Monday I worked Tuesday and Wednesday.  Directly after work Wednesday, we headed to Penticton. We broke the drive up and drive about 5hrs on the first day to just outside Valemont and finished the drive on Thursday to West Kelowna. The plan was for Claudia and the kids to hang around till Saturday and then head to Parksville, B.C. (on Vancouver Island) to attend Pete’s wedding (Claudia’s youngest brother). I was pretty torn about racing and missing my brother in-law’s wedding by Claudia was pretty insistent that I should race (after all it was Canadian Nationals) and she would take the kids to the wedding. 

I had arranged with Mike Brown, Race Director, to have the Canadian Armed Forces Long Course Triathlon Team (or at least most of them) race at Challenge Penticton as I figured it’d provide a great venue for our unofficial long course nationals as well as qualify a few of the CAF athletes for next year’s ITU Long Course World Championship in Penticton. Most of the CAF athletes stayed in and around Penticton while I stayed at my Aunt and Uncle’s in West Kelowna. It’s always great being able to get out in the Okanagan Valley to spend some time with my Aunt Linda and Uncle Ollie – they are excellent with the kids. 

Friday night I went to the Welcome Dinner with the CAF Long Course Team. It was great being able to socialize with other athletes, see some of my STARRT (St Albert Road Runners and Triathlon Club) peeps and meet Tenille Hoogland from Triathlon Canada – meeting a key point of contact makes everything so much easier. Hopefully our initial discussion will work out and we’ll be able to have a bunch of the CAF athletes racing for Canada at the ITU Long Course Worlds next year. 

Anyways enough of my ramblings this is supposed to be about a race. 

Going into the race I wasn’t expecting a lot. I had taken most of the week after Wiesbaden 70.3 off though I had managed to get a few swims in and had put a fairly solid block of running in. I approached the race as a long training day with the intent of pushing the run based on how I was feeling. The M30-34 field wasn’t big, but you never know who is going to show up. One name on the list caught my eye, Dave Van Reeuwyk. I am not one to scope out the competition, but Dave had handily beat me at Calgary 70.3 compliments of a solid swim and a killer bike split.

Pre-race with Isabelle, John, Alex, and me.

Time to put the wetsuit on!

Race morning came slowly. I hardly slept and I was up shortly before 4. I had my normal pre-race breakfast bagel with jam, a couple eggs, a banana, and a cup of coffee. At 5 o’clock Aunt Linda and I headed down to Penticton (about a forty-minute drive). We arrived in lots of time and by 6 o’clock I was done with my bike in transition and ready for the race start. I hung out with the CAF athletes for a bit and then we put on our wetsuits and headed down to the swim. 

At 0658 the male athletes were off in one big wave. I started on the left and a couple rows back. I figured I’d aim for the corner buoy and hopefully pick-up a draft. There was hardly any contact in the swim though for the first 600m there wasn’t much room to manoeuvre. Once we hit the first turn buoy things seemed to spread out a bit. I found a set of feet for a good portion of the race and was happy to see 49:XX on my watch as I exited the 3km swim. Going in I was expecting a sub 50 min if I had a good swim but was realistically expecting 52min. And as I came through transition I saw Dave just ahead of me. In my mind I was thinking well this is good now he only has the bike to put a little time into me and I know I outran him in Calgary and my run is even better now.

It was out onto the bike and I was happy that the first 24km were relatively flat. This gave me a great opportunity to ease into the bike and find my pacing. I was pleasantly surprised at the number of people that I passed in that opening section of the race including Dave. I had not expected to see Dave until sometime on the run.  Then we headed out to Ok Falls and the loop around Skaha Lake. On the return trip from Skaha Lake Dave finally passed me which I was fully expecting. At this point I figured there was only another 50+ km of riding lift I slowly watched as he pulled away, but it wasn’t until we were back in town that I could no longer see him. I figured with only 45km of racing left he’d probably put 3-4 minutes into me as he had put 8 minutes into me at Calgary 70.3. The second loop was a bit of a mental and physical struggle. I had a bit of cramping in my left quad so increased my salt tablet consumption and worked out the cramp a few times. Once I was around Skaha Lake and heading back into town I was feeling very good. I came off the bike knowing I was near the front of the field. Bike time 3:13:02 for the 120km. Power was 213W Avg and 222W NP.

Climbing the Hill on H97 (photo credit: Jonathan Kisiloski)

And it was onto the run. My plan was to run similar to Wiesbaden 70.3 - to run the opening half at a slightly conservative pace, run the 3^rd quarter at goal pace or slightly faster, and then run the last quarter fast. Well that plan changed at the first out and back. I soon realized that my team mate Alex Boulé was leading the age group race (I was ecstatic, but not surprised he was crushing it) and there was only a handful of age group athletes ahead of me. Dave was maybe a minute or two ahead of me. It was at that point that I realized it was time to race. I stayed conservative and watched as I slowly gained time on Dave. After the turn around and as we headed out for our second loop Dave was 15-20s ahead of me. It was at this point I realized I had a decision to make - do I stay behind Dave or do I close the gap and then surge. I chose the latter. I made the pass, surged, and started running scared. At the turn around I realized Dave was only 100-200m behind me. I was running scared and I was slowing down. I thought to myself about 7km to go you have this. As we came up to Lakeshore Drive I knew there was one more athlete ahead of me, besides Alex. I wasn’t sure if the athlete was in the M25-29 age group or my age group. As I started to close the gap I could see his last name on his suit and it started with “W”. At this point I realized he was in the M25-29 age group and I knew I could win the M30-34 age group as long as I could hold off Dave. I managed to pass the other athlete as we ran around transition and I was able to glance across transition and see that Dave wasn’t there. I ran to the finish knowing I was the M30-34 age group champion and that I had finished second age grouper to Alex. Run time 1:55:29 (average pace 4:04/km). Run was advertised as 30km but was actually about 28.5km. 

Alex and I at the awards party! Pretty excited to have this guy on the CAF Long Course Team!

I was stoked to have won the M30-34 age group but even more stoked that the CAF had placed 1^st and 2^nd in the age group race. Alex finished 6^th Overall and I finished 8^th Overall (including the professional field). Final time 6:02:22.

M30-34 Podium

Military Podium (L to R): Me, Alex, Mikael

Many thanks to Mike Brown and his crew at Challenge Penticton for putting on a first class race. I have to say it was pretty awesome having the RD cheering for you during the race and giving you a big hug at the finish.