IMWC 2016 - D-4

My swim bag this morning was #408 (I work at 408 Tac Hel Sqn)! I thought that was pretty cool.

Another wonderful day in the books here in Kailua-Kona. Today started with an early morning swim in the beautiful Pacific Ocean. After the main portion of my swim was complete, I swam out to the Coffee Catamaran to enjoy a coffee. And guess who was serving coffee...Canadian Pro, Jeff Symmonds (a week back from a 2nd place Finish at Ironman Chatannooga). Unfortunately, due to an injury early in the year Jeff wasn't able to earn enough points for the KPR so he's in Kona for his sponsors. As I was heading back from the swim I ran into Kevin and Fiona from Australia. Kevin had contacted me almost a year ago about some running tips and we've stayed connected through our blogs. This was the first time that we had actually met. Great to see all the hard work he has put in over the past few years paying off with a trip to Kona.

After the swim I returned to the Condo and awaited a call from Tenille Hoogland at Triathlon Canada. I had run into Tenille during the Canadian Long Course Nationals at Challenge Penticton and we had discussed how the Cdn Armed Forces Long Course Athletes could race as part of Team Canada. This was a follow-up discussion to start working on a plan for the 2017 Long Course World Championship...lest to say it's looking very promising. So if you are in the CAF and want to race Long Course next year stay tuned.

Jasper Blake and I.

The Canadian Contingent that showed up for the rally this morning! Thanks to Subaru Canada.

After the telecom, Claudia and I headed down to the Kona Sheraton to take part in the Team Canada breakfast/rally hosted by Subaru Canada. I have to say I was thoroughly impressed with Subaru Canada's initiative; they provided the Canadian athletes with shirts for the Parade of Nations and a bunch of other swag. They had also arranged to have Jasper Blake, former Ironman Canada winner, and Lance Watson, Head Coach at LifeSport Coaching (Brett McMahon's coach for the last 20+ yrs), speak. Both Jasper and Lance's speeches were excellent.

The beautiful view from Hapuna Beach.

Then we headed back to the Condo, packed up my bike stuff and headed into town for package pick-up. Thankfully there were no lines so the process was very quick. After package pick-up we headed out to Hapuna Beach where Claudia was going to swim/suntan while I headed out to Hawi on the bike.

After I was done the ride we headed back to the Condo, showered and then headed back into town for the Parade of Nations.

The Canadian contingent forming up for the Parade of Nations. Subaru Canada came prepared with flags for all the athletes.

One final workout for the day was a light 30min run prior to dinner.