Gravenhurst Sprint Tri – a clydesdale’s tale

Name of Race – Gravenhurst Sprint Triathlon
Website for the Race – www.multisportcanada.com
Date of Race – Sunday, July 15th, 2007
Location of Race – Gravenhurst, Ontario
Type of Race – Triathlon
Distance or duration of Race – Swim – 750m; Bike – 20K, Run – 5K
Description of Race – A start off the Muskoka steamships is what got me! Beautiful venue and really nice bike course. Scenic and fun to ride!

The Race After a bit of a break after the City Chase and a good 4 weeks since my last triathlon, this was next on the map. I had wanted to race at Gravenhurst since I heard about the steamship start a year ago. You take the steamship out about 800m, jump off and swim to the swim start. It was great. The drive wasn’t too bad and the weather turned out to be really nice so you couldn’t ask for much more.

Pre-race Since it was a long drive, I was up and out of the house by 5:45am…tough to do after a brutal night with a 5 month old (although my wife took the brunt of that one, she is such a trooper – I wish I had half her strength). The weather was nice in Markham, but was raining by the time I got close to cottage country. Not a hard rain but a constant drizzle. If it cleared, it would be a great day for racing, so I was crossing my fingers. I got to the race site in good time, racked the bike in the rain (still), got registered, admired the 200+ people participating with Joe’s Team raising over $500,000 for cancer research, and then hung out for a while. This race was different since I went alone and wasn’t sure who I would see. And since we were heading out on the boat, no pre-race swim for me so instead I went for a quick jog. Once on the boat, it was pretty cool. Ran in to Peter Geering and his wife and chatted with them while waiting. Since they had done the race the year before, they gave me the low down on the course. Lots of newbies (guessing by the amount of mountain bikes on the racks – I have never seen so many) so lots of questions being thrown around on the boat. Once we got out far enough, it was a nice 8 foot drop to the water and then about a 50-100m swim to the start line. I was waiting for a pre-race countdown but the horn on the boat blew and off everyone went. So I went too!

Swim Everyone shot off like lightning. I too had to sprint out a bit to avoid the crowd and get some open water. I knew I would reel some people back in as I went so wasn’t too worried. Since it was a point to point swim, it was pretty easy…aim straight ahead and go. But since I like to swim in open water and therefore have no opportunity to draft, I had to sight…and had a bit of a hard time doing that. But I got in to a nice groove and just swum straight ahead. Didn’t know what to expect when we hit the spot where the non-boat wave merged with us but that went off with no issues. Hit the dock and got out to an amazing crowd cheering you in to transition (memories of Ironman Lake Placid). Figured I was out early since not a lot of wet feet marks. It was a long run and it got factored in to the swim time which meant that I had a decent swim. Swim time – 13:29 (1:48/100m), 1/15 AG, 2/10 Clyde<40 and 26/318 OA T1 Transitions have been interesting this year. This one, I fumbled with my bike shoes and got a bit disoriented. It also had a long run to the mount line…but I blazed it! T1 time – 1:15

Bike As always, fend off the challengers! I felt really comfortable on the bike and that was great. I had decided to go without sunglasses on this race and that felt good – one less thing to worry about in transition. The only downfall was when I noticed about 5 pedal strokes in that I didn’t have my wheel sensor on the race wheels (mental note, buy a new computer wheel sensor). So all I had was RPM and no time, distance or speed. Oh well, you work with what you’ve got so I simply picked gearing which kept my RPM above 80, which seemed comfortable but decently quick for me. I felt like I was riding really strong on the day and passed a few people. Also, I think only about 8-10 people passed me, so that was nice. I was glad to be near the front though since the bunches forming at the back looked brutal. The bike course was gorgeous and I was loving it so I decided to push the last 1-2k and really let it all hang out. The only thing I didn’t like about the bike was the narrow chute coming to the dismount line. Bikes going both ways and I got caught behind a young kid who was lolly gagging the last few metres and I couldn’t get around him. Added a few seconds to the race for me but it’s not like I was about to win! Bike time – 38:08 (31.5 km/h), 2/10 Clyde<40 and 38/318 OA. Not sure on the age group thing since I don’t have the patience to figure it out this time (Chip Time doesn’t provide that info). T2 Pretty fast through T2 again this week. Glad that I’m able to keep that up. T2 time – 0:43

Run Running is always an uphill battle for me…add hills to it, and it’s even more fun! I’m also carrying an extra 15lbs with me this year over last, so it’s hard to expect big gains. I had decided on the Saturday to go for my long run (2 hours) so was a bit stiff in the morning but I ran it out before the race and was feeling OK. A few rollers, some gradual hills and nice weather make for a decent run. I didn’t get settled until at least the turn around for the duathlon (about 1.25K) and by then I was feeling good and picked up the pace. Not too many people passing me but more than the bike so I lost a few spots in the AG. But I cared more about the big guys passing me and I didn’t see any…so I thought I was safe for that piece of hardware. Kept it up and kept feeling better as I ran and probably could have kept it up for a longer race. Bodes well for me! Finished strong and felt good. Run time – 26:16 (5:15/km), 3/10 Clyde<40 and 130/318 OA. Not a blazing time for me and off my PBs from last year by a few minutes, but I’m happy overall. Overall It was a good race. I loved the location and the atmosphere was really nice. The weather cleared up nicely and was in fact perfect for racing – not too hot but not too cold – hovering in the low to mid 20s made it very comfortable. In the end, I ended up with a strong placing in my age group (7th) and finished well overall (41st). Overall time – 1:19:51, 7/15 AG and 41/318 OA. My assault on the overall Clydesdale race series win continued this week with a strong first place showing. I struggle with racing as a Clydesdale (both personally and even somewhat ethically). At my size (6’, 210lbs) I’ll never compete with the top athletes. But I am definitely MOP. I’d need to do a lot of work to even get my weight under 190lbs, let alone at a weight that would make me competitive with the top guys in my AG…but time will tell. So that’s why I sit in the Clydesdale category…it’s just tough to justify the consistent hardware when there are only 2-3 people per race competing with me (and that’s why I try to include AG placings as well). Next up is the Bala Falls Tri. This sounds like a lot of fun and I’m really looking forward to it since my family will be there. Plus, we’re heading up a day in advance and chilling out with friends at their cottage.

Thanks for taking the time to read.