HSBC Bala Falls Triathlon

Bala Ontario, Sunday July 26, 2009
Sprint Triathlon
Swim 750m, Bike 30 Km, Run 7.5 Km

I really like this race and have done it before and after it has become part of the HSBC Series. This race is in it’s 15th year starting in 1995 as a memorial to Lisa Hamann a local triathlete that passed away quite suddenly. The race course has changed over the years but has been a very popular race selling out most years.

Fortunately the rain held off for the race but had rained heavy the few days before so the transition area and exits were very muddy.

Swim

The swim is held in a bay so it is a great place to swim. You start from a dock just off shore which allows for a very orderly start. This week they moved the M40-49 AGs up to the 3rd wave which helped space the swim out a bit better. Felt like I had a good swim and came out of the water in 6th place or at least around 6th place, my wife was counting green caps so could have been off by a few. It is a pretty straight forward course out, across and back with the transition area just off the beach.

Bike

Felt like I was in transition forever as one of my shoes didn’t seem to want to go on but really wasn’t as I was out in 1:02. After a run through the mud got onto my bike and felt good right from the start. This bike course is one that is pretty fast, it has a few hills but is mainly rolling where you can carry your speed up and over them. There was a group of 4 of us that traded position back and forth for the first 10k and then 2 dropped off. At about the 20k mark the other fellow eased away from me but kept him in sight for the rest of the ride. I was caught and passed by a couple of other riders towards the end but they were in different AGs which was OK. The route is out and back so only one turn on a great road. I averaged 35.5kph for the ride which I was happy with though I think I should have pushed a bit harder. When I arrived in T2 there were 2 bikes on the rack so thought yet again I was in 3rd.

Run

This is a race where some of the top short course athletes in Ontario tend to show up to. I had a good swim, good bike and met the race leader coming back in to the finish at about the 1.5k mark of the run. Granted they started about 9 minutes ahead of me but WOW. The first and second place finishers ran 3:05 and 3:21 km pace respectively over a somewhat hilly 7.5K run. That is crazy fast, the leader won by 35 seconds so I figure he probably could have ran faster if pushed. The guy that normally wins in this series finished 12th overall and he is super fast. It seemed like most of the people that finished ahead of him were wearing Team Canada race suits with their names on them so you know they are going to be fast. The run is a mix of pavement and cottage roads. You run out just under 3k and then turn around, run back and turn off a couple of times for short out and backs on cottage roads. Each of these legs has a hill or 2 but overall a really nice run. I ran pretty strong and passed quite a few people but unfortunately again not one in my AG. I pushed hard until about the 7k mark, realized I was not going to catch or be caught by anyone for position and finished yet again in 3rd.

It was great to have my wife, sister, brother in law, niece and nephew out cheering both me and anyone else in Team Running Free gear on. Congrats to all of the Team RF members on strong races.

If you haven’t done this race I would recommend that you put it on your calendar for next year as it is a great event but sign up early as it will sell out again.

Next up is Bracebridge in a couple of weeks.