Better be.

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http://en.wikipedia.org/...eoesophageal_fistula
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2020 National Masters Champion - M40-44 - 400m IM
Canadian Record Holder 35-39M & 40-44M - 200 m Butterfly (LCM)

Nooooo! ;) 14 hour drive sucks! Somewhere in BC please.

Or better yet let's just move it to Seattle. ;)

Isn't the highway into Whistler a 4-lane highway now? If so, they could do what Tremblant did on Hwy 117 - have two lanes for car traffic and two lanes for bike traffic, with one lane of bike traffic going in each direction. Seemed to work well at Tremblant.

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"No more hurting people - Peace"

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I would tend to agree with you.....and nobody askes me shit either..;-)

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I agree...no reason why this could not be done in Whistler, HOWEVER, there is one minor variation here. In Whistler, you'd cut the highway lifeline to Vancouver from 4 lanes to 2 lanes. In Tremblant, the "lifeline" from the community to Montreal is untouched. Rather, the part of the highway that is being "partially closed" is the direction that "goes to nowhere"!

I really would love to see something in Whistler if they can pull it off.

I'll stop be the PM's house and pitch him on annexing Washington state. <pink><kidding>

Parts of it are, but there are still sections that are only 2 lanes.

I threw a poll up on my blog last week just to see people would like to see IMC2013. Haven't had too many people respond, but right now the scales are in favour of Calgary. But there's definitely a sampling bias since I'm in Calgary, and so are a few more of the people who visit my blog.

Poll's open for a couple more days. I'd be interested to see what everyone else responds...

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Raf
http://www.shutuplegs.org

The 2012 70.3 in Calgary was awesome. The weather and event couldn't have been any better even with my 2 flats. (thats racing). There is no doubt Calgary can showcase this event and nail it however would it feel like Iron Man Canada? (not that I would know as I just finished my first Iron Man after volunteering the year before)

The sunny Okanagan is always great. Can they keep it close to Penticton?

I lived in Whistler in 95' and would love to go back. If T1 is the only issue I'm sure they can expand and build an awesome transition area. As long as there is a road we can bike and run.

I hope they let us know soon.

Whistler may have challenges regarding swim and bike access, the main access into rainbow park is cut by the CN rail line. Heading south the sea to sky is only 4 lane in certain places, it is unlikely you could run the race out and back heading south-too much impact on the highway. Heading north the rail bed cuts the highway in several locations.

For WTC this (rail crossings) are apparently a deal breaker, I can't see another safe staging venue in Whistler although I haven't been there in a few years.

Combine this with limited emergency medical (compared to a larger town) and they might have issues. Would also be tough to get the required police (Rumour has it that they want 200 RCMP on hand)

Kamloops is looking at putting a permanent pedestrian rail crossing over the (potential) swim start at Tobiano golf course. There are a bunch of different bike options, one of them would be over 8000 feet of climbing, not sure which route will go forward to WTC, looks like the run will be flat and fast downtown by the river.

Clearly some hurdles to clear if Whistler hopes to host IMC, but what a venue if they can overcome the issues. It would move to the top of my list of 'must do' events.

Can't see Whistler as feasible. The road leaving Rainbow Park leaves a lot to be desired. Not enough year round residents to have a good volunteer pool, and it is too close in terms of timing to another major event - RBC Grand Fondo. Vancouver would not work for the same reasons New York City's Ironman was cancelled. Civic politics are too divisive in Victoria. Kelowna - slim chance, but not a volunteer friendly city, and not road closure friendly. Vernon has unequivocal support from both City Council and the business community, and has experience hosting events. Ironman Canada is apparently getting a new sponsor - breaking away with the Subaru Ironman Canada name.

That's not a universal truism. We have a rail crossing on the bike at IMTX. WTC has worked with the railroad and the rail line is shut down on race day. This year there were two engine cars on either side of the crossing welcoming riders. I don't remember if they were there last year or not.

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"Unless you have a ... GF who might put out that night and that night only ... skip it and race." - AndyPants 3-15-2007

Good to know, I thought rail right of ways were a big no-no. I guess it depends on traffic and the agreements people can come up with the rail provider. Every potential venue will have its challenges. My experience is with Aus, CDA, Kona and Canada. No event was perfect but I came away with great memories from all.

The Issue I am having lately is some of the bike courses, I have done IMC 8 times now and for anyone riding over 5:15 there is a lot of drafting, contrast that with CDA this year and I rode 5:28 and everyone was spaced out 50-100 feet pretty much all day.

The difference appeared to be that CDA with their new course threw some pretty tough hills in right away to break people up, looks like challenge in Penticton may solve this with wave starts and (maybe) less people for the first few years.

We are looking at various bike courses for the Kamloops route and logistics and safety are obviously the first priority, the next thing I am looking for is a "fair" course or at least the "fairest" option. Meaning (my own opinion) that the hills should come hard and early to break people up.

We have a bunch of different route options but the one I drove yesterday Involved the Aschcroft "hell climb" over 3000 feet at 5% and about 7600 feet of total climbing. The route is pretty epic, stunning view points all along the way, I love this option but am uncertain that it will be "loved" by the majority. The other options are around 5000-6000 feet total climbing, similar to CDA.

IMWI crosses tracks also.

In 7 years of riding the course I've never seen a train though.

IM Louisville crosses railroad tracks, also. They are on River Road very early in the bike. And, you have to cross them again very late in the ride heading into T2. FWIW, I've done the race 2x and never seen a train.

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Pink? Maybe. Maybe not. You decide.

That's not entirely true either. I rode a 5:54 this year at IMC and didn't see too much drafting. The only place that I thought there was an issue with drafting was the out and back section. Then again, that road is so narrow and apparently unmarshalled that it seemed like folks didn't even bother trying to stay legal. By the turn off to Yellow Lake it was back to being pretty clean. That's my perspective at least.

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"Unless you have a ... GF who might put out that night and that night only ... skip it and race." - AndyPants 3-15-2007

I guess it could be perceptive or subjective, at CDA I may have been ahead in terms of positioning compared to Canada, both bike times were similar but I think CDA was tougher this year.

After richter pass you usually have a chance to break out a bit on the rollers but then people seem to come back together on the out&back due to tight corners, tight roads etc.

My perception is that most people weren't intentionally drafting just some unintentional packing (at the first 40 miles, and the out/back) due to course constraints and course density.

I have a personal bias towards my home town (Kamloops) as I have lived and trained here for 15 years, but I also believe we have some great options in terms of course design and having a "tough but fair" bike course. Some other venues have similar opportunities to design a great bike course which limits density and "unintentional" packing, my only hope is that they do. I don't like whistler because regardless of where you go from the start the primary direction will be down. I think Kelowna and Vernon also have an opportunity to design a tougher course, we'll see what happens. Just my opinion, for everyone who prefers a tougher bike there are others who prefer flatter courses.

Having said that it is likely I will do this race regardless of location as long as the bike course is a bit tougher and more specifically tougher in the first half. If the course looks to be a bit on the easier side (less climbing than IMC or less than 4000 feet) then I will likely pick CDA.

I have never biked in the Kamloops area, but I've driven through the area dozens of times. I can imagine there are a lot of great possibilities for riding. Maybe Brett Tippie and Richie Schley could design the bike course? ;)

Would the swim be at Kamloops Lake, or is there a part of either of the two rivers that could hold the swim? Kamloops usually has predictable weather in the summer, so any weekend could be possible. I know some people don't like that area, but I think it's great.

Make it a bit tougher by swimming against the current in the Thompson! Some would never finish :).

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BC Don
Pain is temporary, not giving it your all lasts all Winter.

Sorry if this has been answered, and not really to topic, but is the Challenge course going to be the same as the current IMC course? Is still have a dream of doing my first "ironman" and I would love to see how I stack up against previous years AG'ers times.

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Adrian in Vancouver

exactly the same. Only change is wave starts.


I am really rooting hard for Victoria. I think it would be outstanding. ( ans also just a 40 minute drive)
I am signed up for IMMT but would drop it to do a Victoria IMC...I would not drop it for Kamloops, kelowna or Vernon...maybe Whistler but probably not.

The tough ones would.

But if we swim with the current....I want to say I did the IM swim in under 30 minutes, if I didn't drown that is..............against the current, better put some nets out downstream !

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If you run long enough....something is bound to happen

Funny, I remember Tippie from the peaks when I used to work there, pretty "extreme" guy all around, if he did the course we would all have to buy mouth guards and DH bikes. He still has a blog:

http://bretttippie.blogspot.ca

In terms of the swim kamloops lake at Tobiano golf course appears to be one of the options. The river would be faster than IMC NY and pretty unpredictable, although in certain controlled places it may be an option.