Hi Keith,
I moved here 12 months ago and there is a decent tri scene here....but you need to be really proactive to find it. Coming from Perth, Australia I found the tri scene really easy to find there, maybe its a climate thing where everyone is out 365 days a year. Here its a little harder because between the fall and spring everyone is tucked away. But i'm sure groups still exist that work round the weather. But when the weather is good the riding and swimming is A1. Lots of good hill climbs. For long stretches of road youll need to get out of Vancouver. There's also plenty of lakes and open water to swim in too...the scenery is spectacular.

The great thing here is that there's good options for Ironman events, especially 70.3's. Victoria, Whistler is all under 2 hours away. Coeur d'Alene is about 7- 8 hour drive and Calgary is of similar distance....so lots of events close by.



Hope that helps a little. Happy to meet up for a ride if/when you get here

Cool, thanks for response - it sounds promising. It's certainly going to be different from Brisbane !

weather wise, yes! Vancouver is a cool place (except for the drug overdoses, nearly at 3 a day now)

Where are you moving to .
I am out in the Fraser valley and happy to help connect you with a few groups

I lived in Van for 10 years and did triathlon there for 7. Moved to Victoria last year. There is a decent tri scene there. Here are some tips..

1. Swimming. During the fall/winter. The vancouver dolphins masters/tri group swims at the van aquatic center 4 mornings a week. 530am on weekdays and 630am on saturday. Its a good and diverse group. My coach, Noa Deutsch, runs a group out of there as well. Just triathletes in this group. 4 days a week a vac as well. Tue-thurs at 7am. Wed-fri at 530am. Check out PT Performance Training for more info on that. During the summer she runs open water swims at Kits Beach with the same crew. During summer you can also swim 4 mornings a week with fastlane out of Kits pool
2. Cycling. There are lots of options depending upon what you want.. once you get out of the city. I did a lot of my shorter rides around stanley park (get there before 9am during the summer..) but you can be at the bottom of cypress mountain from the city in 30mins. Many of my triathlete friends ride the sea to sky highway for long rides. I rarely did but it is fairly straight. There is also UBC for shorter rides and richmond for flat intervals
3. Running. The options are too numerous to outline. You can run a marathon on the seawall alone and there are plenty of trails around

I'd suggest connecting with Noa. She helps coach the Leading Edge Tri club now. Its a good way to connect with some of the athletes. She coaches beginners all the way up to kona qualifiers/junior elites/pros

Have fun

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Team Every Man Jack

Not sure where I am moving to, I've got a couple of short trips coming before xmas. All these contacts are good - having someone that coaches juniors is important, as my son trains also. I appreciate the input.
Thanks.

I just sent you a PM - I work with some of the fastest juniors in BC, in addition to my adult groups.

Hey!

I moved to Vancouver 3 months ago (but lived in Victoria for 2 years before that and commuted here 2x a month since my BF lived here)! I find that there is a lot of triathlete which is great but not as many local races which is a bit disappointing (I came from Ottawa which had at least 1-2 races a month). You can check out triathlonBC for the race schedule once its up in a few months!

I haven't ridden in a group here but I know speed theory does group ride fairly frequently. There is also a group that does weekly open water at Kits beach in the summer and there is a few open water swimming races during the summer month as well!

My favorite pools are UBC pool and hillcrest pool, kits pool in the summer (I live in kits so both are convinient). They both have very convenient hours (early morning and after work everyday). I usually do UBC because I'm a student there so it's free and the pool is brand new and amazing!!! But hillcrest has free parking! I know UBC has a master swim club that swims in the evenings and the vancouver aquatic center has one that swims early mornings!

Someone already mentionned the seawall for running. There is also a new cycling/running path that opened along arbutus that's really nice for running but I wouldn't bike train there because of commuters/dogs and intersection but for running it's good! The mountains are a great place to bike or head a bit south for flatter terrain! Let me know if you have questions!

I am in Vancouver at the moment, sitting @49th in Kits :) It's not ideal for tri imo, I'll list +/-

+'s
- Pools are great and choices, plus there is the ocean.
-Running isn't too bad because there are lots of people out. Paths and trails.
- Road cycling & commuting is fun because there is a network and cars expect bikes for the most part

-ve's
- There is no place to really stretch it out on a tri bike.
- Roads are busy and bumpy too.
- Dirty, stinking polluted air - I wear a mask


I much prefer Vancouver Island, and of course the little known area of Sproat Lake. I don't think there is a 1/2 doz triathletes from my town. But the lake is spectacular (I was swimming this weekend), gravel rides are epic and you can hit the roads too which aren't near as busy and the air is clean.

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