Sigh, I have to agree with you Dev and hercules et.al. - this is one of the best full-distances races around. It is sad to hear that "Ironman Canada" will no longer be in Penticton. It had a certain... je ne sais quoi about it. When I travel and race, I love wearing my IMC schwag - it's some of the only Canadian stuff I have for racing. However, after IMNZ in 2011 and seeing the WTC schmaltz/schtick/ai-yi-yi/crap going on - including but not exclusive to:

- less value for $ (don't tell me about insurance/permits etc. - I don't want to hear that lame-ass excuse again - now all you get is a cotton t-shirt and a weak-ass medal - in 2005 I had 2 nice shirts + awesome event-branded towel + wicket hat - now it's virtually nada plus a gang-rape in the merch tent);
- a whole lot of "how awesome are we.... go WTC!!! whee!!!" followed up by the WORST pre-race meal offered for that price point (I felt truly bad for those who bought extra tix for family);
- four gabagillion people on course with rampant drafting and little to no officiating...
- I can go on and on here folks...

Yes, the race that finally turned me off WTC events was IMNZ and not IMC but I know that's how it would have gone once Graham was out of the picture. Having done IMC in 2009, even then I could see how things were degrading. I VOWED I would never do another WTC race after IMNZ, so I was really happy to hear about Challenge taking things over in Penticton.

I am very ready for a change. And if WTC ain't gonna change, then I am happy that the full-distance race in Penticton will.

AP

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"How bad could it be?" - SimpleS