I am planning to race the Canadian Irondistance Triathlon in Ottawa this Sept. It is the first year for the race but there has been a 1/2 there for awhile and the full iron is just extra laps of that course. Has anyone done the 1/2 there? I’m looking for course information. Is the bike and/or run flat? What is the water temp and condition?How are the aid stations? etc etc. I can’t seem to fiind any information about special needs bags etc either on the website. Any information anyone may have would be a help.This is my first iron distance race .
I am planning to race the Canadian Irondistance Triathlon in Ottawa this Sept. It is the first year for the race but there has been a 1/2 there for awhile and the full iron is just extra laps of that course. Has anyone done the 1/2 there? I’m looking for course information. Is the bike and/or run flat? What is the water temp and condition?How are the aid stations? etc etc. I can’t seem to fiind any information about special needs bags etc either on the website. Any information anyone may have would be a help.This is my first iron distance race .
I’ve done the half. The bike is flat to very flat (six loops for 90K). You might get some wind. The run is also flat and follows the canal (two loops for 21.1 KM) . Overall the half is a fun and well organized. I would hope that their aid stations are a little better equiped for the Full Ironman. For the half they only had water on the bike and Gatoride and Water on the run.
Contact Dev. Paul he should know how the Full Ironman is going to be set-up.
Thanks for the info. Sounds like flat is the order of the day. Fine by me. Do you remember what temp the water was approximately? I have a sleeveless wetsuit but was thinking of getting a full but really only if cold water is an issue. I’m assuming the swim is flat as well.LOL
Water temp is very comfortable in a LS wetsuit. Most years you would be fine with a sleeveless. As the other poster said, the bike is very flat and reasonably fast. The reason why I say reasonably fast is because the 12 turns in the half Ironman, or 24 in the full ironman take substantial time off the bike split, due to all the acceleration and deceleration. Regardless, this is an easy course to post a smoking fast time.
You will really enjoy this race, especially if you have family or friends watching. As long as they are not at either end point on the course, they will see you 24 times on the bike and 8 times on the run.
Dev
I raced it two years ago with a sleeveless wetsuit and the water was fine (and the past 2 summers have not been very good weather-wise in Ontario). As Dev mentioned, the course is pretty flat but you’ll loose time every 7.5k when you have to do the 180 turn around the cone. I remember it being fairly windy for part of the bike a couple of years ago. It is a well-run race and I plan on being there again this season but only for the half.
Hey Allan, great to hear. I will also be doing the half and then working at the Ironman ! Should be a pretty long day at the races 
I was going to let the thread pass without commenting, but the today’s thread about avoiding drafting changed my mind (http://forum.slowtwitch.com/gforum.cgi?post=417324;sb=post_latest_reply;so=ASC;forum_view=forum_view_collapsed;;page=unread#unread). I’ve done the 1/2 twice and it’s just as described above (2 swim loops; 6 bike loops; 2 run loops). From the event website, it looks like the course is simply 4,12,4 for the iron-distance.
One “issue” I had with the event last year was that the 200-ish 1/2 competitors start early, do one or two bike loops and are then confronted by 400 or so sprint and try-a-tri competitors. That puts a lot of people of wildly varying experience, skill levels and speeds on the same small 15km loop. IMHO, this can lead to some dangerous situations, situations that are just plain frustrating to long course racers or feelings of tri’s as being intimidating/unwelcoming to athletes new athletes.
This year it looks like the 1/2 will be a qualifier for a World Championship potentially making it a more competitive. But it also looks like they’ve staggered the start times a little better to try and relieve congestion on the course.
Since you’re looking at the iron distance race, none of this may matter since you should be going in with a game plan in mind and executing that plan regardless of what everyone else around you is doing.
Cheers,
Rob
I do agree with Rob that it gets somewhat congested when the try-a-tri and sprint hit the course. I have pleaded with the RD to eliminate the super short events and just stick to Ironman and half on that weekend, but realistically the huge numbers in the short race provide him with good revenue.
For this year, they have tried to stagger the times to make things a lot more seamless for the folks doing the full Ironman race. Hopefully it will work out. I believe it should. If numbers are large enough, we will continue to lobby to focus on full and half ironman races moving forward. I do also have a verbal committment from the RD to explore a “larger loop” for future years if this year is a success. For this year, the RD wanted to use the proven format from the half Ironman course and build from there. I think that is a wise plan.
Hey Allan, great to hear. I will also be doing the half and then working at the Ironman ! Should be a pretty long day at the races
He has to defend his Ontario LC Championship title.
One solution to the congestion that I believe is in effect this year is that the sprint race will not be run on the same day as the 1/2 or full. I encountered some obstructions 2 years ago when I raced (I recall one young fellow trying to do his best ITU imitation and running out in front of me and jumping onto his bike with the shoes clipped in … he wobbled all over the road trying to get his feet in and I had to pause for a moment and then shoot through a gap to keep going) but overall I found enough room on the course to avoid any problems. I think that the numbers in the half and full combined will be lower than the half and sprint total so the bike crowds should be a minor issue. As for the “competitiveness” as an world long course qualifier … I don’t think that will be an issue since it has been my experience the past few years that anyone who shows up and does the race can pretty much guarantee themselves a qualifying slot by rolldown (I’ve turned down one in 2002 and 2004 when I raced qualifiers) since it costs so much to travel to ITU long course worlds and the time of year is not usually (I wish they’d host it in North America for a change … when was the last time in Muncie when Greg Welsh won it?).
One solution to the congestion that I believe is in effect this year is that the sprint race will not be run on the same day as the 1/2 or full.** I encountered some obstructions 2 years ago when I raced (I recall one young fellow trying to do his best ITU imitation and running out in front of me and jumping onto his bike with the shoes clipped in … he wobbled all over the road trying** to get his feet in and I had to pause for a moment and then shoot through a gap to keep going) but overall I found enough room on the course to avoid any problems. I think that the numbers in the half and full combined will be lower than the half and sprint total so the bike crowds should be a minor issue. As for the “competitiveness” as an world long course qualifier … I don’t think that will be an issue since it has been my experience the past few years that anyone who shows up and does the race can pretty much guarantee themselves a qualifying slot by rolldown (I’ve turned down one in 2002 and 2004 when I raced qualifiers) since it costs so much to travel to ITU long course worlds and the time of year is not usually (I wish they’d host it in North America for a change … when was the last time in Muncie when Greg Welsh won it?).
Hey! That was me! I fell and broke my collar bone! While you were battling it out with Miss Kniaziew
I think all the races will be on Sat. though if the website is up to date. You’re right, if you’re doing the half or full it will get busy and crazy for a lap and then it will be relatively dead. Nothing too serious after that. The marathon could get lonely.