Festival du Triathlon de Montreal aka Grand Pre IM

Triathlon Forum
1

This is not a knock on the race in the discussion. Just some thoughts about one of the most unusual tri events I have seen in 20 years. Disclaimer: I am in no way associated with the race and am not shilling for it. I also am not signed up or signing up for the race, (nothing personal, it wasn’t on my schedule and it is a bit far to travel, not to mention it is two weeks after IMC). I’m just really curious about the event.

So, last week at the Tupper Lake half IM, after the race I get back to my car and it has the inevitable race flyer on the windshield. The flyer, a full size 11 x 17 glossy, multicolor, heavy paper production is for the above referenced race in September. I tossed it in the car as it was starting to rain hard. Well, at home, I look at this thing more carefully, appreciated the classy, high quality, expensive work. There are four race options: a sprint (.75k/20k/5k), an Olympique (std 1.5/40/10), a Demi Esprit (2k/90k/21.1k) and a Esprit (3.8k/180k/42.2k).

The back side has a full page cartoon (drawing) of the race site which is set up for sporting events it appears as it includes a “Bassin Olympique” (Olympic Basin for water events), and a closed circuit road.

Now, the interesting part. The whole race, or all four races, is conducted entirely in this “park”, on the same swim (fairly straight forward), bike (Ohmygawd- I’ll get to this in a minute) and run (not as bad as the bike but still…) course. Did I mention the layout was park sized? Well, the kicker is that to complete the bike portion of the IM distance, one must complete 41 LAPS on the bike course!! That is followed by 9 LAPS on the run course. The Demi requires 20 and 4 laps respectively. Welcome to Grand Pre Formula One Triathlon racing! They even label an area as Pitts for food, water, etc.

Questions:

  1. How does one keep track of 41 laps?

I know I am not good for more than 5 or 6. And people complain about two or three laps on some IM courses (I know, I am one of them).

  1. Is this a new race? Has anyone done this event before? I’d love to hear a full race report.

  2. I have to think that this would be a spectator’s dream course, and must have been a major input into the race design. Is there anyone on ST that can attest to the rationale to the course layout?

  3. No doubt there is probably zero vehicle traffic on the course. It also looks extremely flat. Therefore, safety-wise I doubt that it can be beaten. There is one tight 180 degree and one not so tight 180 degree turn on the bike with a few bends. Assuming one can conquer the boredom factor, and given decent weather (i.e not windy, as heat in Montreal is a relative term), I would think that this is a course for setting PBs.

The website is listed at: www.esprittriathlon.com

Dev Paul, you’re a Canuck of some repute, what do you know about this event?

2

Okay, I just went through the web site and got a couple of answers. The IM race appears to be held at least as far back as 1997 as that is when the course records were set. The bike course is the Montreal Grand Pre course, that has to make it a little bit more fun, and the tight 180 does qualify as a hairpin. However, only 60 poeple did the IM last year so the odds of getting a personal report on ST are probably not good. As for counting laps on the bike: “The distance on your bike computer will give you a good idea of where you are on the course and you can check this against our count which is shown on a large screen video monitor coming out of the hair pin turn. This monitor indicates your bib number and the number of laps which you have completed. REMEMBER, EXIT THE COURSE WHEN THE MONITOR INDICATES 40 LAPS!”** **It must be a real mixture of pleasure (Kool, my race number is up on the big board!) and pain (Bummer, I still 15 more laps to go:-( ). Spectators can walk along the swim (essentially it is a giant swimming pool, previously used for rowing events in a 1967 international competition).

3

I’ve heard nothing but kickass reports about this race, and seriously considered doing it before I moved to Vancouver 2 years ago. I still think about doing it (and hey, it’s flat - can you say FIXIE? :wink: )

One of the guys who works at EnduroSport (Gideon) did it a couple of years ago. http://www.endurosport.com/racing/020920GS.html

4

we had 5 members of our university team go this year to do the oly distance race, said it was an absolute blast. The bike course is the best road you’ll ever bike on, and dead flat. If you can handle the mental fatigue (and the 9 lap run course), you’ll have a fast, fun race!

i thought about it for an IM this year, but i got into IMC through a team diabetes spot…so won’t be going this year.

it may be a reality later on though.

5

As a friend of mine who has done the Esprit Ironman several times says,

" You’re never more than 4.4 km from a medical tent."

And he says I’m the crazy one for switching to bike racing…

6

I only saw one race report from last year (2003). The user’s name was haenp or haennp and the rpeort was either here or trinewbies forum.

He didn’t have very many good things to say about the organization. Apparently the volunteers left the run course and there was only water on the course. Don’t remember, you can find it if you look.

7

i did the DEMI Esprit (1/2 IM) last year and it was a great race! The swim is in a protected basin so there are no currents and spectators can literally walk along side the swimmers. The F1 bike course is flat except for the banked turns. They count your laps electronically and when you get within 3 or 4 laps of finishing they start yelling at you every time you come around, “3 more laps to go, #141!” Of course, my wife was there so she helped too. The run is on/off road and also flat. Overall, a great course to PR on. Going in circles on the bike wasn’t as mind-numbing as may think - because there are 5 races going on at the same time, you always have company. I could imagine the IM bike to be a bit tedious but good for first timers.

There was one snaffu last year - half of us accidentaly went of course on the run and were DQ’d. It was poorly marked and after one person went off course, we all followed unknowingly. However to the RDs credit, they realized that when so many people go off course, there’s a problem with the course. So they offered all of us a free entry in to this year’s race. They also changed the run course this year to ensure this doesn’t happen again.

Again, great race and I would do it again this year but it’s within 10 days of my wife’s due date so unfortunately, it ain’t going to happen.

If you want more info, feel free to ask.

8

Parkito, the Esprit Ironman has been around since 1991. Your chip keeps track of your laps which are run on the Formula 1 circuit used for the Canadian Grand Prix. The half Ironman was introduced ~2000 as a result of waning numbers caused by the appearance of Ironman Lake Placid in the North East. Before that, Esprit and Sunapee NH were the only Ironmans in the North East during the the 90’s. The Olympic distance race has been race site of the Canadian Short Course Nationals several times (3 times since its inception in 1986). In 1987, Ken Glah won the Olympic tri. In 1999 Dmitri Gaag won the ITU world Champs in Montreal organized by the same people on the same course. This was also the race when the Aussie women swept the top 4 spots on the podium (Jackie Gallagher, Emma Carney, Loretta harrop, Michellie Jones).

The race organizer Danny McCann, is a class act and puts on a great set of event. If I don’t go down to do the Duke Half Ironman in Raleigh on 12 Sep, I’ll race the Esprit Half on 18 Sep. Just note that on 18 Sep, in Montreal, swimming in the Olympic rowing basin (used for the 1976 Montreal Olympics) that is barely 6 feet deep, you are swimming in some pretty cold water. Its cold like Lake Tahoe in May if you get my drift. Definitely neoprene cap and LS wetsuit territory, and you may even want to wear a Lifa top under your wetsuit.

Definitely worth the trip and nothing like partying in Montreal afterwards…likely the best party city in all of North America !

9

Thanks for the info. I am from Montreal but never done tri’s when I lived there… I will consider doing part of this if I am still alive after placid!!

10

Regarding the run mixup last year, its been “fixed”. I met the organizer two weekends ago at a race and he told me they got a “bridge” so that you can run in circles around the basin without getting confused. Its on the tiny map/pamphlet. One nice thing about running around the basin (filthy as it is - I once rowed there for a summer and boy did it make our clothes foul) is that you can jump in during the run if its really hot. (A friend of mine doing his IM did that a while back)

For the person who said its dead-flat -er, there’s that slight uphill right after the S-curve after the F1 pit area. And on my training rides, I often encounter an annoying crosswind at the top. But yes, it is a very nice surface to ride on - during the year half of the road is for bike/rollerblades and the other half has occasionally cars just driving to the casino or the basin where people row.

btw, for swimmers who don’t like to sight, you can cheat by following the steel cables running underwater…

For spectators, yes, its amazing. I got plenty of chances to get great pics of my club-mates - but for me (as a participant) I found it a tad boring. But then again, I do train there from time to time so…

The bike course is closed to cars BUT not to foot & recreational bikers/bladers. I almost ran one over when trying to exit the course two years ago.

have fun!