So it turns out that Col By, Kitchizibi, and Gatineau without Champlain all make for more or less 90km route. Two loops would make a tough route through Gatineau, but this would be IMO, the most scenic route through downtown. And (critical for a town called Autowa) you can get away with really only closing 1 or 2 roads more than they usually do on a Sunday for bike days.
Actually on your map if you take the Quebec side out and go from Mooney’s back to Lincoln fields and back that is literally 45 km (22.5km out and back). 4x would make the Col By section busy, but the rest from parliament hill to Lincoln fields you have four lanes. If you did the quebec side then as you said, it is almost 90km per loop without Champlain. That would make for a tough day…probably over 2000m of climbing overall so in the range of LP and Tremblant
You could also add Rockcliffe/Etienne Parkway for each loop and then only do Gatineau once, which is more reasonable. Col By x2, Kitchizibi x2, Rockcliffe/Etienne Parkway x2, and Gatineau x1 works out to 190k even with Champlain lookout, so just move the turnaround cones in a bit on the parkways and you’d have it. The only trouble is crossing over onto Rockcliffe would be having to keep traffic closed through the downtown area for the day.
I hadn’t thought of a 2-Transition race - though having everyone descend from Gatineau would solve the elevation problem. Though the Meech Lake tri is much smaller than this would be - I’m not sure where you’d put T1, other than in P11, but then how do you get there?
If we think through where the swim course will be held, there’s really only a few candidates where you can OWS:
-Meech Lake - easily the best swim course, but not much area for T1
-Britannia Bay: could work and lots of space for transition with a good run nearby on the MUP, but the river swim might be iffy, and the route that Somersault used to get to the parkway wasn’t the greatest back when they were running a Tri out of that area (20km/hr neutralized zone on the MUP)
-Mooney’s Bay: As I discussed above
-Manotick Mahogany Bay: Decent for a swim, but getting in/out of the water is tricky for a tri; no place for T1
Any other places I might have missed? Unless they’re planning on taking everyone out to the rural areas (like the Gran Fondo route to the west, or the Manotick-Merrickville cycling route south), it would seem that a substantial portion of this race is going to be on the parkways.
I hadn’t thought of a 2-Transition race - though having everyone descend from Gatineau would solve the elevation problem. Though the Meech Lake tri is much smaller than this would be - I’m not sure where you’d put T1, other than in P11, but then how do you get there?
If we think through where the swim course will be held, there’s really only a few candidates where you can OWS:
-Meech Lake - easily the best swim course, but not much area for T1
-Britannia Bay: could work and lots of space for transition with a good run nearby on the MUP, but the river swim might be iffy, and the route that Somersault used to get to the parkway wasn’t the greatest back when they were running a Tri out of that area (20km/hr neutralized zone on the MUP)
-Mooney’s Bay: As I discussed above
-Manotick Mahogany Bay: Decent for a swim, but getting in/out of the water is tricky for a tri; no place for T1
Any other places I might have missed? Unless they’re planning on taking everyone out to the rural areas (like the Gran Fondo route to the west, or the Manotick-Merrickville cycling route south), it would seem that a substantial portion of this race is going to be on the parkways.
the bring on the bay swim course could be used. Add a bit to the 3km course.
That could work - the other one I missed was Dow’s lake but the route would more or less be the same vs Mooney’s bay. Just trade one side of the canal for the other.
Back in 2016 and 2017 Triathlon Canada organized Sprint and Oly “nationals” in Ottawa. They combined the event with a juniors, u23 and elite CAMTRI ITU race. I thought it was a great event. I suspect the idea was to try to do some really competitive nationals like the US does. Unfortunately, it didn’t gain a ton of traction besides a bunch of us from Ontario and Quebec. However, some of the AGs were reasonably competitive.
Swim venue was: Dow’s Lake lol. Bike course was on Colonel by Dr, so it made for some really fast bike splits ~40 kph, despite having a few turns.
Unless they do a down canal/river swim, Dow’s lake can only fit a 1,500 m swimming loop, so I don’t think this could be the right swim venue.
For the swim, lots of options using the area from Kite surfer point at Brittania to Brittannia yacht club and back x 2 loops (you just overshoot the point a bit on the way back and go west and then turn around and come back to make it 1900m). I think there is plenty of room in Dow’s Lake too (same water and Mooney’s…roughly) or at Mooney’s. If they do it at Brittannia, it would make more sense to just have athletes ride up to Carling Ave and then take the ramp to the parkway. You would need to close Carling ave for 1 km from first swimmer (say 7:50 am) to last around 1.5 hrs later (2:20 last swimmer minus 50 min first swimmer is 1.5 hrs, add 30 min for rolling start and 15 min for slow transition and we’re at 2:15), so you have to close Carling from 7:50 am to 10:05. Then after that if it is no Gat park Ottawa side ride you’re just on Sunday bike closures, but you have to put T2 somewhere else not back at Brittannia because otherwise you have to keep Carling closed till 5:30 pm which would be hard. If it is at Mooney’s bay or Dow’s Lake you can have T1 and T2 there and not have to worry about road closures.
Where would you put the athletes village for a Dow’s Lake swim (or T1 for that matter)? The big parking lot near Dow’s is currently becoming a parking garage.
I suspect the most logical place in the city would be City Hall/Confederation park. It’s a good area for a finish line, but other than the canal (ew) there’s no water in the area. So a 2 transition race with T2/Finish there?
Hmm, I was planning on sticking to 70.3 or shorter after this year, but it would be hard to pass up a chance to do this. I can’t imagine swimming in Dow’s Lake (and forget about the canal).
Will be interesting to see what route they come up with.
I did the Ottawa Iron Distance race twice years ago and it was based out of Mooney’s bay and then bike and run multiple loops along the canal. Pretty boring route, so doubt they will do that.
Where would you put the athletes village for a Dow’s Lake swim (or T1 for that matter)? The big parking lot near Dow’s is currently becoming a parking garage.
I suspect the most logical place in the city would be City Hall/Confederation park. It’s a good area for a finish line, but other than the canal (ew) there’s no water in the area. So a 2 transition race with T2/Finish there?
I did the 2019 Superleague race in Ottawa with Canal swim. Wasn’t too bad…just don’t drink too much. 😬
I have a source who confirmed that there is not an event permit for that weekend in Ottawa, so it’s either not finalized or it’s on the Quebec side (which makes more sense to me).
Lac Lemay would be great…Take off from casino marina, T1 at the parking lot near Reno Depot (would have to be a winding route, but can work). Bike course easy access to 105 up to just past Wakefield X2. Run could use all of the incredible paths on the Quebec side, including de la brasserie, in front of Civilization museum (seeing Ottawa skyline and parliament).
To quote the late OJ Simpson…“If I did it”. That’s the route I would plan.
Lac Leamy is beautiful for swimming. It’s a quarry, so can be chilly, but water is super nice. It’s also the largest urban park in the National Capital area.
Someone told me the swim is being planned for Britannia, location of the old Riverkeeper, Ottawa River, Britannia Beach triathlons. Not sure the validity of the information. I don’t really see a great bike/run course from that area.
That’s what my first assumption was. Somersault was told they could no longer offer their Ottawa Tri event after 20+ years, because the NCC would only issue permits for events of 1000+ participants or something. That kind of sounded like a hint of something to come.
I guess we’ll see. That area would require a TON of road closures and paid police duty…not to mention on a long weekend. Plus Britannia water quality has regular risks of not being viable - esp. late summer.
Lac Leamy is beautiful for swimming. It’s a quarry, so can be chilly, but water is super nice. It’s also the largest urban park in the National Capital area.
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