Part of heading over is to see the hoopla in my home city, other part is to swim, but with the North wind, I may just skip the swim anyway if it is too wavy (don’t feel like fighting waves)
For the first time I really sat down and used Google maps and street view to absorb and assess this course. I have to say it looks really cool. I think a lot of us are looking forward to race reports and reviews! Good luck to all racing
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I was able to swim from swim start this afternoon. I swam with a 3mm Xterra volt sleeveless with rubber cut off below the knees. I was for 50 min pretty hard and was overheating. That water is super warm. If they allow wetsuits, just make sure you all let in cold water every 5 min into the suit. I remember at Muskoka the water was a tad cooler than this and I got totally dehydrated in the swim on 1900m and never really caught up on hydration and electrolytes.
That was my experience in bring on the Bay.
I’m not a local for decades, but I used to live in Ottawa and visited last year again. I may be biased but I think it will become known as one of the most beautiful Ironman courses on the circuit. Not sure it’s enough to bring me out of retirement from iron distance triathlon, but the Log Driver’s Waltz bikepacking race in the region in late August is enticing.
I did a swim today at Brittania - the water will be wetsuit legal for sure, but warm enough that we’ll be hot in the suit. In contrast to reports this week it was very choppy.
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Maybe a dumb question but are you just pulling the neck of your wetsuit open to let water in? I did my first race (and first in a suit) at Muskoka this summer and think I really underestimated how much I was boiling during the swim… And then had never before blown up like I did on that run!
I was swimming at Brittania today again in the 3mm cut off Xterra Volt. It was substantially cooler than yesterday. The wind turned up some cold water from underneath.
Nevertheless it will be at least “Muskoka warm” (probably around 75F) so definitely grab the hand and pull open neck and let in water every few minutes or its overcook time in a long sleeve suit
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The water temp at Placid was just below the legal limit too, and everyone was fine in a wetsuit. Did not hear about anyone overheating.
How’s the air quality seem? News reporting smoke advisory?
Yeah, my wife and I were out after lunch and it was feeling like Tremblant 2023…YIKES. The wind is out of the Northwest today which is not a good direction given all the fires north and west of Ottawa!
This is what environment Canada is saying about the air quality now (4) and on Sunday (7) so the race should roll, but people with respiratory issues may want to dial it back:
Hopefully it does not get much worse into the 8/9 or they may have to figure out what to do. It does not get better until Monday.
They said on Facebook that if things go as predicted (e.g. 7 on the scale) that they’d proceed. Though I hope it doesn’t go any higher
Is there a place to see WC slot allocation by AG? I understand people think spots are likely to roll down quite a ways anyway, but still curious to know (if that information is published).
It’s in the app - unter the info session
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Overall event takes…… great bike and run course. The sand bar in the swim was wild! If they fix the asphalt in some of the areas, that very well could be the best bike course in NA. After enjoying the day, and the venue, and watching it all play out - how they got the approvals necessary for the downtown logistics of it all …. Well, I think the next version could be subject to some changes…… VERY well done Ottawa, and VERY worthy of representing Canada.
Edited to add - this is a MUST event.
@deantrives I was out watching and supporting a number of athletes I was mentoring (not coaching). I never got “selected” to work the penalty tent, so it was actually nice to free roam all day
I agree with you once some of the pavement gets done (and it will), this will be the best course in North America. It’s all inside a city. The main parkway roads are closed every Sunday so getting permits for that is not that hard (I got permits to close Col By Drive and Rockcliffe parkway for duathlons I organized back in 1990 !!!). I was actually the first multi sport race organizers locally with the idea of using those courses haha !!!
Closing up the downtown core, I think we have to thank Mayor Mark Sutcliffe, the CEOs of Ottawa Board of Trade and Ottawa Tourism in the sense that they want to showcase and market the city. Mark is an avid runner and done many of the world marathon majors so he “gets” showcasing the city for a day, at the expense of inconvenience for a day to bring in tourism $$$$.
@timbasile you looked strong coming through up the hill behind the Supreme court and heading towards parliament. I don’t know how exactly I spotted you, but I think it was because I had you in the tracker and I did the math that you were coming up that way around the same time as one of the guys I know, and I was “three letters” on your bib (T - I - M) from far away and I realized it must be you (plus you said you are 180 so you looked like a bigger guy near the front of the field).
I assume the wind of the bike got really tough for you guys or the pavement quality slowed you guys down. Most of my friends near the front of the field were around 15-20 min slower on the bike than they and I expected. I think my estimate of 5-10 min slow swim depending on speed (faster swimmers 5 min slow, less fast swimmers 10 min slow) was about right. Do you guys know your delta between upstream and downstream legs?
From a spectator angle all of the section around the locks and finish line on the run were awesome and it was a blast watcing you all come into T2 by the art gallery.
The entire finish of the run starting from the Supreme Court, Parliament West-Center-East Block, Chateau Laurier and ironically Majors Hill Park next to US embassy and National Arts Center was just picture perfect for spectators and supporters, and I assume for athletes too.
Was the far end of the run OK or did it get mind numbing?
On a personal note while watching the bike I kicked myself in my butt for pulling out of the race, but then watching the back half of the run, I knew I made the right decision.
Congrats to all the races, organizers and volunteers.
Dev
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How was the air quality? It looked pretty smoky in the photos and stories from Ironman on Instagram.
@devashish_paul Thanks for the cheers at the end! Crazy how you were able to spot me like that.
The swim was about 5 mins slow, both between the chop and the current going out. If it was a non-wetsuit swim, it would have made much more difficult for the weaker swimmers. The bike was windy, but not extraordinarily so - for me it was more the crappy roads which just ground me down. The first loop wasn’t bad but the bumps accumulate - the section in Gatineau, followed by the KZM against the wind was the worst part. The run was great, apart from the smog and the heat, but its hard to plan for that.
Overall, this is a great course - with the caveat that the roads are atrocious. Easily the worst road conditions of any IM I’ve done. The race was organized well, the aid stations were all on point, and everything went very smoothly for a first time race so kudos to the organizers. At the very least, if they can get the KZM repaved, this is a fantastic venue - lots of spectators, great views, and interesting scenery - but terrible roads.
So how’d we all do?
I went 10:06, which was a PB for me, with my first 2 penalties back to back. 1:07 swim, 5:15 bike, and 3:33 run.
Apparently you’re not allowed to have your shoes clipped in anymore? I guess that’s my fault for not knowing. Anyway 30s stand-down in T1. Then I go to find a spot to lean my bike and put on my shoes and I look up and see a brightly coloured line and assume that’s the mount line. I throw my leg over the bike and see everyone else is mounting a few metres up at another line. I shimmy over, and decided to get off the bike, but by then another ref came over with another 1m stand down penalty for mounting before the line. Again, my fault, but there were two lines and I was already flustered from the first penalty.
The rest went well - the back end of the bike was a slog and was hard to stay in aero with all the bumps. I found my run legs again was able to push the first loop of the run before it all wound down.
I’ll take 10th in M40. My goal was to qualify for Nice as a prep for an eventual KQ. Not that I can go to Nice, but I figured that if I can qualify without a roll-down on the old system, I’m on the right trajectory. There were 9 slots in M40, and I would have been 9th without the penalties, so I’m happy.
The best part of this were the crowds - every triathlete I know (mostly) was doing this, and I had lots of people I knew all over the place. My son/dad/step mom were at one aid station and my mom was at another.
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Seconded. Roads were tough but it was a class event and probably the best full I’ve done (and I say that still feeling the sting of not having had the best day).
Traveled up from the states and it was clear that the production level was a step above. That’s not intended as a criticism to other IM venues, but the intention to showcase the city was evident. The expo was bustling, volunteers were fantastic, and the crowd support constant. I normally do fulls with my sister and if the roads were to get spruced up I would likely do the event again.
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Great race! Are we thinking road quality will be improved for 2026 or will it take longer than that?