Subaru Ironman Canada - 25th Anniversary

This Sunday, August 26th will be the 25th anniversary of the Subaru Ironman Canada triathlon. Penticton has always been home to the third-oldest Ironman qualfier(after Japan and New Zealand), and has become a favorite destination race for triathletes from all over the world. Typically blessed with warm weather in late August, featuring a classic and demanding course, and helped by the thousands-strong Iron Army of race volunteers, athletes know they will get the full experience an Ironman race can offer.

For a brief history of Ironman Canada, see the following link:

http://www.ironman.ca/history.php

This will be my fourth appearance at Ironman Canada, and I've been fortunate to improve with every race. Hopefully, the trend will continue this year.

This year, due to the 25th aniversary celebration, nearly 2800 athletes will enter Okanagan Lake at 7:00 AM on race morning. This is several hundred more than any other year, or any other Ironman race, for that matter; so the swim promises to be even more of a human washing machine than usual, for the first several hundred meters anyway.

Swim strategy

The swim course is a single loop, with 1612m to the first turn. This is where swimmers will establish their pace, so you need to seed yourself properly according to your expected pace: Too close to the front, and you will be pummelled by faster swimmers going by you; too far back, and you will be giving away time right from the start. Keep in mind when you get clocked upside the head, it's nothing personal, just the Ironman swim. Once settled into a good pace, look for swimmers ahead of you going slightly faster, and try to catch up to their feet. Once you're on, surge by them and repeat throughout the swim if possible. Unless you are at the front, in which case you are not me.

The direction of this first leg is away from the rising sun, and you can sight on a bluff just past Sage Mesa. There will also be houseboats at both turn buoys, but there are other boats on the lake as well, so you need to be sure you are sighting the right ones. Traffic at the turn buoys will be very heavy, so it is best to give up a bit of time and go a bit wide. On the last leg, the rising sun may make sighting tricky, but there is a new highrise condo directly in line with the swim finish that you can't miss.

The water will be just deep enough several meters from shore that if you stand up to soon, you will be fighting through thigh-deep water. You are better off to swim in as close as possible. Then stand up, remove your goggles, undo your wetsuit to the waist, and run over the timing mat to the strip area. (Yes, at Ironman you get help removing your wetsuit. It's one of the most popular volunteer activities!) When you see a couple of screaming middle-aged women waving frantically at you, point at them so they know you belong to them, pull your wetsuit down below your waist, and drop feet-first in front of them. They will do the rest. Hopefully you remembered to wear your bike shorts. Thank the nice ladies as they help you up and hand you your wetsuit, then head for T1 (Transition 1). It's time to ride 112 miles!

Next, T1 and the Ironman Canada bike course.