Dear Canadians...

slickfins_Ryan

Hello Canadians!

I like your country very much, and have come across the border to race there at least once a year for the past 3 years. I was signed up for Epic Dartmouth 70.3, until it was abruptly (and rudely) cancelled this week.

I would still like to do a race up there this year. What are some of your favorites? Ideally I would like to do a 70.3, but would not object to an olympic distance either. Also, I'm doing IMLP on July 23rd so the race can't be too close to that.

Thanks in advance for your suggestions!

Ryan

Matt

Here are the 70.3/LC races you can look at:
Tremblant 70.3 June 25 - probably full
K-Town Long Course (2-56-15km) Aug 06
The Great Canadian 113 Sept 2 in Ottawa
Montreal Esprit Sept 10

There are a bunch more Olympics (almost every weekend) in Ontario + Quebec, check HERE: https://www.sportstats.ca/events.xhtml and filter by event type and dates.

slickfins_Ryan

Merci @Matt!

Aaron Webstey

#sworry

Martin

slickfins_Ryan said:

Hello Canadians!

I like your country very much, and have come across the border to race there at least once a year for the past 3 years. I was signed up for Epic Dartmouth 70.3, until it was abruptly (and rudely) cancelled this week.

I would still like to do a race up there this year. What are some of your favorites? Ideally I would like to do a 70.3, but would not object to an olympic distance either. Also, I'm doing IMLP on July 23rd so the race can't be too close to that.

Thanks in advance for your suggestions!

Ryan

Rev 3 St Andrews is a reasonably short drive from Epic Dartmouth, and at the risk of offending @AaronWebstey, St Andrews is a wee bit prettier than Dartmouth, although the nightlife and Donairs do not compare.

The downside is it is a pain in the ass to get to - 2 hr drive from Bangor or 1 hr from Saint John, assuming your travel agent doesn't screw up and send you to St John's, a trip which you would never forget but is less likely to involve a triathlon.

I think all of the Tremblant races are full - but Muskoka should still have space. It's a pretty sweet area once you get there.

Penticton just opened the citizens' wave to sign ups. I haven't noticed many of the westerners here lately. @kjrunnin - any recos from the other coast?

kjrunnin

Ironman Canada 70.3 or full in Whistler for spectacularly scenic (and a former TRS teammate is the new RD) ...but it's a week after IMLP so a non-starter.

Love Penticton any time - Challenge Half conflicts with IMLP as well but there's the long course world championships in August which you point out is now open to mere mortals as well as qualifiers.

There's also a non-IM brand half iron in the Okanagan at the beginning of June (Oliver Half Ironman). Nice setting, but the RD has had trouble delivering consistency the last few years... seriously short swim course last year, I think the year before, they misdirected a bunch of athletes on the swim course. This was my first tri (2013) so it still holds a bit of a soft spot in my heart. Plus you get cycling + wine country. Always a win.

I haven't been in the sport long - those are the only Canadian tris I've done... Victoria 70.3 (June) is popular, though last year they had to shorten the swim because of lake weeds so bad you couldn't get a proper stroke. That's enough of a deterrent for me to never, ever do it. Not because I mind a shortened swim but because ew.

kjrunnin

Oh... and if you're open to something other than a tri, there's this gravel fondo in the Okanagan
http://www.kettlemettle.ca/home.html

Tough ride but so scenic. These are some of the pics the hub snapped last year.

pete

Tremblant 70.3 and 140.6 are outstanding races. I watched my gf complete both as her first half and full a couple years ago and it honestly ruined all other races for us. Nothing in the area compares. 70.3 sells out in hours, the full takes more time.

I really like Barrelman, now a Rev3 race, September 17, http://rev3tri.com/niagarafallsbarrelman/

Muskoka 70.3 is a super demanding course and a great bragging rights race.

doyoueventribro

I'm going to +1 St Andrews only because it's the only 70.3 I've done, it's an amazing course, a super cool place to visit and very well supported. The bike course is on a section of the Trans Canada highway where they close off the northbound lane so for about 60km of the bike there's no traffic at all and the pavement is amazing. On the "out/in" sections leading to the trans-canada there's some good rollers but it's a mostly flat course (compared to what I'm used to riding).

The entire town lies within a 5km loop on a peninsula that houses the run course. It's really good for spouses/spectators because you can be at the hotel/transition/finish and within a few minutes be "downtown" at a cafe to watch everyone go by again before going back to watch the finish.

slickfins_Ryan

@pete agreed! I did the Tremblant full in August and it was really amazing, (although really wet last year!) @kjrunnin that gravel fondo looks AMAZING! what was your bike setup like? Did you use something like a cross bike?

St Andrew's looks really pretty, @AaronWebstey what do you think? Wanna do this one and then drink a bunch of Screech after???

kjrunnin

@slickfins_Ryan they have different categories... I rode it on my work commuter... a hybrid with skinny tires that were over-inflated for this route. I smashed my ass to bits and swore I'd never do this race again on a bike with no suspension. Then the results came out and I saw that I placed second for women in that category so now I want to do it again on the same bike and aim for first. (Those MTB bitches are way too fast for me to be competitive in that category!!)

You can ride hybrid, cross or MTB. I would expect MTB will be the most comfortable ride, although I was congratulating myself on my bike choice in the first 30K or so while I passed everyone climbing on their heavy bikes and the riding surface was still a breeze on my hybrid. There were some guys on fat bikes which seemed like a ridiculous overkill for this course. My physio rides it on his cross bike. I have another friend who crushes it on his MTB.

Aaron Webstey

slickfins_Ryan said:

@pete agreed! I did the Tremblant full in August and it was really amazing, (although really wet last year!) @kjrunnin that gravel fondo looks AMAZING! what was your bike setup like? Did you use something like a cross bike?

St Andrew's looks really pretty, @AaronWebstey what do you think? Wanna do this one and then drink a bunch of Screech after???

@slickfins_Ryan ask me on Saturday night at about 9pm AST (8 EST). My wife and I should each be entering our 3-drink buzz, which is the ideal time for me to sign up.

kjrunnin

AaronWebstey said:

@slickfins_Ryan ask me on Saturday night at about 9pm AST (8 EST). My wife and I should each be entering our 3-drink buzz, which is the ideal time for me to sign up.

Note to self: text Aaron Aruba sign-up link at 5 pm on Saturday.