Because one triathlon in Montreal wasn’t enough, two weeks after the first I was lining up for another. This time it was the sprint distance in the Montreal Esprit Triathlon over on Notre Dame Island in the Lawrence River.
Race day started in a very unusual way: with a sleep in. My wave start wasn’t until 11am and because we could rack the bike at anytime, the sun was already up when I got out of bed. But it wan’t warm. The temperatures had taken a nosedive overnights and the hot and sticky days of the past couple of weeks were replaced with a cold wind. Jo was my main supporter on the Saturday (as she’d be racing on the next day) and we rode our bikes across town and over the river to the race precinct. The race director announced that it would indeed be a wetsuit optional swim for all – hallelujah, I hadn’t brought mine all the way from Australia for nothing.
The swim of the Esprit Tri takes place in the 1976 Olympic Rowing basin. These venues make for quick swim times, particularly if you can get sight of the wire under the water early on which will keep you going straight without the need to sight. The trick is finding that wire when everyone else has the same plan. The wave start was 150 men and it was definitely one of the roughest starts I’ve been in. I coped a couple of hands and elbows, had my goggles knocked off and got a kick to the guts. Once that all calmed down, I got into a good rhythm and finished the 750m swim in 14:03 – enough to be out of the water in the first quarter of my age group in a field of about 55.
The bike was out on the Formula One circuit at Jean-Drapeau Park. Think wide flat road with sweeping corners. Good for fast times. It would be 4 laps for the 20km of the sprint distance and the big screen at the track displayed your name and the number of laps completed each time you went around – a very nice addition for anyone who’s ever thought “wait, have I done three laps or am I on my third lap?” For at least the first two laps, the wind felt icy-cold on my chest since I was still wet from the swim. Turning into the home straight on each lap, you could really feel the headwind and so I tucked down on my dropbars as low as I could and pushed hard to get up to the turn around. I finished the 20km bike in 35:20 – not the quickest time out there by a long way but I was happy that left me in a good place for the run.
The run was mostly along side the rowing basin – so another flat and fast course. I was aiming to build my pace through the 5km and for the most part I did just that. My 1km splits were: 4:39, 4:48, 4:36, 4:29 and 4:19 to finish in 23:04. My total time was 1:16:25 putting me in the top third of competitors in my age group. Then it was time to ride home and get ready for spectator duties on the Sunday.
One of the great things about this weekend of racing was that Jo, Stef and I all had races on at different times so we could watch each other race. Here are a few of the Sunday pictures, including a well earned celebration at the end.
