Grand Columbian Triathlon - Half Iron Distance - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

The course buoys were not in a straight line particularly on the final leg. Many swimmers were zigzagging the course, yours truly included. Course management was surprising, given all of the high marks the race received online and from people I talked to.

pay attention to the end points instead of following the buoy line.

A longer transition that involved grabbing your bag of bike gear, running into a change tent, then to the bike rack, and exit. A full IM type transition. This was new to me as I had only done Olympic events before.

Not much, maybe get more organized.

get bike tuned a bit. had a hard time keeping good shifting without grinding. course required a lot shifting through the hills.

I changed into running shorts for the final leg, even though I had tri-shorts on. Didn't want to be uncomfortable.

Probably nothing

I got a bit tired, particularly about mile 11 on the way back. I ended up walking a small hill on the dirt road. Otherwise, run went well... perhaps even better than expected. I had save some energy and tried to drop weight for this portion. True test will be 2010 IM Canada.

Not sure. Had a pretty good pace and felt pretty good for as hard as I was going. Get more experience.

Loaded up the car and drove to the cabin for R&R. Bailed before the awards ceremony... didn't realize I was going to get 2nd place for age group. For some reason the field (and overall turnout) was weak by comparison this year. Not sure if there were other races some athletes attended instead. It is obvious though when you look at the historic data.


Training - could be better. Could go faster on the run.


Good race. A rural location from the course and support angle. We camped at the start line on the water which was fun. We did not run across the dam which I was looking forward to. But I was glad that there was a single transition point. Overall, a good time.