Wine Capital of Canada Sprint/Oly cancelled?

I heard the same thing... I did the Oliver HIM last week, and there was no mention of the cancellation at the race.

I e-mailed Joe about the WCOC race as I was thinking of doing the Sprint... no response.... So I signed up for the Victoria Subaru tri for next weekend instead... lol


~Mike

A friend and I have been planning to register for the Olympic event. Just haven't been in a hurry to do it.

When I read your post I went to the WCOC website and it doesn't say anything about being cancelled.

Darn!

Yes, it has been cancelled due to to low registration. Event registration is down close to 50%.

I registered shortly after hearing that all the financial issues with the city of Oliver had been resolved, hoping others would register as well. Obviously in the end that wasn't the case. I now have a hotel room for 2 nights in Osoyoos, which I'll be taking full advantage of as a short training camp with some nice long rides. Maybe do the Desert half bike course and a ride to Penticton and back.

Would really like to see race come back in future years, whether it's run by Outback events or another other company. I think it would be a real shame to lose such a great race.



Edited by Lukasz 2013-06-09 7:43 PM

Lukasz - Did you get notification from Outback? Since I read the event has been cancelled I've been looking for confirmation and, so far, I haven't been able to find anything yet. The WCOC website still appears to be willing and able to accept further registrations.

I'm really disappointed about this. I'm registered to do a HIM July 21st and was looking forward to doing this as part of my prep. The only alternatives is the Victoria race which I would like to do but I'll really have to scramble to arrange a trip. I even checked Washington state.

Lukasz - I was swimming in Okanagan yesterday. Water temp was a nice 20C.

Edited by wenceslasz 2013-06-10 10:50 AM

If you click through the registration link it won't accept and says registration closed. It would be nice if Outback updated the webpage....

Thanks tsrf900r. I didn't go far enough into the registration process - expecting they would actually say "cancelled" somewhere. I hope those that did register will be reimbursed.

So on a brighter note - how was the Oliver HIM? It was pouring rain in Penticton during the race but I understand it was dry in Oliver. How'd you do? Race report?

KelownaGurl - I'm going to look at your Vernon race - I presume it is with Mtn Bikes?

I am worried now because I was hoping to do Cultas Lake, I checked the reg for it and there is barely anyone registered for this one either. I feel for Joe but Outback is really falling apart.

This race was going to be a part of my prep for Lake Stevens 70.3, which I assume you are doing as well based on the date.

Here's the email I received from Joe@Outback.

"Good evening athlete,

After much deliberation this past week I am sad to announce the cancellation of the 2013 WCOC triathlon this year due to low entrants numbers. For the first time in 11 years we will not be producing this event this year. The event registration is down close to 50% from past years with just over one week until the event.

As a registered athlete I would like to offer you the following options:

1) A refund of your 2013 entry fee.

2) Transfer your entry to one of our other 2013 triathlon races: Eastlink Desert Half Iron, Sylvan Lake 1/60/10, Sylvan Lake Half or the Cultus Lake Sprint or Olympic races. If the race has a higher entry fee I will cover the difference and there is no cost to you as an athlete.

3) Transfer your entry to any race in 2014 as listed above and including the 2014 Eastlink Oliver Half Iron. The entry fee for the Eastlink Oliver Half Iron is twice that of the WCOC and I am happy to switch to the Half next year if you choose to do so.

Please let me know what you would like me to do with your entry prior to July 31st, 2013.

Again, this was a very difficult decision.

Sincerely,

Joe Dixon"

Going by the information in the email, Cultus is still a go as of today.

wenceslasz - The Oliver HIM was great, very windy, but no rain. I did OK, finished under 6... I am participating at Ironman Coeur d' Alene next week, so I tried to make it more of a training day, but still overcooked on the bike..

I'm not much for writing race reports...


~ Mike

Yes, Lake Stevens it is. I've been training with another fellow and we're going to drive down together - probably Tuesday before and staying at a camp site about 13 mi away.
I'm decent on the swim, slow on the bike and really struggling with the run. The last couple times I've done a bike/run brick I've struggled on the run and now I only have a few weeks left to get some endurance. I may be walking a lot come race day (I hope not). I'm hoping not to exceed 7hrs but it will be close.

I can't imagine finishing sub 6hrs like Mike did at Oliver.

Mike - Have fun at IMCdA. I hear the water is cold there.

Have you ever raced Lake Stevens before?
If not, be prepared for a pretty hard bike course. Lots of rolling hills, not many flat sections, and a few long steep climbs after mile 40.

I haven't done Lake Stevens before. I have looked at maps with elevations and figured it is not very flat although the maps don't really reveal a lot of info. I'm also fairly slow on the bike (and run) but I ride a lot of hills in the area around Penticton. When we want to ride semi-flats we go to Oliver and ride the HIM route.

I'll keep riding hills as much as I can and I'll be riding the Penticton Mediofondo (92Km with 4 good hill climbs) on July 7th. I'm planning to try and beat 7hrs overall. I'm slowly getting stronger on the hills but I'm not seeing any increase in speed.

I swim lots in Tuc el Nuit and Okanagan Lake. I'm not worried about the swim. I figure I can do it in 40 minutes give or take 5 minutes (depending on the chop or other swimmers).

Did anybody transfer their entry for the 2013 WCOC to another Outback events race in 2013/2014 and receive any confirmation of the transfer?