Ironman Canada : Official Thread

Hi Everyone,

I am an iron-virgin, and quite excited about it too!

I'm up here in Penticton after driving up last night from a meeting in Portland.  Gloomy and windy here on Oct. 30.  Will check out the course today and tomorrow before heading back home.  Here's a pic of the lake swim start area directly across the street from my hotel.

I visited Penticton during Halloween 2009 weekend to check out the course.  Tons of photos in this album   http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/photos/photo-thumbnails.asp?albumid=13397

Not in for IMC 2010 but I literally live right on the bike course in Oliver. If you're interested in photos of the area, have a look here.

http://www.digitalokphoto.com/Scenicshots.html

Also if you have any questions about the area or course, I'll try and help. What I am not good at is suggesting places to stay in Penticton as I have never needed to use any accommodations there.

I am looking at doing the IMC 2012 so would probably volunteer next year (this year is a support year for my family), do I just goto the IM website to volunteer for IMC?  Should I put my name in now for 2012 as it sounds like a pretty popular event to volunteer for?  Thanks!

This is my first IMC too!  Excited and nervous. 

For registration, 3 of us from Fort Saskatchewan drove down to the 2009 race, caught in some of the action, then drove the bike course.  We then went back to the finish line until the midnight mark (which was incredible as there were a ton of people supporting those that were coming in).  We then went and put down our sleeping bags in line.  We were about 20th in line so in the morning when it started moving, we were in the tent quite quickly.  Once we got inside, someone realized that the volunteers hadn't signed up yet so we waited about an hour in the tent.  Once the volunteers were through, we easily got our slots.

There were a few slots online that were open but that only lasted about 2 hours tops.  I strongly suggest going to the previous year's event to sign up.  It gives you a taste of what the action is all about.

The 3 of us are heading down there on the May long weekend to do the bike course (half on Saturday, May 22 and half on Sunday, May 23).  If there are any others that would like to join us, feel free to let me know.

Cheers!

Went and did some training on the IMC bike course this past long weekend.  Several others there too! 

Day 1 we started at the beginning of the bike leg, through town, missed the McLean Creek road hill as our navigator messed up.  Continued through up Richter's pass and stopped at Cawston for a 100 km day.

Day 2 we started in Cawston, rode to Penticton, then went and did the McLean Creek road hill and went onto Oliver for a 107 km day.  From there, we went to Tugulnuit Lake for some open water swimming.

Doing the bike portion of the race on a bike gave us confidence for the race.  Day 1 the cross winds were a very high pucker factor, especially going down the other side of Richter's pass but we survived.  Day 2, I became more comfortable in the aerobars and had more fun in the downhill sections.

I would highly recommend biking the course before the race.  Also a good place to nutrition train too.

Well worth the trip!

We are staying in Summerland at the Pleasantview Motel.  It isn't great accommodations, but there are kitchen units and it is not too far from Penticton. 

They may still have some availability.

It will be tough this late.

Good luck.