Ottawa 1/2

I did the sprint last year.  The bike course is flat. It runs along the Rideau Canal.  The street is closed to traffic.  You do loops.  One end is tight; you turn from one side of the road to the other. At the other end there is an island that you go around (bit of a slope up but nothing challenging).  The swim was good for the distance that went.  Can't comment on the run though the sprint went in a different direction.  I did find that the distance from the swim and bike to the transition area was a bit of a distance.  After the swim you ran up a hill to the transition area was about 300m.  The bike mounting area was about 200m from the transition area.  I don't know if this is the norm as I've only done one other sprint tri and the transition area was pretty close to the swim and bike mount at that one.  So there's my 2 cents.

I did it in 2007.. the bike and run are both along the canal and totally flat.  The bike was I think 6 loops and the run 2 loops .. I thought the multiple loops would be mentally tough but it wasn't bad.. and you are out there with the full distance racers who do double the loops that you do so you see people hurting much more than you are.
It's a good first race as in NOT a difficult course but you may find it boring.  My second HIM was 2008 Muskoka 70.3  which I enjoyed much more than the Canadian.

Thanks for the information my wife and l did muskoka 70.3 last two year and also bracebridge just wanted something different good luck with training.