Stayed at the back with Pat Stewart. This was her first long course race and once she saw the buoys she was a wreck. Talked her down as best as I could. It was a mass start, no issues. Towards the 1st buoy we started to spread out so I dropped in behind someone and drafted. At the buoy turn around I started to draft on three others but eventually realized I was faster than them so went around and passed. I could see I was between the lead swimmers and the slower swimmers so pretty well had a large open space with only a few swimmers here and there. Figured what the heck just settled in, no one to draft on, and practiced my stroke. Nothing better to do. Turned the other buoy and headed for the T. After the T turn swam until I grabbed sand. Best 1500 to date, cut 4 minutes off my Chinook time.

It's probably time to start around mid pack in the smaller races. Had I done so I could have drafted off a faster swimmer and gained a little time. My fear was the kicking and thrashing in the mass start but hell I think I'm ready to duke it out with the rest of them.

I debated whether to go without socks on the bike and then put them on, didn't take that long and saved me some time at the run transition.

They were supposed to have strippers but I just made a B line for the bike and did it on my own. No problem, remembered to stand this time and kick it down with my feet at the ankles. I had lots of glide around the ankles so it came off easy.
Should have paid attention.

This was to be the big experiment in the small ring. I started out using it and maintained it for about the first third of the race. This is just not my baby, too dam slow for me and way to much shifting to do. Switched to the big ring, kept the cadence at about 95 using mostly a 21 -27 gear range. I ride a Cevelo P3 aluminum and am finally starting to learn what its strengths and weaknesses are. It's not a climber but flies on on the downs. Ride it hard on the downhills moving to an 13 or 11 and you just fly past the other racers. Go easy coming back up the hills and then stand it out till you are just about over the crest and do her all over again. The turbulence from the cut out only kicks in at 25k and then acts like a turbo charger from there. Man that is fun, just psyches the other racers out as you pass them pretty hard.
I used concentrated Glyco Carb in one bottle and then just squirted it into my water Profile bottle as needed. Took a gel every 30 mintues. Used about 1.5 bottles of Gator Aid. They never had water bottles at the turnaround so had to stop and fill up the Profile bottle with cups losing a little time. At the 50k point I wanted to pee and contemplated doing it on the bike but thought I can wait till the run. Never tried it although I hear its done often enough.
I played tag with another cyclist in my age group pretty well the whole race. As we got near the last quarter I was feeling a pretty comfortable and dropped him.
Passed a ton of racers and had a blast the last 2/3.

Not much, just need more experience.

Waited until I was out of town and we hit a few bushes so I could finally pee. Seemed like it took forever so I knew I drank well on the bike. The rider I played tag with on the bike caught up as I noticed he was ahead of me again when I was done. I felt good, the stride was long so just hunkered in and slowly worked on catching him. He kept looking back to see where I was so I knew I had him (I have learned there is no point in looking back, that's only history). After awhile I could see him walk here and there; caught him and said good job man; kept on moving. Just before the turn around I ran saw another Regina runner who always beats me; he was walking; same thing chatted a bit of encouragement and moved on. Met two other racers from Regina before the turn and could see they looked tired. Hmmm, encouraged them on and thought I might catch them both. At about two thirds caught one. His comment, I wondered when you were going to catch me. Laughed and said I would meet him later. Ran into Pat and she said the other racer was not too far ahead. Caught her with about 3k left, she had stopped at a water station. Cheered her on and headed in. With about 2k left I had one more runner left in sight and started to go real hard but she was doing the same. Never caught her but had a hell of a finish.
I used 3 gels during the run, never did that before. No Gator Aid, just water to wash them down and refresh myself. Walked only to take in the water and kept moving at a good clip.
The stide was long and the knees were high the whole time.

Nothing, finally a run without everyone passing me. Best run in a tri yet. I'm happy.

Grabbed some water, ate a lot of fruit and a few cookies. Chatted it up with everyone waiting for Pat.


Nothing really, just need more races for the experience.


This is a small community in Northern Saskatchewan that does one hell of a job. The terrain is breathtaking. If you get a chance to do this one, do it, it sells out early.
Thank you to everyone who organized the race *** AWESOME ***