I had the opportunity to watch the Elite race start. Lucky me! The start was on the beach. Everybody in line waiting for the start. I decided to start completely at the left side. At first, it doesn't seem to be THE thing to do BUT believe me...it was! As soon as the siren went off, I took off running towards the water. People who were on the right, had about 2-3 steps to do and then had to dive and start swimming. People, like me, who were on the left, though a lot farther to the buoys, could do at least 7-8 steps and then run a little more in the water before diving in. So the race started very well since I was at the front for a few seconds. It didn't last long since there were some swimmers who were a lot stronger than I. The only negative side of my starting spot was that, even if I ran longer, the bottom of the lake wasn't getting deeper gradually. At one point I had water up to my calf and the next step I was shoulder's up... so I missed a step and face dove without any chance to put my arms first. My goggles almost went touching the back of my head. I almost stopped to put them right but thought it would be chaos if I did.

My swim was good, a little too fast for me though. My sighting was the worst this time. I could have been faster if I had been closer to the buoy. At the end of the first loop, we had to get out of the water, which I did just after 3 other guys. We ran almost in line and got around a bunch of cones and a lifeguard chair. The 3 guys went straight back in the water, to their right. Where did I go? YUP to the left again. I (soooooo) overtook them! I got a jump of a few meters in front of them. The last portion was approx. 200m in a straight line. The 3 same swimmers got back close to me and 1 or 2 overtook me before the swim finish. I got out of the water a whooping 7th overall, which is FANTASTIC for me! Viva le wetsuit.


Not much really except try to have a better sighting and don't zig-zag at all.

T1 sucked big time! The zipper didn't want to come down. I pulled very hard and tried a few different ways but it wasn't coming down. It finally came down when I arrived at my spot. Removed the wetsuit but it got stuck again at the heels/foot. Got it out of the way and took off with the bike. Shoes were on the pedals, tied with an elastic. I jumped on the bike, put my right foot on the shoe, tried to do the same thing with the left, when suddenly I see a pole coming at me... I "front" braked, came at a 45 degree angle, didn't fall and finally got going. It took me a lot of time to get my feet IN the shoes and I got passed by about 4 people at the exit of T1. Not good.

Pretty much everything.

The bike was okay. I lost a few places at the start of the bike. Got 2 out of the 4 places back. I managed to keep a good speed even though there was a pretty good wind at some places. The second loop was definitely slower than the first but I didn't know why at the time except that I thought that I was tired. Well, the night after the tri, I went to look at my bike for something and I realized that my rear tire was at 40 PSI! I think I got a slow flat and it slowed me down a bit but I'm not 100% sure. No problemo, I'm happy with my bike results anyway.

At the end of the bike, we were about 4 of us heading in close together. I managed to overtake 1 just before entering T2.


Not much.

T2 sucked a bit, too, but it wasn't entirely my fault. We were 3-4 entering at the same time. I ran faster than the others and 1 got in my way, I managed to go around him. This was a long run to go to my spot. T2 time is included in the run time.

Heh...maybe try even harder to overtake EVERYONE before entering T2?!

The run was good, I think. I overtook 3 people at the start of the run leg just after getting into the woods. I didn't want to stay behind. Sometimes I do it and try to relax and keep some energy but this time I thought I would go flat out and see what happened. A few hundred meters later, I heard someone breathing hard behind me. I thought it was one of the people I overtook that wasn't happy and was trying to push the limit a bit too far BUT the person that was behind passed me soooo fast! In reality, I was going at a fairly good pace but it made me think at the time I was going a lot slower. I learned, too late, that this guy was part of a relay team and he just started to run. Argghhh! It shook me psychologically for a little while and I was worried that people would just pass me like I was picking up violets in the woods...

At the 3km mark, we had to come back near the transition area and the finish line where all the spectators were. When I approached, the announcer told in the mic something like : " Ohh... Steve Vaillancourt is coming. #99. First guy from Quebec and first from the "Rouge et Or". Yup, that helped for a few meters!

I struggled for the 3rd and 4th kms. At the last km mark, I picked it up a bit and at about 400m it was all out! I finished very strong.

Not much. I think I did very good and managed the pain all along.

I talked with a few tri club teammates and also saw my friend puke as he passed the line! Fun stuff.

I drank a bit since there wasn't a lot of water/gatorade spot along the course. I had a few watermelon pieces too. After 10-15 minutes, I went running for a 15 minutes or so. I came back thinking I should hurry to be there for the award ceremony and go look at the results. I did and realized I was in a tough category... no hardware for me since I finished 5th.


Injuries through out the year. Aside that, nothing much really.


Lots of fun. It's the second year this race exists. Last year there was 65 triathlets and this year, more than 120.