Lake Belwood is home to one of the events in the World’s Largest Triathlon series. This event is internationally known and has been important to the careers of several famous Canadian triathletes including Jasper Blake and Canadian Olympic medalist Simon Whitfield. It’s very cool but there’s not a lot of concrete information about the race. That was until I stumbled upon race reports.
There’s a whole culture of amateur triathletes reporting their races. They talk about their times, how the temperature of the water affected their stroke, where they stopped for Gatorade vs. water, and if their electrolyte levels caused them to cramp. It’s really quite detailed, right down to the muddiness of the water during the swim, and how they changed out of their wetsuits without falling over.
The next hurdle for me was the whole dignity-exiting-the-water thing, and I knew I had to nail this one or else make the sort of spectacle that’s painfully retold for ages at family gatherings. Discretion being the better part of valour, I chose to not break into a heroic sprint as soon as possible and risk falling, and instead staggered up to the transition zone with the measured purpose of a bar patron zig-zagging to the john after several hours of drinking. – Stephen B
They’re very human stories and as a person who isn’t particularly athletic I found them quite compelling. And almost inspirational enough to consider taking up biking again.
Funny how triathlon works sometimes. You know that old saying that you can’t win the race in the swim but you can lose it…well its true. In a 90 minute endurance event my race was essentially over in the first three seconds. – Ryan Power
This is a race report from Get Out There magazine, who was at last year’s triathlon.
