How did I end up in the north woods of Canada you ask for a 70.3 race? Well Muskoka has a very long triathlon history and looking at the schedule it was a great race since I had hoped that everyone else would be in Las Vegas racing the world championship. That may not be entirely true, but either way what a truly great destination race. The Muskoka race is in the town or Huntsville Ontario at a large resort that a few years ago hosted the global G8 summit. About 4 hours north of Buffalo, where I flew into. I took this race opportunity to travel north into Canada and enjoy a great location. Flying into Buffalo on Friday morning and driving around the west shore of Lake Ontario gave me time to enjoy the scenery and head even further north to Huntsville. My home stay was right in town, Rob his wife and two children both similar in age to my own. The town so much reminded me of the north woods of WI, interconnected lakes all over, with cabins up and down the shores. It is a popular destination for folks living in Toronto. Rob and his family were super nice and more than welcoming to me, he was involved in the race as well coordinating the bike course volunteers, his wife and children were also at the first aid station on they run.
The race course is set in a beautiful lake at a large resort, and was a larger race than I was really expecting. I spent my Saturday taking my time getting checked in, driving the bike course, and getting familiar with the area. I took especially long around the bike course which went around a large lake call Lake of the Bays which has a rich history.
This steam powered boat used to take visitors to a island resort which still has a private golf course among other things. I toured the history museum there and a lot of the pictures reminded me of my fathers boats in the past. Apparently the boat sank to the bottom of the lake and stayed there for quite some time, but has since been rescued and restored. The course around the lake was just as I expected beautiful, hilly, and smooth, it was going to be a great race. One thing that I realized was that this was the first time I had ever driven a bike course prior to the race in all my years racing, I see why it's a good idea now. After that was the pro meeting, bike checkin, fixing a flat tire already, and a great dinner at Rob's home with his family. I made it an early night, even though race start was not until 8 am, it was still east coast time.
Race morning I headed over to the venue, caught the shuttle bus, and got my gear set up. The only two pros that I knew were Richie and Mirinda, but there were more than I expected for the men's field.
We warmed up in the cool clear waters and lined up for the start, the women were starting with us as well today. I headed out to an early lead but there were 2 or 3 other guys keeping pace no problem. I just swam my race nice and smooth, about two thirds through the swim one other guy decided it was time for him to lead, and I was fine with that. The water was so clear I could follow him and conserve some energy. But the last 500 meters my 'got to win attitude' got the best of me and I went around him to get 1st out of the water. There is a 300 meter run up to transition, which felt quite long. I was onto the bike in 3rd place now, not sure how that happened, maybe I need to work on my transitions. In the first 10 miles or so I got back into 2nd place, but 1st was not insight. The 3rd place guy was behind me for the entire bike and we were passed in the last miles by Lionel the eventual winner of the race. Bike course was great, just as I expected, but I averaged 318 watts which is a little high for me on a half. This may explain the last 10k of my run too. So I exited the bike in 4th place along with the 3rd place guy.
I felt pretty good on the first 10k of the run it was hilly, I was keeping pace and 3rd was not gaining to much of a gap. Raliert passed all of us and ran himself into 2nd place. My 2nd 10k was another story, I did not totally fall apart or anything, just gradually slowed and was passed at like 19k to sit in 6th place, where I would finish for the day. I would of liked to been top 5 for sure but my run was not having it after biking a little too hard. I got tons of food in afterwards, got back to Robs house and took a nice walk downtown, had dinner and drinks. Overall such a great race I would love to do it once again for sure, or even make a vacation up in the area with the family. Turns out I had been up to Algonquin park when I was 4 for a canoe trip with my family. I love the paddling atmosphere up there, I just need to figure out how to get my kayaks up.
All picture from Muskoka -
http://www.flickr.com/photos/13519781@N02/sets/72157635504319072/
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