Great White North Olympic Triathlon

Last Sunday I did the Great White North Olympic Triathlon.  This was the first year GWN added an Olympic distance to their classic 1/2 Iron distance race and I thought it would be a good preparation for Calgary 70.3 later this month.  It was fairly fun, our race started 1.5 hours after the 1/2 IM and we raced on the same course, so you could pass tired longer distance racers who had twice as long to go as you, which was pretty fun, I guess?

Swim - they pulled the far buoy in to make 1500 M, the water in Hubbles Lake was quite warm and very clear, I could see the weeds on the bottom.  Good support too with lots of divers and kayaks, etc.

Bike - this was 50 KM (slightly more than classic Olympic of 40 KM) and basically it was the same course as the 1/2 IM, they just do two loops while we do one.  Harsh wind going the one way and some pretty good hills but pretty nice coming back.

Run - a 10 km out and back loop through Stony Plain, 1/2 IM racers did this twice.  I ran the whole time at an OK pace and passed lots of tired 1/2 IM racers who still had another lap to do.

Race was pretty fun, a little expensive (but they all are I guess) but good overall.  Official site here.