Cultus sprint distance was the last stop for my tri-season, and it sure was a year that we'll be talking about for many years to come! Both the sprint and long courses were BC championships for this year's event.
It must have been pouring rain the entire race morning except during the swim.
There was a solid representation from local ATC and Fit Club triclubs. We had a good handful representing from our UBCTC as well.
The route follows the same as last year with a minor change for the bike that allows the bike transition into T2 to go direct instead through the narrow parking lane-way.
Single loop CW swim, a nice out-and-back bike, and beach and pavement run with two out-and-backs.
I wasn't 100% for this race. Of course tapering had its drawbacks when of all things considered, I was baking a cheesecake the day before. Unfortunately when opening the yogurt container and pinching the thick lid with my cold fingers had yielded blood and a dreaded fresh cut.
The swim went okay, but striping out was an issue and had cost me 1-2 very valuable minutes. The wet-suits peelers were looking at me funny as I struggled helplessly with a gimpy finger grip.
Having some knowledge from last year, I knew this bike course well and relied on my bike handling skills to navigate the wet bike ride. I was soaked and my carbon rims brakes were pretty much in-effective.
The run has really been a strength of mine this year - especially in a wetsuit legal swim. For the sprint distance, I had to chase a few people down including my fellow rival Scott in my age category. He got a little closer to the finish and it wasn't until the second out-and-back I was able to catch him. The fear that he would latch onto me, resulted in one of the quickest run split for sure!
Next year, I know I'll need to improve the swim to catch the swim-bikers, finishing only a dozen or so seconds behind a couple of them!
Jen made the trip over and got excited handing out the blingz! Great volunteers braving the rain! Kudos to race directors Angie and Joe for consistently putting on these fabulous events.
What a race, what a year. Now to the off-season. Thanks for reading.
Photo Credit: Matt Lazzarotto
Photo Credit: Matt Lazzarotto
