A little race recap of Xterra Canada Nationals, held in
beautiful Canmore and the Nordic Centre – what a venue. Especially with fresh snow glistening off the
mountain peaks on race morning.
But lets start with the trip out with Shane MacNaughton and
Ryan Leibel – it was so nice to have company in the car – most times I have
made this trip solo. The banter and chit
chat about boys stuff was super enjoyable.
Got in Friday around 8, went for a short run and headed out for Mexican
food. Can’t recall the name of the
resto, but the food was dam good. Oh ya,
it was Aroma. So good!
Saturday was a short pre-ride on sleek trails, but was fun
and just as I remembered it from August.
Picked up race packages and just hung out until supper. Another great meal at Rocky Mountain
Flatbread. Oh boy the Ravioli stuffed
with carrot was so good – so so good!
Picked up a 6 pack of brew and headed back to the room to pack for the
race of the year (okay – not really – I wanted to go to Maui for Worlds with my
good friends Jeff and Sarah and finally have some fellow SK Xterra Athletes in
Maui).
Did not sleep great but it was enough. Up at 6 and out the door for coffee by
6:45. Set up T1 at Quarry Lake and off
to the Nordic Centre to set up T2. It
was cool and overcast and as I mentioned there was snow on the higher
peaks. All morning I was trying to
determine what to wear off the bike.
Hampering me was recollections of 2 years ago when I had to DNF in
Whistler due to extreme cold and shivering on the bike – I DID not want to
repeat this. At a minimum arm warmers
were in order and I seriously was considering my TriWay winter cycling
jacket.
Man that water was pretty cold getting in, but the gun went
and I swam sans incident, but not real quick like. It was more molasses like. Off to the bike and I decided on jacket – may
have been too much but I wanted to be sure and not have to DNF.
Bike went well, super well.
No crashes or major time losses on course. Just was a blast and I LOVE that course. So fun and fast – finally it is fast. I can remember riding it 5 years ago and be
scared shitless! Off my bike more than on it.
My oh my how things have progressed.
On the run I started strong and ran a good first 5K, but
after that it was focus focus focus or else.
Early in the second lap, I spotted someone in my AG and just steadily
went by him and never saw him again. By
the middle of the second lap I knew I was going to have to crisis manage a
cramping issue. Luckily there was no one
breathing down my neck nor could I see anyone in my AG. I actually thought I must be on my way to
winning the day, but alas, my AG winner was 15 minutes on up ahead. Yup, 15 minutes ahead of me. He was in another postal code. Unbelievable, but true.
Finished up and was pretty much spent. Glad there was no finish line sprint.
Finished up 44th overall and second in my AG.
Enough to get my Maui spot. And as the
results were posted, determined my good friends Jeff and Sarah also got spots
to Maui. Overall AG women’s winner Nadine
Mueller also took a Maui spot – she is a former Saskatoon triathlete. Also Cam McCarthy earned a spot and I maybe
heading to Maui too. Shane MacNaughton
and Ryan Leibel also finished on the podium – all in all SK athletes
represented supper well and had great races.
Fellow BPR athlete Ian Crosthwaite was 5th overall and
decided Maui was in his future as Ian and his wife Emma are headed to NZ for the
ITU World Short Course Championship after Maui.
Quite the day.
Finished it off with dinner with Saskatoon friends – most enjoyable.
Kudos to Luke Way for his coaching and to Kathleen for being
an amazing GF and a huge supporter of me!
