Tag: race

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Race Recap: 5 Peaks Mount Seymour

To close out racing season, I had the choice of doing this 5 Peaks Race, or maybe another SwimRun at Lake Sassamat. The latter was tempting from a multisport adventure point of view, but we have a lot of loyalty and history with 5 Peaks as a family, so we opted for the former.

I found they had added a hiker’s division, which let’s people enjoy the marked, marshalled course without regard to timing or competition. So for the first time, my wife would be participating in the event, instead of just cheerleading – I desperately wanted her to be able to enjoy herself, so I went out and bought some poles from Mountain Equipment Co-op. I was also running in a brand new pair of Salomon SpeedCross that I was excited about.

The Lightning Kid would be running the 3 km timed kids run.

The race was sponsored by RunGo, a Canadian developed runners’ app. My wife and I downloaded it and used it to see each other’s progress. The race courses were also pre-loaded so that you could get turn-by-turn directions. Unfortunately, when installing I denied it the recommended permissions because I’m cautious about these kinds of things, and that ruined its ability to track my progress during the race. I’ll be doing a full post about RunGo in the near future.

My race started (even with me seeding myself in the 3rd wave) before either of them made it back, but I did see them during my first few hundred metres. It started with going up some of the ski slopes, but quickly turned into very narrow forest trails that demanded a walking pace at best. While I started at the back, during the initial climb my ‘slow but steady wins the race’ approach allowed me to pass a few people for a while.

Once I got into the middle parts of the course, I was delighted by finding little ponds and lakes – I had to stop for selfies, and I wasn’t the only one.

Not my best work. I didn’t take multiple tries.

There were times I had to slow down to yield to hikers that were there for the day; the race course was not closed to the public. The volunteers were always super friendly and cheerful, which makes for a nice day out even when you start to get tired.

Courtesy of @javelinomedia

When I got directed onto the road, I knew I was nearly done. I figured I’d just follow it into the parking lot and descend to the finish line – Nope! There was another bushwhacky climb before I was able to see the Lightning Kid who loves to accompany me across the finish line.

So my first Enduro course was a success; I noted there was a ‘Grit’ 14 km distance – maybe that’ll be my goal for next year.

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Race Recap: Vancouver Triathlon (Sprint Distance)

Having done the Cultus Lake Triathlon for 3 years in a row, I wanted to try (tri) something different this year, and I’ve never done a triathlon in salt water, so enter the Vancouver Triathlon, which took place on Labour Day. The logistics of getting to Stanley Park in Vancouver added some stress to the race experience – the drive was over 2 hours from Abbotsford, and after I had my bike dropped off and race kit picked up, we wanted to spend the late afternoon shopping and having dinner. Unfortunately, I parked in an underground lot (last year my car was broken into when parking above ground) that closed at 7PM on Sundays (stores were open till 8PM at least to say nothing of restaurants in the area). I had no way to get in and get my car and had to call Garda security, wait for 2 hours (without being provided with an ETA for the first hour) and pay $60 CASH to have a guard let me in so I could drive home. Not a great start.

We woke at 4AM to drive back to Stanley Park – the race guide said the parking lots’ access wouldn’t be available after 6:30AM. While I got there very early (my wave would be the last to start), I got one of the best parking spots which made it easy to shuttle back and forth to the car for any items I needed. I got body marked, received my timing chip, and set up my transition area well before the final athlete briefing, though I did notice that the swim course was missing some buoy markers during that period. They were late getting them set up, but the first wave didn’t start much more than 5 minutes late.

Swimmers in wetsuits gathering by the water line. Ocean freighters in the background
Swimmers in wetsuits gathering by the water line. Ocean freighters in the background
Swimmers in wetsuits gathering by the water line. Ocean freighters in the background

I had plenty of time to change and get my wetsuit on before my wave (the Sprint Distance Open) – nearly 2 hours- and while I was glad I had chosen to stay comfortable in street clothes during the drive and set-up, I began to get nervous feeling like the only racer who wasn’t in his wetsuit yet. I should mention it was cold enough (more on that shortly) to be a wetsuit-mandatory race, and apparently some racers didn’t have wetsuits and were forced to scramble to borrow one.

Me in my wetsuit with my wife and the Lightning Kid

Swim

My wave was called and we headed into the water. Lots of people get in the water for some warm-up strokes prior to the race, but I’ve always figured I’d rather save all my energy for the race. If I had been part of the warm-up swim camp maybe I wouldn’t have been so shocked by the cold. I do cold plunges, so I was a little surprised to be surprised. My feet got numb, my face and hands hurt as I started to swim.

Of course I was fine once I got going. The course was a simple triangle, and the ocean water was actually fairly calm. I think the one time I swallowed some water was more from other swimmers splashing than naturally occurring waves. In spite of my lack of ocean experience, I felt like I was keeping a good pace. Having a late wave meant going out at a lower tide, and there was some walking up the beach involved to make it to the swim exit – that involved dodging some barnacles which I had been warned about, but it wasn’t a serious obstacle. I got high-fives from my sons at the swim exit – and booked my best swim time in 4 years. Swim time: 17:24.

Transition 1

Me in the transition area

Bottom line: I struggled to get my wetsuit off due to the timing chip – I couldn’t get that leg cuff over the bulge of the chip and strap. I ended up putting the suit back on halfway up my leg, taking off the chip, then stripping it off. I think we’re loath to take off the chip because if you forget it in a moment of distraction (putting on shoes or helmet) there goes your race. I’ve had occasions where this same thing has happened, and others where I was able to pull the wetsuit off easily. If I’m going to learn a lesson here, it might be to take off the timing chip and make it part of the overall transition routine to put it back on immediately. This was my slowest transition in the last 4 years. T1 time: 05:22.

Bike

We had 2 laps around Stanley Park using the entirety of the roads. This felt a little unusual – it’s nice that there were never any cars to contend with, but it meant that the riders were all over the roads. I think the etiquette of staying on the right, not drafting (staying 12m back from the leading edge of the front wheel of the next bike), and passing on the left should still be observed in this race (which was specified as a non-drafting event). For the most part, it was fine – faster riders called out ‘on your left’ plenty of times, but there were some incidents like a rider on the far left who seemed to be trying to work out a calf cramp or other discomfort by shaking out their leg, or a rider who fought off my passing attempt (not illegal, just a bit weird to do when they were up on the hoods at more of a cruising pace until I called ‘on your left’). I don’t think there were any marshalls on motorcycles or anything to monitor these kinds of issues. The roads were bad in some patches, and riding over speed bumps (they were pretty mild bumps, but still) were all extra challenges.

I had thought the bike course was going to be pretty flat, but there was one major climb that seemed to go on forever. I think I tackled the early parts of it too aggressively at first, and ran out of gas nearer to the top. The nice part about a looped course is that the second time around I was able to be a lot smarter about hills.

As I approached the exit of the course after completing my second lap, I geared down to a lighter gear, and my chain came off. I had to laugh because I was coming off a downhill with plenty of momentum and wanting to rest my legs for the run anyway. While there’s never a good time to have your chain come off, if it’s going to happen, this was the best time.

I wasn’t able to find any photos of me from the race photographer unfortunately.

Bike Time: 00:48:05 (my second best time in 4 years)

Transition 2

I hadn’t left my shoes untied in preparation. Untying then re-tying probably cost me around 30 seconds. T2 time: 03:19 (second worst in the last 4 years).

Run

I headed out of transition at a clip I was happy with, and my legs felt strong. For a little while at least – though the overcast weather kept things temperate, and the ocean scenery was beautiful, the run course felt long somehow. I began to slow my pace a little. I had noticed no kilometre markers on the bike course, but they would have been really handy here. There was no lack of aid stations, and I didn’t partake of electrolytes or water at every opportunity but suffice to say I had what I needed. I took a carb gel early on during the run. We shared the seawall path with runners heading back after the turn-around and anyone else who wanted to stroll it, but I didn’t find traffic to be a problem. The turn-around was under the bridge to Granville Island, and I saw some interesting skyscrapers as I approached. My pace began to pick up when I knew I was on my way to the finish and more than halfway done running. Unfortunately, my choice to put on my wetsuit well before the last minute meant I had to take a bladder break which cost me time. During the last couple of kilometres I chatted with another dad named Mitch, who was doing his first triathlon – he seemed to be wearing a Hawaiian shirt, but he explained to me it was actually a cycling jersey (complete with pockets) that he got as a Father’s day gift from his daughter. It was very cool. When we knew we were close to the end, we bid each other farewell, but not before I engaged in what is becoming a tradition – explaining the German concept of Endspurt. Mitch showed me better than I could have shown him by beating me handily, but I had the Lightning Kid join me in the last few metres before the finish line so I crossed it with a smile on my face.

Me at the finish line

Run Time: 35:17 Total Time: 01:49:28. Second-best personal time in BC (first being Cultus 2023).

I definitely liked the glamour of doing a Triathlon in the big city and swimming in the ocean, but the extra logistics involved might make me choose another event next year. I am hoping to grow my endurance to the point where I tackle the Standard/Olympic distance, and it ought to be theoretically possible to do this event weekend and Cultus Lake in the same year. We’ll see…

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Cultus Lake Triathlon 2025: Third Time’s the Charm – Hat Trick – Triathlon Trifecta

I had hoped to do the Vancouver Triathlon this year, but by the time I got around to bringing up the registration page, it was sold out (I learned later, that transfers are actually allowed, which wasn’t the case when I lived in Ontario). So I signed up for my third time of the Sprint distance at the Cultus Lake Triathlon. I’m nothing if not a creature of habit.

I mentioned in last year’s report that Dynamic Events runs a really tight ship with lots of verifying that athlete’s have their I’s dotted and T’s crossed, so I wised up a little by buying my annual membership in Triathlon BC. That way, I was able to show my membership card (or at least a digital version I had saved on my phone) and get my race kit in short order on the Saturday. I also left my bike in transition on Saturday to have one less thing to manage on Sunday morning.

Swim

I got in the water a little behind the crowd, and as they wanted to keep their schedule, they started the countdown before I had gotten in up to my waist. I think I lost 30 seconds to a minute from the gun start before I crossed the finish line. There were many first-timers according to an informal ‘hands-raised’ poll before the start, and it showed in terms of the early swim melee. One guy was doing a backstroke, which I do recommend if you’re panicked or not feeling up to a faster stroke, but is terrible for navigating through a crowd.

A few times I saw an opening and tried to ‘sprint’ swim to spots where there would be less crowding, but somehow, I struggled to recover my breathing after these bursts. I felt well trained in swimming this season, as I had gotten plenty of open-water swims in, so I wonder if the wetsuit (which I didn’t train much in) somehow affects my breath control. All through the race there were collisions, it only improved marginally after the first few hundred meters. Still, I finished in good time – 19:42.

Bike

I really enjoyed the bike this year. I passed, I got passed, but overall I felt like I had a good speed for the majority of the time. The big hill climbs were tough, but for a BC bike course, I find this to be a pretty forgiving one. I did lose my chain after a turn, which wouldn’t have been a big deal if not for the fact that I have a chain catcher – not only did this not prevent the chain from falling off, it made it a lot harder to get back on. I figure I could have lost as much as 4-5 minutes due to this mechanical problem. Time: 49:34

Run

I came out of the second transition feeling pretty strong with the idea that I was moving at a good clip. That didn’t last though. The run course has the most subtle incline on the way out, but the good news is you notice the downhill once you hit the second turn around. I had the good fortune of being told when we only had 1.3km left by someone who had a tracker, and I shared that info with a woman who had caught up to me. We ran side by side for a stretch, and when we figured we had less than a kilometre to go, I explained the German concept of Endspurt to her (a burst of speed toward the end that you can magically manage because of your hope to be finished), then I demonstrated it.

Time: 35:32.

Conclusions/Lessons Learned

Total time: 1:52:50. I blew away last year’s time of 2:12:09, but 2023 me was faster still with 1:44:41. The only real improvement I made was my T2 transition, which I shaved a few seconds off. I do feel that if I hadn’t gotten a late start on the swim (because I detoured to get a good luck kiss from my wife – totally worth it!) I might have had a better swim time (19:03 vs 19:42). Bringing my bike in for a pre-race tune-up might have saved me the problem of the chain popping off, and might have resulted in a faster bike time (47:45 vs 49:34 = 1:49 difference, well below what I estimate the delay was). Where I could really use some improvement is taking my wetsuit off in T1. I thought about taking the timing chip off my ankle to make it easier, but I heard a horror story earlier in the day about someone who left theirs behind. I didn’t want that to be me. On the bike I passed a lot of people who swam without wetsuits; I’ve always sworn that the speed increase a wetsuit gives you makes up for the time lost taking it off, but maybe I need to re-visit that.

I found my older medals in my bag, and I’m really happy to have three-peated this event.

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Race Recap: Run For Water 5km (2025) – Featuring the Lightning Kid

I chose to co-write this blog with my son, the Lightning Kid, whose exploits you can see on his YouTube Channel.

On Sunday, May 25th, 2025, my mother, father and I went to the Run For Water. My dad and I ran the 5km. Before the race, I pet a lot of dogs. My dad was focused on his phone. We went to the start, but we were at the back of the crowd. We started running and saw my mom on the sidewalk.

After we passed some trees, we took a break because I had a stitch. We did the rest of the 5 kilometers going slowly with walk breaks. I tried to speed walk. It wasn’t too hard and it wasn’t too easy – it was in the middle. We saw a drone in the sky a couple of times.

I sprinted so fast at the finish line that I beat my dad. We got medals at the finish line. I had my picture take with water jugs. After that we went to Table Bistro for brunch.

If you have never run a race like this, you should close your eyes and imagine you are playing soccer and running after the ball, but there is no ball.

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5 Peaks Trail Race Recaps: Terra Cotta and Rattlesnake Point

Well, the summer is almost over, I guess I should break the radio silence.  I had previously recapped the 2 Kids’ Triathlons we did this summer, now it’s time to tackle our favourite trail races.

The season started at the Terra Cotta Conservation Area.  This April race tends to have cooler weather, but on this particular day, I think we’d had some of the nicer weather of the Spring season.  It was also my first race as an official Trail Crew Leader, so while I was nervous about fulfilling duties, it was exciting to deepen my connections with the 5 Peaks community, especially those excellent people who help make these races so fun.

Shark Boy did very well for himself and got himself all the way to the podium for the 3 km Kids Timed event; I think the concepts of pacing yourself and racing strategy (which at his age is mostly not looking behind yourself too much) might be getting through to him.

The Lightning Kid participated in the 1 km fun run, which he might think is some kind of parade considering how much he likes to ham it up for the crowds.

I hadn’t gotten a lot of running training in during the winter months so I limited myself to the Sport Course (5.4 km).  Not only did I have a lot of fun (with a back of the pack finish time) but I got the sweet convertible running gloves to take home.

The Rattlesnake Point race took place in June, and I have to say the highly technical clambering involved on that course makes it one of my favourites.  Of course, I did commit to the difficulty of the Enduro Course – at 12.7 km it is well over double the distance of the Sport Course on the same day (and most other races) – so I had plenty of time to rethink my decision on the trail…

But first, let me talk about the kids’ races.  I volunteered to ‘sweep’ the kids’ races to make sure no one was left behind… and I got to witness the sweetest little girl (who was no bigger than the Lightning Kid) and was tackling the timed Kids’ 3 km.   She was accompanied by her mom so my presence was mostly superfluous, but you know, safety first!  Anyway, she completed that course with nothing but smiles, and I heard her chirp “I love this because of the challenge!”, or something along those lines.  My heart nearly burst.

My own kids were no slouches either, of course.

Credit: Sue Sitki of Sue Sitki Photography

We had hot weather and plenty of exhausting climbs, but the scenery is gorgeous along the Niagara Escapement – don’t mind the Turkey Vultures… they won’t feed on you unless you run really slow.  I slowed down enough to take in (and photograph) some beautiful wood sculptures.

 

If some of this (fun for kids, beautiful scenery, hustling your butt along a trail…) looks like fun, the next race is at the Heart Lake Conservation Area in Brampton, ON on September 16th.  Please consider joining me by clicking on this link and using the code IRONROGUE for a 10% discount.  There’s even a free water bottle as take home swag!

And if you can’t make that one, the Kortright Centre Race is on October 28th.  Register here with the same IRONROGUE discount code.

 

Will I see you there?

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Kids Triathlons

Since I last posted, we’ve been in two 5 Peaks trail runs, and two kids’ triathlons.  Rather than try to catch up with 4 distinct race recaps, I thought I’d pair them up by race type – that means you’re going to get an overview of the kids’ triathlons we’ve been involved in this time, and the 5 Peaks races next time.

Furthermore, I’m going to combine observations from both races on a per kid basis; they’re only 2 years apart, but in triathlon, their experiences are very, very different in terms of what the event expects of them, and what they expect of the event.  The races were the C3 Kinetico Kids of Steel and Nicola’s Triathlon (for MFM Research).

 

The Lightning Kid

Swim

The Lightning Kid is currently at the ‘Crocodile’ level in his swimming lessons; that means they’re teaching him to roll from back to front, and combining the front crawl arm stroke into the motion.  He makes forward progress for a bit, but he’s not really staying afloat or getting his head above water to breathe more than once, so for a triathlon he wears a life jacket (at the C3 Kinetico Kids of Steel) or water-wings (at Nicola’s tri) and I get in the water with him to coach and cheer.  For the C3 Kinetico KOS, it was 1 length of the pool for the 6-7 age group (groups are determined by the age on Dec 31st).  It would have been 2 lengths for Nicola’s Tri, but we asked them to bump him down to the lower age group, which aligns better with his physical size anyway.  At both events, he kicked and doggy paddled gamely, and was only slowed down by his need to take in the scenery and ham it up for the crowd – as usual.  I stayed a couple of meters ahead of him and tried to keep his eyes on the prize – or at least the end of the pool lane.

I heard reports that some parents were pushing or pulling their kids through the water, and obviously I’m not going to get bent out of shape about it at a young age like this, but I will say the point of these events is endurance and that getting the job done (i.e. making it to the end) is the bigger goal, not how fast you complete it.  I’d rather have my sons come in last, having earned every inch of the achievement themselves – who knew I was so hardcore about this stuff?

Nicola’s Tri took place 2 weeks after the C3 Kinetico KOS and I was blown away about how the Lightning Kid took to transition, running out of the pool area along the red carpet to his bike like a kid possessed.

Bike

While we have been getting him to practice on a pedal bike without training wheels, we haven’t been brave enough to let go of the handle yet, especially since he seems to steer pretty erratically, and we figured he’d be freaked out during the race if he had a fall shortly before the big day, so we selected the balance bike for both races.  And yes – it’s pink.  The bike leg has a lot of the same Lightning Kid hallmarks, good speed, big smile, hamming it up for the crowd.  Unlike adult races, I think the kids’ events could stand to have longer bike legs – if only because I think it would favour my kids (while longer bike legs in adult races only penalize me and my lack of bike fitness). They were both basically a lap around the parking lot with me running alongside.

I do help the Lightning Kid put on socks and shoes which is extra challenging with wet feet; he did not want to forgo socks, in spite of my advice.   I have to get my own shoes on during transition too so that I can run alongside (or ahead) and cheer and coach (again as usual).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Run

The Lightning Kid has improved his running the most in the last year – it surprises most people.  He’s also gotten familiar enough with triathlon that he knows when you get off the bike the race is nearly done and he gets what Germans call Endspurt – a final burst of speed to finish the race.  With only about 500 m to run, it’s over so fast, it’s hard for my wife to get caught up and grab a picture.  The best we can do for pictures is the finish line.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shark Boy

Swim

Every year, the swim length seems to double for Shark Boy.  We knew he’d have to manage 100 m this year, so we took to the pool for the 4-5 weeks before the race (on weekends) and tried to increase his skill and endurance.  Every week, he’d have to pass the swim test of 2 pool widths before venturing into the deep end for more practice.   I drilled him in breast stroke, as I feel it’s  a more endurance paced stroke; make no mistake, front crawl/freestyle is faster once you can manage it in a sustainable pace, but plenty of people starting out seem to prefer it, and I know it’s the stroke of choice for recreational swimming in Europe.  Too bad some lifeguards here don’t seem to feel it’s a valid way to swim – I had one lifeguard arbitrarily try to say he hadn’t passed the 2 width swim test for using breast stroke where his face wasn’t in the water enough, and during the Nicola’s tri he was forced to use a flutter board, which slowed him down more.  I know I have to defer to a trained volunteer when it comes to safety, but I do feel there is a bias there.

Being the slowest in his wave (though not the slowest swimmer in his age group, from what I could see) discouraged Shark Boy, even though I tried to explain before and after the race that the overall time is what counted, not when you crossed the finish line (he was in the last wave of the Kinetico Kids Of Steel).  I’m proud of his swims regardless, because through hard work, we took him from not being unable to finish 100 m of swimming to more than capable.

 

Bike

Shark Boy has gotten a hand-me-down mountain bike that has gears in anticipation of a bike camp he’ll be participating in this summer, but though he’s been warming up with it, he wanted his gearless one for the races.

For the Kids of Steel race, he seemed OK on the way out, but I noticed it was taking him a long time to complete.  As I had mentioned before, he was in last place in his own imagination, and I think he got discouraged and lacked motivation.  It was also very hot that day.

For the Nicola’s Tri event, we had a major problem or two.  The course is looped, and though Shark Boy must have listened to 4-5 briefings where the volunteer had the kids repeat back that the bike course had 3 loops, I’m not sure the info really took hold.  I couldn’t follow him through transition, so once he was out of the pool I raced to a spot on the bike course.  I saw him struggling to gain momentum while pedalling furiously, and I knew what the problem was: his chain had come off.  I ran over, had him dismount and showed him briefly how to fix it, then sent him on his way.

Of course this meant I was out of position to tell him to stay on course when he completed the first loop and went straight back into transition….

Run

…and furthermore, he somehow took a short cut on the run course and crossed the finish line after less than 200 m.  He knows how long a 1 km run should feel like (especially from 5 Peaks races of the past), so I can only surmise that he was discouraged to the point where he just wanted this thing over with.

Though he was given a medal, the official results showed ‘DQ’ as his time made no sense in relationship to his competitors who went much further.  It took some serious mother and father pep talk to cheer him up the rest of the day, as we’ve all had results that we weren’t happy with (including my own DNS) that weren’t always the results of bad performance.

For the Kinetico Kids of Steel event, there was no disaster, but he did walk segments of the run course, and I’m still attributing that to discouragement and heat.

He’s placed better in 5 Peaks trail races, than in triathlons so far.   I guess I’m a little discouraged myself to think that at age 7 (meaning he competes with 8 and 9 year-olds) he’s at a level where the training and mental game have to be already pretty high, but it’s actually a good thing for someone who’s had a lot of things come to him fairly naturally (e.g. riding a bike without training wheels by age 3) to learn about the benefits of practice and work ethic.  I just hope he’ll continue to view triathlons as fun.  In addition to being well versed in the technique of transition, he also knows how to blame his equipment in order to justify further spending – he’s been bugging me to get him a road bike which will ride faster than the mountain bike.

Miscellaneous Event Details

Both events are great days out for the family with bouncy castles, face painting and barbecue.

The volunteers do a lot to make the participants and their families feel welcomed, informed and safe.  I love doing triathlon, but I love it even more when the whole family can get involved!