First the statistics:

My swim time was about the same as last year which is amazing to me because I went so far off course this year since the morning sun on the lake had completely blinded me.

T1 was a bit faster which I would largely attribute to my aging wetsuit which has finally stretched out enough that I can get it over by big dumbass calves without shredding the suit.

The bike was 9 minutes faster this year despite my having to stop after having collided with a dog (the dog was ok).

T2 was exactly the same as last year (spooky!).

My run was about 9 minutes faster than last year which is a healthy improvement.

So overall I was 18 minutes faster but finished in 3rd place in my age category this year rather than 2nd. Which just illustrates how competitive the 50 - 54 year old age group is. In fact, I would have won 1st place if I had been in the 45 - 49 age category. Not that I am unhappy with my race or my placing, not at all. I am very happy with the entire day, I just find it ironic that the younger age group was so much slower than mine.

Race day started off early as usual. I was up at 4:30 am and quickly began prepping to leave my motel and drive to the race. I was a bit tired because there had been a noisy wedding at the motel which had kept me awake for most of the night. I was also a little fatigued from having to get up early the day before because I had been volunteering at the Lees Trail Triathlon. I drove to the Shawnigan Lake Community Centre where I parked and then caught a shuttle bus to the race site. It was a beautiful sunny spring warm morning and all the other athletes seemed to be in good spirits.

Race Morning

img src = Meyrick Jones

I found my bike in the transition area and where I also ran into my buddy Mikey T. Ross. This was Mike’s first Half Iron distance race and so he was a bit nervous. However I had no doubt that he would rock the course because he had been doing so well in short course triathlons. I also ran into Mark Shorter who is an accomplished triathlete who has competed in the Ironman World Championships on several occasions. I knew that it was going to be a very competitive day since both Mike and Mark were in my age category.

The cannon fired and the swim began. As I mentioned earlier, the sun was shining directly in my eyes and I could not see any of the buoys that marked the swim course. Therefore I just tried to follow the other swimmers and hope that they knew where they were going. There was plenty of jostling in the water however everyone was pretty well behaved. I was swimming pretty much on my own after the first loop which really concerned me. Usually that means that I am either in last place or I am totally off course. It turned out to be the latter which I only discovered after a friendly kayak began to shepard me towards the course.

As I hurried through the transition zone, I heard Steve King announce that Mark Shorter was heading out on the bike and was currently in 3rd place in my age group. Doh! That meant that I was already way behind both Mark and Mikey. Clearly I was going to have to work hard on the bike in order to make up the time that I lost during the swim.

It was great to see the other Brand Champions out there on the bike and run.  Everyone was looking really slick in their BC gear.

It was a great day for me. I finished 3rd in my age group and 33rd overall with a PR time of 5 hours & 55 seconds. The day was made that much more enjoyable for me because I had so many friends racing with me and also had my family there to cheer me on. Congratulations to everyone that participated in this very well run event.

Here is a pre-race photo of my tri-buds from the English Bay Triathlon Club.

Stylin Triathletes

This is photo of me running for the finish line. Looks like I have some weird torqued out thing going on with my left quad. Freaky!

Shawnigan Finish

Don Smith