Ironman Canada is one of the toughest races in the country.
First, the distances are huge — the 3.8 km swim is
basically the equivalent of swimming to the village from Creekside, the 180 km bike
is like going to Pemberton and back three times, and the 42.2 km marathon at
the end is like running from the Callaghan Valley to Brackendale.
Secondly, the race takes place out of Penticton at the end of
August, and temperatures can often top 30 degrees by the late morning. There
are two big climbs on the bike leg of over 1,000 feet, and athletes can usually
expect to ride into the wind for half the race.
Despite the obvious challenge the race sells out each year, and
more than 2,500 swimmers will be at the start line on Sunday, Aug. 24. This
year nine of those competitors will be from Whistler.
Competing in the pro category is ski racing coach Ollie Blake,
who will be racing against his brother Jordan Blake — the 2006 Ironman
Canada champion. Ollie Blake is still new to triathlons, and competed in
Ironman for the first time last year, where he placed 16
th
overall
with a total time of nine hours, 23 minutes and 15 seconds.
Scott Brammer will be racing his eighth Ironman, but has always
run for personal reasons. For one thing, he says it’s a great way to stay in
shape.
“I just do it to challenge myself and to get into shape
basically,” he said. “Since I signed up last year I’ve lost about 30 pounds.
Obviously it’s a big commitment, but I feel pretty good.
“I went in this year trying to do a little better, and hired
Christine Suter as my coach for the race. As always work gets in the way and
made it hard to train as much as I wanted, but my goal is to finish in 13 hours
— although if I finish before sunset, 13 to 14 hours, I’ll be happy.”
Brammer says he has been training about seven to 10 hours a
week, which is about half has much as he hoped to train. He mostly trains on
his own, but has worked with the Whistler Triathlon Club, and signed up for the
Masters Swim program coached by Brandi and Dave Higgins. “That’s definitely
helped with my swimming, I think that part of my race is the best it’s ever
been.”
Christine Suter is also racing this year, as well as coaching
several athletes for Ironman races and shorter distances. This will be her
sixth Ironman race, and she’s looking at it as a training opportunity.
“My real focus this year was world’s (ITU Triathlon
Championships in Vancouver), so I went through that and went on to do the
half-Iron to build up for the Ironman,” she said. “I have no real goals —
I want to do well, but so does everyone. I’m just going to go out and have the
day that happens.”
Suter also caught a cold recently, which she hopes to recover
from by the weekend. If nothing else she says it helped her to relax this week
by forcing her to taper off her training.
She says she spent the first part of the season training
shorter distances for the worlds, and has average 12 to 15 hours a week since
July.
“Usually you’d be out there for 20 hours a week for months for
an Ironman, which is part of the reason this is more of a training competition
for me than a race.”
As for watching her athletes compete, she says she’s often more
nervous for them than she is for herself.
“It’s extremely exciting and rewarding to watch someone you’ve
coached compete,” she said. “A lot of the athletes I’ve worked with are new to
triathlons, and it was their goal just to compete. To watch them accomplish
their goals is amazing.”
Competing in her first Ironman this year is Gabi Moeller, who
was looking around for a new challenge when she found herself at Ironman last
year cheering on other local athletes.
“I did a big bike trip last year, pre-riding the whole route of
the Tour de France one day ahead of the pros,” she said. “When I finished that
I thought I needed another big goal, and when I went to Penticton with the
Whistler crew I signed up.
“My initial goal was just to finish the race, then I saw people
running in the dark with glow sticks and my goal became to finish before it
gets dark. I’m hoping for around 13 hours or something like that, but my main
goal has always been just to finish.”
Moeller started training right away, which meant focusing on
the swim.
“Swimming has been my biggest challenge,” she said. “Last September
I couldn’t swim 50 metres without hyperventilating, but thanks to Dave and
Brandi (Higgins) that part of my race should be okay.
“Getting up early to do a lake swim on Saturday morning when
you want to sleep in has been tough, but it’s always good once you’re in the
water.”
She feels comfortable on the bike, and also completed her first
marathon in Paris.
“I turned 40, so I signed up for some big things. I did the
Paris Marathon in March, I did the Test of Metal this year, I did the ride in
France, and I’m signed up for Ironman. It’s been a busy year,” she said.
“Right now I’m just excited to get going. I know I’ll be a
little more nervous when I get to Penticton (Wednesday), and it starts to sink
in, but I’ve been enjoying the training.”
Moeller has been training up to 19 hours a week, often
combining two events into a single training sessions. Most of the time she
would go for a run after her bike ride, but sometimes she would get out of the
pool or lake and jump on her bike.
Having so many locals to race with this weekend and the
Whistler Tri Club for support has helped her get to Ironman, said Moeller.
“We can all make fun of each other,” she joked.
Other racers in the mix this year are Taralyn Day, Laura
Henderson, Brandi Higgins, Mark Lyttle, and Jan Pichler. Pemberton’s Scott
Whelan is also racing a Ironman Louisville in Kentucky the week after Ironman
Canada.
The Ironman Canada race gets underway with the pro start at 6:45 a.m. on Sunday, followed by a mass start at 7 a.m. You can watch the race live at www.ironmanlive.com, or visit www.ironman.ca for results.
