August 27, 2006 Ironman Canada Triathlon

Rocks!! members, Mike Coughlin and Becky Olacke plus Sudbury native, Kyle Guembel and wife Nicole,competed in this year's prestigious Ironman Canada Triathlon in Pentiction B.C.

Becky was the only rooky here. Her goal was finishing - then hopefully in the 13 hour range. She accomplished both.

Kyle and Nicole Guembel race on the Pro Tri circuit. I'm sure this was their toughest event this year as both struggled on the run.

Mike Coughlin, Coach/Mentor for the Discomfort Zone, has been has been improving his tri abilities for years and his training paid off big time with an overall placing of 55th in a time of 10:03. Did that get him to the "Big Show" in Kona?...Mike tells all.

The Hawaii Rolldown Meeting - by Mike Coughlin

I know many of you are wondering how the Hawaii rolldown meeting went this afternoon after I had a "good, but maybe not quite good enough" race at Ironman Canada yesterday (I'll write a race report eventually). I just got back from the meeting, and this is how it went down...

IM Canada has a reputation for spots rolling down more than the average Ironman race. For those of you wondering what I am talking about, rolldown is the procedure whereby Hawaii Ironman qualification spots which have not been claimed by the outright qualifiers are then offered to other athletes in the order they finished until they are all taken. This is done for each age category.

The number of slots divvied up to each age category is determined by a formula requiring a PhD in differential equations to figure out, but is mainly proportional to the relative number of competitors in each category. The M30-34 category that I was in had 7 slots and I was 11th.

After the registration for outright qualifiers was complete, only 4 of the 7 qualifiers had taken their slot, with the remaining 3 available for rolldown. I was 4th on the rolldown list. Oh boy, this is going to be close...

The rolldown meeting begins and they do the women first. It is always fun watching the rolldown as you get to see people's hopes and dreams over the last season (or several seasons) either vindicated or shattered. Everytime a name was called and there was no answer (you HAVE to be present to claim your spot), an eerie silence fell over the crowd, punctuated by the muffled squeals of those further down the list. For those present to claim their slot, huge cheers from them and their support crew could be heard for blocks. I was sitting with Chris Macknie and Zoe Panchen from Ottawa who were also on the rolldown chopping block. Zoe's name was called and we all cheered (Chris would eventually get his spot too). Then the rest of the women were called and they moved onto the men, and finally the M30-34.

"There were 7 slots in the Male 30-34 category, and 4 were taken. the remaining 3 go to rolldown. 8th place, Darian Dykyj "

Cheers as Darian heads up to collect his spot. Drats!

"9th place, Samuel Badeau"

I was sitting beside Samuel so I knew he was in - he had received a penalty and still went 9:55 for the race - definitely Kona material. Double drats!

"10th place, Reudi Schnyder"

Silence. I remember this guy passing me at Mile 25 as I was running on fumes and could not respond. I had thought to myself "he might be taking my Kona slot". It turns out he was - if he was interested.

"10th place, Ruedi Schnyder"

More silence

"Ruedi Schnyder, are you here? Going once, going twice..."

and just like that, I qualified for the Hawaii Ironman.

(Oh no - I have to do another one of these damn things in 8 weeks, and in the tropical heat!)

Live your Dreams!

Mike

Results

Sunday, September 10, 2006