The Sudbury and area provided 9 participants in Ottawa's "Canadian Iron Distance Triathlon and Duathlon" events.

Drew Thompson, Donna Smrek and Lise Edwards took on the Full Iron Distance. Laura Anderson, Drew Anderson and Ken Edwards competed in the Half Iron Distance. Greg Bond competed in the Sprint Tri while Bryan Salt took on the Sprint Du. Karen Garrett rounded out the troupe with her successful completion of the Try a Tri. All Results Here.

I thought I would submit a race report for the Canadian Iron Distance Triathlon in Ottawa that took place on August 30, 2008. This was my second visit to the event, in 2006 Donna Smrek, Bob Bagley and I did the Half Iron Distance there and had such a great time we knew if we were going to push the limit it would be there.

So Donna, Ken Edwards and I traveled down to Ottawa on Friday morning. We were meeting Karen Garrett and Brian Salt in Ottawa as they were doing the try-a-tri and sprint duathlon and then doubling as our support crew. When we got to the venue for kit pick up we ran into Drew Thompson in the line up and started getting a little excited about our event. Once the kits were picked up for our group we headed out for some pasta and then early to bed.

Donna and I were doing the full Iron Distance, Ken was going for the half-iron distance, we had a 6:30 a.m. start and we were up at 4:00 a.m. to ensure breakfast was in, a Tim Horton's was found and we could get Donna and her ten bags of gear to the transition in time :)
We rushed to get our special needs stuff organized and off and then only had a few minutes to spare before heading down to the swim start. You would have been proud of us...we were calm and cool...I only had a quick little moment just prior to entering the water, but once the start horn blew we were off...it was a double loop swim and I was working at getting done in the two hour time limit...when I stepped out and looked at my watch and saw that I was out of the water in 1:35 I was so excited....I didn't drown and I got to get on my bike and ride. When I got to the transition area, there sat half a bagel on my helmet from Donna, a little reminder to eat before heading out.

The 180k bike was good, a little windy as far as I was concerned, but the heat was on so we needed the wind to help. I was drinking lots and had Donna and Keisha (my daughter) asking if I needed a fresh drink, Donna was great to see on the bike loops, she was so strong and we talked a few times about how we were feeling. I have to say that having Donna and Ken on the bike course helped keep my mind off the fact that I was on a bike for 7:14....that makes for a bit of a sore butt to say the least!

As always I was happy to be on the run and with a quick change into dry clothes I was off. The run was a 7k loop with the turnaround in the stadium so I got to pass Ken, who by this time was in terrible shape and to say he was bonking would be an understatement. He said he couldn't run, he could barely walk, but wanted to finish so Karen Garrett stayed with him during his last 7k loop to make sure he made it okay. She managed to get him to drink some Coke and have a little banana before the medics had to take over at the finish line...I was happy to get the news that he was being cared for and that he had finished and was doing okay.

Donna looked great and we had one mantra that we shared before the event..."keep moving forward" and that was what we were doing...thanks to the great support of Brian Salt who ran his own marathon between myself and Donna making sure we were doing okay, keeping us company and nicely distracted. Thank you to both Karen and Brian for their help and cheers along the way, it was great having them. Drew Thompson was also on the run course while I was out there and he was working hard in the heat...and gave the high-fives when we ran past him. Thanks Drew for the support along the way...always great seeing friendly familiar faces along the way.

The run into the stadium was great, I felt so good and happy to see my family and friends cheering on the side lines....the experience of a lifetime! Congratulations to Drew Thompson on a great finish, Laura and Drew for their great work in the half-iron distance and it was great to see them at the finish line as well...Karen and Brian for their efforts in their events and to Ken for actually finishing.

Donna finished with a 13:37:29 and looked great and she finished second in our age group...I am happy to report I finished with a time of 14:04:03 and felt amazing and finished third in our age group!!!!

So we did it thanks to the help of the Nickel City Triathlon Club, Mike Hay for his coaching and encouragement, some days I couldn't believe what we were scheduled to do...feeling as great as I do, now I know it was all worth it.

Thanks to Ken for supporting my dream, providing me with a rocking pink tri bike, I wouldn't have been able to do this without him. Thanks to my daughter Keisha and her boyfriend Cory that rode their bikes along the course to make sure we were doing okay, for getting Donna meds when she was stung by a bee along the bike course, for getting the ice baths ready for Donna and I the night of the event and for cheering us on all the way.

Thanks to Buddy Green for getting my swim time down to what I think was an amazing time and for Donna for inspiring me to do my first triathlon and for joining me on this adventure.

So that's it for now...I feel so good that training for Niagara Falls will start this week and hope to see some of the Sudbury Rocks there.

"The more I run, the more I want to run, and the more I live a life conditioned and influenced and fashioned by my running. And the more I run, the more certain I am that I am heading for my real goal: to become the person I am."

Ottawa Half Iron Distance Experience

by Laura Anderson

Hi Vince and Fellow SudburyRocks!!!,

This past weekend, Drew and I traveled to Ottawa to compete in our second half iron distance race. I had put a lot of training into this one. Biking 75km hill workouts, 6am swims at Nephawin Lake and 18km runs after long hard bike rides. I was prepared to go out fast and hard to come home with a time better than last. However as events unfolded during my race, I was shocked to notice that sometime during my transition from swim to bike, that I had lost my timing chip. Disappointment hit fast, as I was told by an official after my bike that I would be disqualified. She told me that I should continue to race, but just for a personal time. After deciding not to be a quitter (and finding my timing chip inside my wetsuit), I decided to go out for the last leg of the race. A 21km run. Because I was coming home with a DNF, I figured that I wouldn’t push the run, and finished it in around 2:16. After sucking up my tears I grabbed my gear and headed out to my hotel room. Later that night, I was curious to see if I would have a DNF or a DQ beside my name, and checked the results online. To my surprise, there was my name: Laura Anderson with a finishing time of 5:53:36 placing 1/7. Drew and I headed back out to the race site to find out how they figured out my time when I didn’t have a timing chip during the transitions or the bike. Apparently the timing officials just took the average transition times and gave them to me, and then the leftover time went to my bike. The speedometer on my bike and the time given to me by the timing officials were only off by about 0.1km/hr.

So…am I ever glad I didn’t quit. It took a lot for me to go out and finish that run, especially after being told I wouldn’t get an official time. I still came home with a better time than my last half, and I also came home with a gold.

Going back to the race later that night gave us the chance to see Lise Edwards smiling as she crossed the finish line in her first ever iron distance triathlon.

Congrats to Lise and Ken Edwards, Drew Thompson and Donna Smrek!!! It was so nice to see Sudbury faces while racing in Ottawa.

This will definitely be on my list for next year.

See you on the roads,

Laura

We had 2 locals in the Oakville 10k and Half Marathon September 1, 2008. Rocks!! member Shawn Schryer competed in the 10k and Mike Laporte took on the half distance.10k

6 SHAWN SCHRYER SUDBURY 10404 37:45.6 37:44.0 3:47 Men 35 - 39 2/26 6/147 (all 10k results)Half Marathon

292 MIKE LAPORTE Sudbury 3239 1:53:21.9 1:53:14.3 5:23 Men 20 - 24 5/11 221/4 (all Half results)

Sudbury Firefighters Take Home Gold in Cobourg

by Ken Stubbings

This is not running related, but it is Sudbury competitive related.

This year Cobourg hosted one of the locations for the 2 day "Fire Fit Competition". (see www.firefit.com for information and a video of what goes on.) This is a firefighter competition where fire fighters carry hoses up a 40' tower, raise another hose up the tower using a rope, run down the tower, hammer a weighted box to simulate forced entry, run around an obstacle course, shoot water from a hose at a target, then drag a 165lb dummy 100 feet. This is all done in their full fire fighter gear including breathing mask. All under 2 minutes for the real fast people. There are both individual races and team relay races.

Lynn and I volunteered to help out. Lynn assisted with resetting the dummy between races. (Plus she checked out the calendar boy fire fighters with abs of steel.) I was a referee on the tower. I had to run up and down the tower (40 ft being 65 steps) following the competitor to make sure he/she touched every step. Talk about hill training. (Overcame my fear of heights too).

I am not sure what is in the water in Sudbury, but the team of very well built Sudbury Fire Fighters took home the Gold in the Team Relay with a time of 1:08.33. That is 1 minute 8 seconds and 33 hundredths of a second. Team results here.

Note: Sudbury Fire Fighters also competed in the Individual Section. Results here.

Way to go Sudbury.