Monday, May 25, 2009

Subaru Shawnigan Lake International 1/2 Iron Triathlon Photos

[Photo link at bottom of post.... if you find one of yourself please take it - just leave me a note in the comments... Thanks!]

Sunday was the Subaru Shawnigan Lake International 1/2 Iron.


If you are going to slap a grand title like that on a race it better be good - and this one is awesome!

Although the race was by no means large (around 300 competitors in the 1/2, Oly, and Sprint) it is star-studded (simon whitfield, brent mcmahon, jasper blake, katya meyers, lisa mensink), well organized, and in one of the most beautiful venues you can imagine.  I had to hand it to Lifesport - they have a great event - and kudos to my friend John Botelho who is the race director.

This event is pencilled into my race calendar for next year.

This year I was supporting my good buddy Kevin who was racing on his 307th birthday....  just kidding Kev....


Also, Vincent, who I met right here in the blogosphere...


And, Mark Shorter, who I know a little from the North Shore racing community...


Before I get ahead of myself.....  the trip started with a 10 minute ride to the ferry in Horseshoe Bay - rather uneventful except for the flat I got.  Of course I had NOTHING - no tube, no tire levers, no pump, no co2, zip, zilch.... all on my other bike.  Luckily I ran into a super nice couple that had everything - they patched my tire and I was good to go on the other side.  [Note:  Karma...  I always help people with flats - it's my policy.  When my turn came the first person I asked basically had every single thing I needed....  it was awesome.]




Upon exiting the ferry I promptly took a wrong turn and rode north for 5 minutes...  (no map either.)  Normally I am like a sea turtle (as my good friend Llorn always says) when it comes to direction - not this time.  After that issue was sorted, I settled in for a quick and highly enjoyable 55km on loooooong rollers south to Duncan where Kevin and I met for dinner.

Kevin had lined up a B&B called Shirley's Cozy Nest.  Fortunately the nest featured a cot for yours truly...  placed conveniently at the foot of Kevin's 200 sq.ft king size bed.  I fell asleep watching sweet triathlon movies from the 90's - that decade was tragic for triathlon style.


You really MUST click on this one to see it full size...

Anyway, I shouldn't turn this into a full report since I wasn't even racing...  my boys all did really well - Kevin PR'd, Vince rocked it and took 5th among the men, and Mark Shorter took 2nd in his age group.

I had a blast taking photos (and I am getting better!) but left VERY hungry for Escape from Alcatraz in a few weeks.  One can only do so much watching.

Here are a few more from Sunday:

Simon Whitfield did the 1/2 swim and the Olympic Swim/Bike...

Katya Meyers about 1km into the run...

Race Leader...  not sure who it was at this point...

A few minutes before the cannon....


Damn it LeBron... 

Here is a link to all my photos from Sunday:






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11 comments:

Vincent said...

Hey, like I said in the e-mail, these photos are amazing. I hope you don't mind, but expect to see a lot of them on my blog. I'll link them to you though.

Thanks a lot for coming out, was great having the cheering, especially on the run. I needed it there.

Legs are feeling real sluggish but no pain which is great.

I had a busy day in lab yesterday, but hope to have a lot of breaks today so should have my report up by the afternoon.

Ryan D said...

those pics are sick... i bet they don't even come close to doing the justice...

Andrea said...

I think you set a PR - 8 days without a post. Seriously, I was starting to get worried.

Isabelle Julien said...

sweet! funny pic with the paper!!! :)

Jeremy Hopwood said...

Grabbed a couple photos of myself of the Picassa site (Photos 22, 23 and 198 to 202).

Went through whole album and some awesome shots there - great photography.

Just checking out your blog, good writing will add you to my blogroll.

Cheers

Jeremy

MJ said...

Great race Jeremy! Glad I could supply a few photos for you!

Cheers,

Chloe said...

Ok. No lie. I had that suit the sweet day-glow pink with black. Good old TYR pulled through back in the day! I'll have to dig up a picture.

Vincent said...

yeah, if I didn't race half iron, but olympic, I would try and emulate that sweet style. Maybe at the Apple I'll rock out a bright speedo

MJ said...

My favourite element of that photo BY FAR is the fact he has two watches on... WTF?

I notice she has one on as well... Perhaps they are doing a relay (she's swimming, and he is biking/running) one watch for each split?

Funny.

Vincent said...

what were the triathlon movies you were watching?

MJ said...

We watched:

Triathlon Through The Eyes of The Elite (that was the very 80s/90s one)

and

What it Takes (which is more recent.)

Cheers,