Magog Pan American Continental Cup

Last weekend (July 22nd), I raced the Magog Continental Cup in Quebec, Canada.  This was my first race in an area where the general public did not speak English readily! The motel I stayed in was also a bit of a surprise with a very euro feel and a chicken coup outside!!

View from my room!

 I got to Canada Thursday evening around 6:30 pm, and did a short bike ride to preview the course.
 Although I ended up not riding the actual course, it was nice to spin the legs out after a 8 hour car ride!

Here is the swim venue- very nice 1500 meter course

The course was really awesome, a 5- loop, 40 kilometer bike ride on rolling hills with a 180 and a short, steep hill for the other turn around. I thought it suited me pretty well.

About the race:

Split was 19:29. Race best was 18:40. Race was a beach start with some water running, about 15" of physical dolphin diving and then swim. Got out really well, especially considering I don't particularly care for beach front starts with my short legs. About 400 meters in, I realized I was next to Dan Theleen, who I knew made the front pack in Dallas, so I figured I was in good position. Rounding the first turn bouy, there was a huge jostle where fists, feet, bows, everything was flying, and I think this is where the front 10-12 guys got away into clean water and opened up about 40 seconds on the chase group, which I was in. I was stoked to get out of the water with Dan T  as well as Alex Hinton, who just got third in Edmonton World Cup.

Love the "Sydney Bike racks"

Race was 25 miles, and I split 59:29 for it. Pretty solid for 5 loops of 5 miles with one very hard hill and the rest rolling. Got out of transition in second of my group, got in my shoes and we immediately started HAMMERING. I mean 28-30 mph pulls on the flats, and I was thinking this was pretty hard. We only made up about 10 seconds on the front pack after two laps of hammering, so we settled into a more manageable pace. I could kill the short steep hill as well as the rollers, but the 180 turn and subsequent sprints out of it were where I was feeling scared of getting dropped. Just thought "pain is temporary, and it is better to be in a group then off the back." We popped two guys off during the ride, and It finished as me, one guy from Mexico and 5 Canadians. We worked well together as a group pace lining the entire time.

Got off the bike and felt pretty tight. Tried to grab a water at each aid station, and at bare minimum pour it over my head. Was drinking some of it, but realized I was only worsening a side stitch if I drank any of it. Anyway, Three guys from my group took the 10K out hard, and I thought it was way too early to be red lining, and two of them came back to me. I neg. split the run pretty well. Could have run better, but my running training has been on the lower end due to the need to improve swimming and biking. This race was a step in the correct direction. 3rd American behind two solid guys, 13th overall beating numerous World Cup winners, and a top 10 U23 athlete from last year. Very happy with this starting to go in the correct direction and first ITU points!

Finishing up the run 13th overall, 3rd American