Triathlon Worlds!

Jenn is keeping up her triathlon fitness these days, she really enjoys it! Luckily for her our summer holidays just so happened to coincide with the ITU World Triathlon Grand Final, which was being held in Edmonton this year! One advantage of living on a small island is that it’s easier to gain entry to these events that only give a certain amount of spots to every participating country…!

Jenn somehow managed to wind up being ‘team captain’ (just can’t say no!), which truthfully didn’t entail a ton of work. She organized the team’s hotel (the Courtyard Marriott downtown, which had stunning views of the river valley as pictured from their terrace above), she ordered their team triathlon suits and jackets, and helped with logistics for her arriving teammates.

Of course, her teammates included none other than her usual ‘partners-in-tri’ Kandis and Alex!

After we did our touring around the province, it was all about the business of triathlon once back in the Edmonton area. This included testing out the water in the freshly-dredged lake in Hawrelak Park and getting her bike ready with a tune-up at the United Cycle booth at the expo. We had brought it all over the province with us in our minivan so she could still train while we travelled around.

The event was spread out over a whole weekend, with several different races, including the Elite races, taking place in the days leading up to Jenn’s ‘Age Group’ race. Jenn’s race was an Olympic-distance one which is made up of a 750m swim, 40k bike and 10k run.

Jenn’s race was on Monday (Labour Day). She was required to put her bike into the transition area on Sunday morning (rules are rules!), and the rest of Sunday was spent relaxing at my parents place in Fort Saskatchewan (our friend Kirsty, hubby Joe and young daughter Annika came out for a visit). That night she went in to stay with the team at the hotel in the city – her race started at 7:30am the next morning, so a good night’s sleep (without kids!) was in order!

There wasn’t much spectating happening from the usual Wilson support crew this time around – the course was pretty closed to that sort of thing. Plus, between wrangling kids, getting into the city, parking, and getting the shuttle to Hawrelak Park to watch, it didn’t leave much time and we were only waiting about 10-15 minutes before Jenn came across the line!