Welland Triathlon Weekend

It would have been nice to swap the weather from Saturday to Sunday!  Both days were on and off a little gloomy and featured a mixed bag of weather including a little rain here and there.  All in all though it was a great weekend for racing.  Sunday was a little on the hot side though and by mid-afternoon you could see the pain on the athletes faces.

On to the actual races!  Saturday’s venue was as expected terrific.  MultiSport made a few changes to the course including moving the finish line outside which was fantastic.  The bike out/in transition was also a lot better and much more spacious and efficient.  The course itself is flat as a pancake and led to some very fast times.

The First Annual (and definitely not the last) Half Iron in Welland was nothing short of amazing.  Over 300 athletes gutted out a 2000 meter swim, 90k bike and 21.1k run.  That leaves just the most brutally insane (in a good way) to run the Half Iron Duathlon (7.5k run, 90k bike, 21.1k run).  GEEEZE!

Resident Elite Pro athlete Wolgang Guembel crushed the course in 3:56:49!  It was also a nice touch that his Dad and mom also ran the course.  His dad is training for his first Ironman Canada (at 60 years old).  Must be genetic!

Bob Hatcher (my right hand shooter took care of home base pretty much the entire weekend while I wandered (and drove) off to get interested bike shots, run shots and other shots from the course.  Sunday found me in Lowbanks, chatting with some locals who welcomed me to park in their driveway and offered me water and such.  It was a terrific spot with a clear view of Lake Erie and the shoreline along with some nice trees and such.

Over 12,000 photos were taken on the weekend and all are posted and indexed in our events area (just click on the link above to view all the events).

In happiness and health as always,
Mike C.