Pre Race Report - Edmonton World Cup

I feel this day has been a long time coming. Since making my first Canadian U20 team in 1997, I never figured that it would be 10 years until I was able to get my first World Cup start. I'm very grateful for the starting spot here in Edmonton, now I just have to go out and race to my abilities.

We left Victoria Friday morning, arriving in Edmonton around 1pm. Kyle and I are staying at the Coast Edmonton Plaza, just a short walk from the race hotel. Kirsten and I got our run workout finished with, then we all headed to the pre-race meeting and the dinner that followed.

Swim and Run Map
Bike Map

The swim takes place in Hawrelak Park. The water temperature is on the borderline of either being a wetsuit swim or not. If it is 20.0 C or warmer, then no wetsuits (good thing!). Any cooler, and it means everyone in wetsuits (bad thing for me!)

I am the penultimate ranked athlete, which means I will most likely be on the far right side of the field, as the swim curves to the left at the beginning, and thus the left side will be slightly shorter. Luckily for me, Andrew McCartney will be starting right beside me, so hopefully we will have a nice train flying up the right hand side at the start of the swim!

The bike course is pretty interesting, and is pretty much as I remember it from Nationals here in 1999. Out of the park, and we are greeted by Emily Murphy Hill, a short climb, before traveling along Saskatchewan Dr, then flying down Groat Rd. After crossing the bridge, we take the off ramp, come under the highway, take the on-ramp back on, and head back towards transition zone. 6 loops in total makes up the bike.

The run looks to be fairly flat, with a short incline to the turn-around point out of the park. Three loops in total for the run.

Today we did some pre-race training on the course, but otherwise kept off the feet in the hotel room. A group dinner at Boston Pizza, and we caught a funny movie afterwards - Knocked up.

Well, that's the race in a nutshell, time for bed. Hopefully I can get a decent sleep tonite, that usually doesn't happen the night before a race! I have no real expectations placed on myself here, I just want to have a solid race, and most importantly have a solid run split.

I'll have a race report early in the week, once we get back to Victoria.