Orillia Race Report - KOS & Duathlon

Kids Of Steel - Saturday

On Saturday we headed up to Orillia (90 minutes north of Toronto) for the Kids Of Steel race.  We thought about going up last year but couldn't get organized as I was racing the following day.  This year, Tammy was racing the Du so we decided to go up and stay overnight.  It sounded like a lot of fun as I knew several families going up.  Peter A (childhood friend), Paul and Cathy S (fellow master swimmers), and Doru.  All of us have kids and all were racing.  Heading up to Orillia was a mess as there was a traffic accident and we were stuck in traffic for a good hour.  For once we left early enough to make it to Orillia before registration closed.  It was fun walking the kids through the process, getting them set up in transition and explaining what they were going to do. We were a little worried about not being able to help the kids out during transition but there were tons of volunteers to help them out.  The race was delayed for about an hour because of the thunder and lightening.  Try telling kids to wait for an hour with nothing to do in the pouring rain but finally lightening ended and they were ready to go!

Pre race jitters

Jake was the first one to start.  He was in the 4-5 age category and the race was 25 meter swim (well water running actually as it was shallow), a 500 meter bike ride and a 100 meter run.  It was pretty chaotic as parents were yelling and screaming at their kids and then started running along the beach to follow them (I was guilty as well). 

I have to pee!

Dad, he said I need a timing chip.  What's a timing chip?

Get outta of my way!

 



 The hardest part was Vanessa who was in the second wave right behind Jake so while I was following Jake, Tammy was watching Vanessa and then all hell broke loose. Jake was on the bike course, Vanessa was coming in to T1 . Tammy followed Vanessa out on the bike while Jake had come in to T2 and started to run and I had to take Rebecca to her swim start. By the time Rebeeca was coming in to T1, Vanessa was still on the bike and Jake had finished his run but neither Tammy and I were there at the finish.  I yelled at Tammy go to the finish line and meet Jake.  All this time, other parents were running around and yelling at their kids.  For an observer, it must have looked war had just broken out with everyone yelling and running all over the place.

Although Rebecca was not yet 8 years old, she had to race in the 8-9 age group as its based on the year you are born (DOH!!  I forgot about that).  She was one of the smallest kids and not the strongest swimmers.  Fortunately, she was allowed to use a swim noodle as she had to swim 100 meters (the water was too deep to walk), ride 5 km (I don't think she's ridden more than 500 meters) and then run one km (nope, never done that before).  By the time she finished the swim, the rain was pouring down and she had to ride but she finished with a smile (which is more than I can say I've ever done)

Run Rebecca Run!!

Finish my first triathlon!!

Vanessa heading into T1

Help with transition

Tammy giving Vanessa directions

All in all, it was an excellent day for the kids to finish their first triathlon.  It was a long and exciting day for everyone and I think its a great way to get the kids active.  I looked around and there must have been over 100 kids which is pretty awesome given the crappy weather.

The Duathlon - Sunday

This was Tammy's longest race and it was my turn to watch the kids for over 2.5 hours.  No problem because Paul and Cathy's three kids would be there and they usually play great together.  The skies were overcast but according to the weather channel, the rain should hold off until noon so that means at some point during the race, we were going to get wet.

Mommy, don't leave me with daddy!

Finishing the first run

Who's kids are these?



A long wait

Tammy did the first run two kilometers in good time and headed out onto to the bike.  This was the longest bike she's ever done (including training).  We rode together on Friday (while the kids were in day camp) and I  told her about gearing down when riding up hills (ie high cadence).  I guess most of her training rides are flat and while Orillia is not a hilly course, it was pretty hilly for her.  She rode the bike faster than I thought she would.

Coming in from Tammy's longest bike (30 km)

The third part was a 7 km run and I knew this was going to be the toughest part for Tammy.  The kids were great but I think they were getting hungry as they've been up for 4 hours and wouldn't eat any breakfast.  I didn't bring any food because I thought the snack bar would be open.  Why any one wouldn't want to open a snack bar when there were about 500 people milling around for a couple of hours, is beyond me.

Tammy's run was a little longer than I figured and we moved down to the finish line after hanging out by transition for most of the time.  It was getting darker and darker and I knew we were going to get wet so at least the finish line area had tents and lots of trees.  While we were waiting by the finish line, I saw a runner come in that looked liked Greg, the guy I bought my wetsuit from several years ago.  Greg has done IMLP a couple of times but was done with racing.  He's semi-retired and moved to Mexico part time but recently rode his motorcycle across Canada.  Later on, I did meet up with him and it was Greg.  We chatted for a couple of minutes and it was good to catch up.

Tammy came in just as the rain start pouring down.  What timing and the kids were really beginning to lose it!!  Here over time was 2:28 which is pretty good and was happy to have finished.

Ok seriously, we need a bike rack.

We need a bike rack