Rob Eakin Triathlete

Race Report – Canada Day Swim and Yaletown Grand Prix

There are plenty of ways to celebrate our nation's birthday. Some enjoy a parade, some enjoy fireworks, and others enjoy a cold one by the lake. I prefer this...

Canada Day for me meant a day full of racing. The morning was spent at Sasamat Lake for an 2k open water swim race and then to Yaletown for the afternoon Yaletown Grand Prix. Not everyone's idea of holiday but I did get to enjoy a cold one with the boys after the races.

I tagged the swim as a solid 2k threshold workout rather than a true "race". So off the start I took it smooth and built into pace to the first buoy. As I reached that buoy I had begun to pass a number of swimmers and then after the buoy settled in behind another swimmer.

I followed this swimmer all the way along the back stretch which turned out to be a mistake. As we came around the buoy to head back to the finish, I decided to pick it up and passed him quickly. It was obvious at that point that I should have done that way sooner and looking my heart rate data after the race confirmed that as I was barely above aerobic threshold the entire time I was behind him.

So I pushed the pace to the finish line, passing a couple of swimmers along the way and finished in 31 minutes flat, a minute off where I wanted to be. So, a little disappointing (especially since I finished just behind all the boys) but still a PB and a decent workout.

The Yaletown race was more of an unknown for me. After watching on the sidelines the past two years, I was excited to finally get out there and test myself against some strong bike riders. At the same time though, I was nervous as I had heard from so many people that it was a dangerous race (but isn't all bike racing really?)

So off the start I hung back to get comfortable going around some of the tight corners at race speed. Unfortunately, the boys at the front went hard straight from the starting gun so there wasn't much time to get comfortable.

The high pace quickly broke the pack up and I had to spend the first 3 or 4 laps riding through those who had been dropped to get back to the main group.

By the time I had found a group to work with, there was a group that was clear of everyone leading the race. Our group worked to reel the leaders in but there just wasn't enough firepower in the group. A number of times when I went to the front of the group I would look back to find I had broken the group apart. It was a nice ego boost but not what we needed to catch the riders in front.

We managed to reel in a couple riders along the way but in the end we were pulled off with about 5 laps left as we were losing ground to the lead group. It was a disappointing end to the race to be sure.

At the same time though, it was a ton of fun. The Yaletown course was way more difficult than the UBC course we do each Tuesday as with so many corners, there was never a chance to recover. And that technical nature of the Yaletown course made riding way more interesting (even if some would say more dangerous) and really lived up to the description that crit racing is "like NASCAR, but with more passing".

So I can't think of a better way to have spent my Canada Day, even if most would argue. Up next is the Vancouver Sprint at Jericho on Sunday.