The Triathlon World Championships is the flagship event of the ITU (International Triathlon Union) and will be held this year in Vancouver on June 6 through 9 and comprises of several races. The elite races are the final qualifying races for the Canadian Triathlon Olympic team for Beijing. An estimated 2600 athletes from 40+ countries will be competing.
We had our volunteer orientation meeting today. I'm part of the Field of Play team. I'm a course marshal which means that I'm a glorified crossing guard. I'm responsible for controlling access to the race course and directing when pedestrians can cross the course. I had hoped to be a transition zone assistant but, oh well. I'll be helping out with Sprint Distance World Championships on Friday and the Elite Women's and Men's World Championships on Sunday. A sprint distance triathlon consists of a 750 m swim, 20 km bike and a 5 km run. The Olympic distance that the elites race is a 1.5 km swim, 40 km bike and 10 km run.
I participated in the 2005 UBC Triathlon so I'm familiar with triathlons from the competitor's perspective. I ran in the Short distance race (400 m swim, 11 km bike, 5 km run). It was quite a challenge since I could barely swim 20 m when I started training for it. I came in 5th place for my age group (there were only 6 in the group) and last (by a fair margin) in the swim. I made up time on the bike leg and had a respectable run.
I have had occasional thoughts about doing another one to complete the sprint distance but I haven't gone swimming since then.
No comments:
Post a Comment