CANADA’S EASTERN CHAMPIONSHIP SWING
OTTAWA AND MONTREAL
CANADIANS CAN LOOK forward to a couple of international events in Eastern Canada next year – Ottawa will serve as the national championship and a CAMTRI again in 2017 and, thanks to an auspicious debut, Montreal appears set to become a popular stop for age groupers and elites alike at the Montreal International Triathlon, an ITU World Cup event.
Ottawa’s event, set at Dow’s Lake in the heart of the city, will qualify 10 athletes per age group for the world championships in both the standard distance race and the new age group draft-legal sprint event. In addition to the junior national championship and elite CAMTRI race, the weekend also includes a Kids of Steel race for kids from under five to 13, and finishes with the always exciting mixed-team relay that sees four athletes (two men and two women) each complete a 300 m swim, 5.2 km bike and a 1.6 km run. B.C.’S junior team took the title this year, but will certainly face some stiff competition in the hunt to defend their title in 2017.
Montreal’s race, set in the heart of Old Montreal, includes an agegroup standard-distance race along with another age-group draft-legal sprint race followed by an exciting afternoon of junior and elite racing. This year’s race featured 25 C water for the swim at the Jacques Cartier Basin followed by a spectacular ride through the historic city streets (cobblestones and all) followed by a 1.65 km run loop. It’s a spectator’s paradise and lots of fun for the athletes, too. The 2016 race featured a dozen Olympians who used the race as their final prep before Rio, giving Canadian triathlon fans a chance to see some of world’s best triathletes in one of North America’s most spectacular cities.–