Looks like somebody spilled the beans early on that one. I'd be interested in that event if it turns out to be real.

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Dimond Bikes Superfan

Whether it is real or not, my Ironman days feel over. I can't imagine pulling myself together for IM fitness if this happens a hear from now. But assuming it happens, please come and race in our city, as it should be pretty awesome. I would imagine that the course will be reasonably fast assuming what I know about organizing events in this city and what roads you get authorization to shut down.

On a plus note if I do try and race, I don't need Nirvana, I don't need Air Canada losing my bike and can sleep in my bed and ride my commuter bike to swim start, lock it up and pick it up the next day (ride my TT bike home after racing). That would be cool.

Up and down the gats could slow things down.

What do you think Dev, swim at Britannia, bike on the Mikan and/or into the Gats, run through Andrew Haydon?

IM on Mikan (hate that name change BTW) ? Yikes. That is a lot of back and forth.

Brittania would be ok, into the gats, then run east to war museum, parliament, up one side of the canal and back down. Almost no traffic impact

Honestly I would thank Gatineau Park is "too hard" to make an IM successful. Each 42km loop is 680m (or so) of vertical). that is literally a 2800m vertical race. At best one loop and back to Ottawa on the various parkways, but I would think that with all the bridge closures and also dealing multiple layers of government (city of Ottawa, city of gatineau, NCC and multiple police forces), going across to the Quebec side is a pain (although the Ottawa Marathon does deal with all of that so who knows).

If I was organizing it, I would just close the normal Sunday bike day parkway routes, and you can easily have three loops of 60km WITH NO ADDITIONAL HEADACHE for the city compared to the same roads being closed EVERY SUNDAY. For the citizens of Ottawa nothing changes. The same roads are closed as every Sunday and on that weekend it is just an Ironman rather than random citizens cycling.

Further to that if it "just multiple parkway loops" (Western Parkway + Colonel By alone is 42 km round trip from Brittania to Carleton U as that was the Ottawa marathon course back in 1993....also my PB open marathon). Add in a loop on Queen E and you have 52km and on Col by all the way to Hogs back makes it 56km. So you just need to come up with 4 km more somewhere if you need to come up with 60km (maybe a loop thru carleton U). A course like that would be around 400m-500m of vertical for the entire race as you would need to climb Parliament hill 2x per loop and go to Hogs back 1x per loop. It's not totally flat but fast enough that people will keep coming back because the course is not TOO HARD (compared to Tremblant or LP).

Lots of hotels downtown assuming most of the run is downtown on the paths (easy to do at 4x5.5k out and back) like in Nice or Zurich and jack up the atmosphere. They could make the run "harder" going down by locks behind parliament hill. Lots of possiblities without going up to Gatineau Park. If I was the organizer, I would not take on that headache because the upside of how nice it is there, is not worth the organizational headache and slow times people would have.

We all know that easier courses with atmosphere "sell" so this is what I would focus on.

Now if this is happening I truly hope they have a 70.3 on the same day to both keep numbers up and selfishly so I can race.

The Nirvana link is blank now. What was the potential race date?

I still have the page loaded. Aug 3 2025

I’m intrigued!
Although, interesting timing with LP being late July and only 3hrs drive away.

 
i get the interest in avoiding closures. but i wonder if its hard to get people excited to pay what one does on a normal weekend in ottawa anyways.

Wasn't there talk of this being the last year of LP ?

 

For Lake Placid every year for the last twenty years has been the last year.


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Once, I was fast. But I got over it.

Maybe Ottawa can be the goose that kills the golden LP egg.

I went and did LP race 12 times and got increasingly pissed off with the hotel minimal stays and gouging, and the hostility of the locals. I get it, having a flood of triathletes is painful, but if you are a tourist city this is what you have to deal with. Suck it up and deal with it. If IMLP gets killed because there is an IM Ottawa and my local community gets all the $$$ more than happy for LP to die on the vine after years of acting entitled (my last round at LP was 2013, but did it every year but two from 1999 to 2010).

I was planning on making a run at Maryland or LP, but the opportunity to do it on "home roads" is too big an opportunity to pass up - even if I've done whatever route they're planning a million times. Usually for these things its a struggle to shlup the kids around and find things for them to do, but if I can stay at home and stay in my own bed? Why not?

My bet is that they leverage the parkways and Mooney's bay for the swim. There's already a local tri that runs a few events out of there and it connects to the parkways with other minimal road closures. Two lap swim and then 3 (?) laps of the parkways. Maybe a lap of Gatineau if they're feeling spicy -take Champlain off the parkway to get there. The run can be on one of a few of the multi-use paths (Rideau Canal - Our Unesco heritage site - anyone?) that all converge in the area, or just through the local neighbourhood as the local tri does today.

Tons of parking at Canada Post, and a reasonably close connection to the LRT Line 2 (Confederation station), if it ever gets operational again. Plus, there's the mother of all climbing structures there for the kids, and a finish line at the Terry Fox facility.

The only question with any of the parkway routes is whether the LRT construction will interrupt.

So it turns out that Col By, Kitchizibi, and Gatineau without Champlain all make for more or less 90km route. Two loops would make a tough route through Gatineau, but this would be IMO, the most scenic route through downtown. And (critical for a town called Autowa) you can get away with really only closing 1 or 2 roads more than they usually do on a Sunday for bike days.

i'd sure welcome an IM in Ottawa and personally would love the Aug 3 date, but it is a long weekend; might be tough on the area?

mooney's bay looks like a great swim venue.

If the date is indeed Aug 3, 2025 - Anyone hazard a guess as to what slots it would offer?

I'm guessing that it would be Men 26 for Kona and Women 26 for Nice?

Actually on your map if you take the Quebec side out and go from Mooney's back to Lincoln fields and back that is literally 45 km (22.5km out and back). 4x would make the Col By section busy, but the rest from parliament hill to Lincoln fields you have four lanes. If you did the quebec side then as you said, it is almost 90km per loop without Champlain. That would make for a tough day...probably over 2000m of climbing overall so in the range of LP and Tremblant

Tamara Lich and Chris Barber have been hired to handle road closures.

You could also add Rockcliffe/Etienne Parkway for each loop and then only do Gatineau once, which is more reasonable. Col By x2, Kitchizibi x2, Rockcliffe/Etienne Parkway x2, and Gatineau x1 works out to 190k even with Champlain lookout, so just move the turnaround cones in a bit on the parkways and you'd have it. The only trouble is crossing over onto Rockcliffe would be having to keep traffic closed through the downtown area for the day.

Post of the day, week, month..

Heard it’s true. Interested to see the course! I think it’ll be a big hit here.

Maybe even two transitions; meech lake swim and gat loop to parkways with T2 in Mooney’s

I hadn't thought of a 2-Transition race - though having everyone descend from Gatineau would solve the elevation problem. Though the Meech Lake tri is much smaller than this would be - I'm not sure where you'd put T1, other than in P11, but then how do you get there?

If we think through where the swim course will be held, there's really only a few candidates where you can OWS:
-Meech Lake - easily the best swim course, but not much area for T1
-Britannia Bay: could work and lots of space for transition with a good run nearby on the MUP, but the river swim might be iffy, and the route that Somersault used to get to the parkway wasn't the greatest back when they were running a Tri out of that area (20km/hr neutralized zone on the MUP)
-Mooney's Bay: As I discussed above
-Manotick Mahogany Bay: Decent for a swim, but getting in/out of the water is tricky for a tri; no place for T1

Any other places I might have missed? Unless they're planning on taking everyone out to the rural areas (like the Gran Fondo route to the west, or the Manotick-Merrickville cycling route south), it would seem that a substantial portion of this race is going to be on the parkways.

the bring on the bay swim course could be used. Add a bit to the 3km course.

That could work - the other one I missed was Dow's lake but the route would more or less be the same vs Mooney's bay. Just trade one side of the canal for the other.

Back in 2016 and 2017 Triathlon Canada organized Sprint and Oly "nationals" in Ottawa. They combined the event with a juniors, u23 and elite CAMTRI ITU race. I thought it was a great event. I suspect the idea was to try to do some really competitive nationals like the US does. Unfortunately, it didn't gain a ton of traction besides a bunch of us from Ontario and Quebec. However, some of the AGs were reasonably competitive.

Swim venue was: Dow's Lake lol. Bike course was on Colonel by Dr, so it made for some really fast bike splits ~40 kph, despite having a few turns.

Unless they do a down canal/river swim, Dow's lake can only fit a 1,500 m swimming loop, so I don't think this could be the right swim venue.

For the swim, lots of options using the area from Kite surfer point at Brittania to Brittannia yacht club and back x 2 loops (you just overshoot the point a bit on the way back and go west and then turn around and come back to make it 1900m). I think there is plenty of room in Dow's Lake too (same water and Mooney's...roughly) or at Mooney's. If they do it at Brittannia, it would make more sense to just have athletes ride up to Carling Ave and then take the ramp to the parkway. You would need to close Carling ave for 1 km from first swimmer (say 7:50 am) to last around 1.5 hrs later (2:20 last swimmer minus 50 min first swimmer is 1.5 hrs, add 30 min for rolling start and 15 min for slow transition and we're at 2:15), so you have to close Carling from 7:50 am to 10:05. Then after that if it is no Gat park Ottawa side ride you're just on Sunday bike closures, but you have to put T2 somewhere else not back at Brittannia because otherwise you have to keep Carling closed till 5:30 pm which would be hard. If it is at Mooney's bay or Dow's Lake you can have T1 and T2 there and not have to worry about road closures.

Ottawa Is a fantastic city with amazing residents

Great place for this

Where would you put the athletes village for a Dow's Lake swim (or T1 for that matter)? The big parking lot near Dow's is currently becoming a parking garage.

I suspect the most logical place in the city would be City Hall/Confederation park. It's a good area for a finish line, but other than the canal (ew) there's no water in the area. So a 2 transition race with T2/Finish there?

Does anyone have a screenshot of the page ? Would be greatly appreciated

Hmm, I was planning on sticking to 70.3 or shorter after this year, but it would be hard to pass up a chance to do this. I can't imagine swimming in Dow's Lake (and forget about the canal).
Will be interesting to see what route they come up with.

I did the Ottawa Iron Distance race twice years ago and it was based out of Mooney's bay and then bike and run multiple loops along the canal. Pretty boring route, so doubt they will do that.

Something to keep an eye on!

I did the 2019 Superleague race in Ottawa with Canal swim. Wasn't too bad...just don't drink too much. 😬

I have a source who confirmed that there is not an event permit for that weekend in Ottawa, so it's either not finalized or it's on the Quebec side (which makes more sense to me).

Lac Lemay would be great...Take off from casino marina, T1 at the parking lot near Reno Depot (would have to be a winding route, but can work). Bike course easy access to 105 up to just past Wakefield X2. Run could use all of the incredible paths on the Quebec side, including de la brasserie, in front of Civilization museum (seeing Ottawa skyline and parliament).

To quote the late OJ Simpson..."If I did it". That's the route I would plan.

That’s a really interesting route. I don’t know anything about the swimming in Lac Leamy, but always see tons of people biking on the 105.

I would think though that some of it, maybe the run or run finish, would have to take place in Ottawa.

Lac Leamy is beautiful for swimming. It's a quarry, so can be chilly, but water is super nice. It's also the largest urban park in the National Capital area.

Someone told me the swim is being planned for Britannia, location of the old Riverkeeper, Ottawa River, Britannia Beach triathlons. Not sure the validity of the information. I don't really see a great bike/run course from that area.

That's what my first assumption was. Somersault was told they could no longer offer their Ottawa Tri event after 20+ years, because the NCC would only issue permits for events of 1000+ participants or something. That kind of sounded like a hint of something to come.

I guess we'll see. That area would require a TON of road closures and paid police duty....not to mention on a long weekend. Plus Britannia water quality has regular risks of not being viable - esp. late summer.

Hopefully we find out soon!

I think you might be onto something.

 

I won't happen, but they could do the whole event in the park with Lac Meech.

It could be the toughest IM event in North America if they wanted.

Again, not gonna happen.


Alternatively, along the 105 with a feed zone at Jean Burger could be popular.

Yeah, unfortunately Ironman events with particularly tough courses aren't a huge draw. And the Meech cottagers would shit a chicken if there was an Ironman on the lake. No way that's happening.

The Jean Burger feed station made me legit howl at my breakfast table. Solid poutine at that joint...it's been a frequent stop on my long rides up to Wakefield...which is probably what keeps me solidly in the Clydesdale category.

I plotted a 90 km on the 105 (pure speculation, but figured it will be a two loop type of race) and it is still ~900 m elevation gain per lap. So Muskoka-Tremblant type of hilly even on the 105.

How far up the 105 does it go? The past the Wakefield turn around / Tim Hortons?

Sounds perfect. Nice & rolling...no crazy climbs. Flat courses are boring.

Beyond that would be sketchy in terms of traffic IMO

But at this point it's Ironman Gatineau. My money is 90+ % on the Ontario side

The more I think about it, I bet it will be the parkway, from Lincoln Heights to Parliament, along Sussex past Rockliffe airport, as someone said along a lot of road closed every Sunday.

Yeah, Wakefield would be at around 30 km mark, so I added another 15 km just north of Wakefield. Again, all speculation.

The cycle for CHEO route is 70km and seems like there is room to extend it a little, could maybe form the basis form an IM course.

https://ridewithgps.com/trips/34331221?lang=en

 

nah we put the bike turnaround at kazabazua, feed at the binerie

that's the route I would see. The whole part along the Ottawa river, maybe x3 then the part along the canal for the run. Works with the Brittania swim. 1.5km from me to go watch

Kaz-Croute!

I'd love to see it on the Ottawa side, but I just don't see a viable swim option with space for transition, mainstage, expo etc.

But you never know...sometimes Ironman has fragmented races with swim and/or T1/2 in different spots.

There is a lot of room between Westboro beach and Champlain bridge.

Ok...it's obviously happening, and it's obviously going to be on the Ottawa side of the River.

Check out this quote from Lesley Pincombe, VP of Business & Major Events for Ottawa Tourism in Jan 2024 - “...We have so much green space and we want to host maybe an Ironman or triathlons using our canal, our waterways, and our roadways. We have over 800 kilometers of bike paths here."

Source: https://www.sportspromedia.com/insights/interviews/iihf-world-junior-championships-2025-ottawa-hosting-strategy-ice-hockey/


Not sure how this quote didn't create more buzz at the time.

....aaaand Ironman just gave a hint that an annoucement will be coming tomorrow for a new event in the NorthEast...and shows a Canadian Flag.

Yep. And based on what you can see looks like "Ironman Ontario"
08/03/2025

I think it is:

IRONMAN
CANADA 🍁 OTTAWA

99.999% for sure Ottawa/Gatineau try to book hotels now and already sold-out. July 31st-Aug 4th 2025 Can only mean that Ironman already pre-book many hotels!

My spare room is available.

We have a few Kickrs, a treadmill, a running path (rail trail) behind the house and a Masterspas Swim Spa.

I'll start the bidding at $500/night.

Where did you see the announcement?

Re: hotels. If you look a month prior it is the same. Some hotels don't release their rooms more than a year in advance.

It's on a few regional IM Facebook pages. Here is link to IM Lake Placid's page:

https://www.facebook.com/...LoC/?mibextid=oFDknk

I think this is probably the case

If they're already closing Wellington for the bike, it wouldn't be a huge stretch to have the run go in front of Parliament hill so you can get the action shots of running by there. Use the river pathway to get there.

Plus, all the big running races finish at Confederation/City Hall, so it wouldn't be a stretch to have the race finish down that way, either.

Since the announcement of the announcement is out, you all post your questions on the thread. I got an invite from the organizers at Ironman to join the launch press conference tomorrow (Tuesday 16 April). Fire away and I will try to ask whatever the can at the event tomorrow

 

given that the obc had to can the grand prix, which is not that many people, for just a few hours, and had quite a lot of history, just because of park usage issues, i can't see an ironman using it.

Could they something out Carleton University?

Where is the press conference?

I'd like to know how many years the agreement is for, and if it's organized by Ironman NA or if it's a license/franchise event like Muskoka

Will it be part of the Pro Series in 2025?

Ironman usually want an iconic setting for their races.

If the swim is in the canal will they allow snorkels?

Really I would love an out and back from NAC to Pretoria bridge and back with a T1 right on QE driveway. For one day a year, that water is no worse than pretty well everything I have raced at in Europe. It can't be worse than Paris Olympic 2024 in the Seine. It is effectively the same water as Dow's Lake....just not sure how much city run off hits canal directly, but I am guessing the additional water quality drop off from Dow's lake to NAC is from City water run off in the rain from streets. I don't THINK any untreated sewage hits the canal like it does in the Seine.

I'm thinking a long weekend in August though will have a lot of boat traffic. Not sure they would want to close that off and could be gassy.

The worst water I've swum in:
1. IM Arizona - nasty cold canal. Great for people who were watching the race though
2. IM Texas - warm, and just gross. Smelled like compost.
3. Kingston Tri 2023 - water quality was good, but you had to swim through very high weeds for the last 100 or so metres. Much preferred when we jumped off the ferry/boat

The best:
1. Cozumel
2. Tremblant
3. Nice

The sewage issue used to be the river - since that's where the runoff goes if there's a huge storm that exceeds the old city's single drainage system. Though they've since upgraded their facilities so now it needs a much bigger storm to dump sewage.

I think the issue with canal is more the lack of water movement and shallow depth and so icky things tend to grow (moss, algae, etc.) vs in the lake. Its probably perfectly fine, but would *feel* gross. I haven't done the Ottawa canal, but Mooney's bay (which feeds the canal) is perfectly fine for swimming.

I suspect most of my questions will be announced tomorrow anyway, but...

• Who's the RD?
• How long is the deal for?
• Route/locations?
• Is this IM only, or is there a 70.3 with it?

And also the most important thing... How many Kona/Nice Slots? :)

ETA: (If the mayor is there) Ask if Sutcliffe if he's doing it!
Also, can we get the LRT running early on race morning?

Yes, this is it. I'm assuming that for an event of this size they could probably open the locks at the Chateau end a few days before and pull fresh water from up the Rideau. It's no different from what they do for the skating (drain/fill).

For Superleague 2019 they also dragged the swim area to get rid of weeds.

Canal swim would be UNREAL for spectators, the water would be calm, and it would be right downtown.

I disagree with out/back. Too much risk of head-on collisions. It's not that wide and a lot of people are terrible at sighting.

No way that the city is that coordinated that they're thinking this through. This is the city that didn't run the LRT last year for the marathon because no one told them to do so, and then when people inquired if it would be running, they said that they weren't given enough time to adjust the maintenance schedule, as if the date isn't known in advance.

Canal would be NCC jurisdiction anyway - so you're putting in another government layer. Though you might be involving them for the parkways anyway.

There is no way that there is an Ironman in Ottawa without NCC involvement. Plus, I think endurance sporting events can probably expect stronger City support with our current Mayor.

That's a good point.

To this I'll add for Dev's list of questions:
-Is the mayor doing it?
-Can we get the LRT running early race morning?

These are important questions.

As for Sutcliffe racing, he has the London marathon this Sunday so we can encourage him to get in the pool . Biking should be easy for him, but having said that, I don't think that Ironman training and being the Mayor of a city are complimentary. IM training just takes up too much energy that you can't be on top of your game as a Mayor....half, Olympic and marathon, you still have energy to spare to perform your day job. Doing full IM, its tough to bring your A game to the table if you have a high profile, hi availability requirement job where you are a public face.

I can't imagine even training for a marathon would be complementary with being the public face of a city. I meant it more in jest - but it would be a good opportunity to see if he'd be game.

It's probably challenging to fit the training in, but you get the perk of bypassing the lottery to get into the London Marathon, and "Officical City Business" that happens to take you to London on the weekend of the London Marathon.

Oh wait, he said it's a total coincidence.

If I was the Mark, I would pay for my own flight to London and hotel for the weekend, and then hang out in London on taxpayer cost afterwards for biz dev with Saddiq Khan and other London officials. It can't hurt intra city biz if the mayor of our town is doing the London marathon when he is there to forge stronger industry-biz-govt links. Just get us a bloody direct flight to London though to sell IM Ottawa to all the Brits.

I really would love it if the swim is here:

I wonder if there could be a point-to-point swim in the canal from the Bank Street bridge to the Laurier bridge (this is 3.8km) with transition along Queen Elizabeth Drive. Bike ride goes Laurier to Elgin, hang a right up to Parliament, left on Wellington to Kichi Zibi Mikan all the way to Carling at Lincoln Fields, then head out of town to the west to just past Dunrobin (Stonecrest Elementary School is ~ 45k one way, so 90k round trip or 180 k for two loops). Then back to transition and run along Queen Elizabeth Drive to Dow's Lake and back 4 times for the marathon. You could use the westbound lanes on Carling for the biking and keep the eastbound lanes open for traffic, but make it 2-way for event day while the bike course is open. This keeps it all in Ontario, uses lots of roads already closed to traffic on weekends, would provide for ease of access to hotels and restaurants with a downtown finish and transition area, would be spectator friendly, not hilly, etc.

I'm really anxious to learn the details as they become available. I thought I was done with full IM racing but since this is my hometown, maybe not?

Isn’t it pretty narrow at Bank St?

What about starting a little closer to 5th avenue and using Landsdowne as a transition area?

The swim start does not need to have a "wide" area since they do rolling starts everywhere nowadays. 4 or 5 athletes go, wait 5 seconds, then send in the next group, rinse and repeat until everyone is in the water. You can't get to 3.8 if you start at 5th Ave unless you head back towards Lansdowne first, then u-turn it. I think that could be messy as the canal is not super wide and having two-way traffic in the water could lead to some collisions. Add in the kayaks and jet-skis and we are running out of space.

Good points. Also a very interesting route. Can’t wait to see what it will be.

Cheers

Yeah, ideally would start at NAC, 3.8k would bring us to Lansdowne for T1.

I'd love to see the run finish at Major's Hill Park (Parliament, National Gallery & Chateau Laurier) and the run route include Wellington & Sussex. The night crowd along the edge of the market would be fun.

Hopefully we have course details at the announcement

I don't think width is an issue. Everyone gets strung out and keep in mind how narrow the canal is in Roth with wave starts. So if they do swim in canal it is totally manageable even with 2 way traffic (with a rolling start). But let's see what is decided tomorrow.

You guys all know Ottawa and that area. I have know idea about it eastern Canada ( east being past Regina). but if mt. trembly couldn't pull numbers why would this event be more likely to get racers back into the full distance.

We saw Whistler go back to Penticton and it didn't bring in the numbers they hoped, covid and fires didn't help but this year isn't going well.

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Technique will always last longer then energy production. Improve biomechanics, improve performance.
http://Www.anthonytoth.ca, triathletetoth@twitter

Valid point. Also add lake placid 1-2 weeks prior (assuming it still exists). However, I’d gladly skip the $700+ USD 4 night minimum hotels in placid to race in Ottawa.

There is one..."activist" at Meech who would absolutely lose his shit LOL

Make the Loop the run course. Bring the MEC Marathon back

Remains to be seen, I guess. I don't think they'd be starting in Ottawa if Lake Placid was going to continue, TBH.

I also think Ottawa is FAR more accessible by air, many more accommodation and restaurant choices, and equally accessible for Montreal & Toronto/Southwest Ontario.

Ottawa has a massive triathlon (and cycling and running) community that will help fill the numbers, is a “major” Canadian city and not to mention it is much closer to the GTA and Southern Ontario/Northeast USA than Tremblant ever was. “International” Airport, accommodations aplenty, minimal risk of fires disrupting race plans, I actually think it will be a big hit. Ottawa people will understand my use of quotations.

People can fly direct to Ottawa from any country in the world, as long as it's US or France.

I am guessing there is uncertainty around IMLP.

Having said that, Ottawa could have an harder course than Tremblant if the bike course goes across the river to Quebec, however, if I am guessing I think the local parkways would give us a course that has max total elevation of 500m, meaning it SHOULD be on the easier end of bike courses on the IM circuit and the run course could also be easy (but could also be as hard as IMLP if they go behind parliament hill on each loop). I am guessing that the run is also easier than IMLP/IM Tremblant.

Add to that that Ottawa is easier to get to, and you have the home turf premium of being inside one of the biggest tri communities in Canada and it should sell more than Tremblant. Plenty of hotels and restaurants and you can fly to Ottawa, take a taxi to hotel and never need a car again for race week and walk anywhere as it is pretty well guaranteed that a lot of the racing will be centered around downtown just because that is where all the parkways and canal paths intersect.

Does that mean it will be any less successful than Tremblant? I am hoping it is more successful, but time will tell us.

Thanks for the feedback ottawains . Why do you think lake placid is going away they are already sold out and a tourist city ?

If the swim would have to be in the canal would to be assisted swim like cali?

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Technique will always last longer then energy production. Improve biomechanics, improve performance.
http://Www.anthonytoth.ca, triathletetoth@twitter

No assistance, water isn’t moving, that being said, it would literally be the calmest swim on the circuit I bet, no waves, chop (other than what the other swimmers create) or anything.

If it were point-to-point the tow would be wild.

Lake Placid chamber has a love/hate relationship with the event. The 5 year contract is done this year. It comes up regularly in their meetings to stop hosting the race and they came close to cancelling the race for the final 2024 year of the contract and had Ironman agree to some additional provisions to appease residents. The LP event and Ironman has it's detractors and supporters. Eventually the supporters will lose the fight. Lake Placid has had a lot of re-development in the last 10 years and a lot of the mom n pop motels are gone with larger hotel brands coming in. More attractive to more events.

As for the Ottawa event, I think the success of the event will be a factor of the course and the base location. As a past local (1 hour away) race director I worry about some of the great local events surviving the next few years. On the plus side, if I ever decided to do another full Ironman (I doubt it) it is only an hour drive away which is nice.

We could have T1 on the front lawn of Parliament and a current assisted swim down the Ottawa river. I could stay with friends and not pay for a hotel. As opposed to overpaying for a hotel in Tremblant and having to drive 2 hours from Ottawa. Win.

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They constantly try to escape from the darkness outside and within
Dreaming of systems so perfect that no one will need to be good T.S. Eliot

I had a chat with a friend about this yesterday. As much of a triathlon town Ottawa is, I think Ironman's huge profile stands to bring even more new local triathletes into the sport.

This would help local races (Somersault top of mind)...at least that's what I hope/expect. They don't compete with Ironman, they offer smaller events that a lot of Ironman athletes will use to either build their skills over progressively longer distances, or build their season up to a 140.6 crescendo. Adam is a great race organizer, and I wouldn't be surprised if he saw this as welcome news.

Bank street would be a great run (if a bit hilly to start), but I suspect they'd have trouble closing it to traffic. If you were doing transition at Landsdowne, they could easily just put the run on the run path next to the canal - assuming QEW is used for the bike. 2.5 loops around the canal and by the Parliament buildings, ending at Confederation gives you exactly 42km.

I think it will be a miss if the run course doesn't include Wellington/Sussex.

Chatting with 3 neighnbors who did Tremblant 70.3 last year. When I mentioned it, they looked at each other and "ya, let's do it".


So we need to get a Ottawa 140.6 aero testing camp on the parkway this summer.

I would think they'd have to figure out a solution for crossing the canal. I don't think they'd have weary Ironman athletes crossing the locks...it's kind of sketchy.

Good point. Its a cool experience when you're 100%, but I think you're right about having athletes on hr 16 try to cross might be a bit dangerous. Maybe down Prince of Wales?

They used to have a big accessible bridge at Hog's Back that they built while Hog's Back bridge was under construction that was wide enough to bike over if you were feeling confident, which would certainly work. That was Pre-Covid, so I suspect its all been removed by the city. But obviously they wouldn't re-build it just for this.

It wouldn't take much to build a temporary structure. Look at the ones they build for pedestrians/spectators at Tremblant.

*Anything is Possible*...so we are told.

Lansdowne/TD place would be a great spot to host it. huge great lawn, Aberdeen Pavilion, Horticultural Building and lots of restaurants.

https://www.ironman.com/im-canada-ottawa-course

Split transition. Bike all on Ontario side.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7s_SzwxUufE

So is the finish line in front of Chateau Laurier?

or in front of Parliament Hill.

Interesting course. 10 years ago, I would have done it. No interest in sitting on a bicycle for that many hours.

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run well, run happy
george

Looks like they will need a flyover/runover @ Wellington/Lyon as the bike course and run course cross each other.

The course is well done. Better than thought but having the 2 transitions opened up so many more possibilities.
Flat/Flat/Flat

I just watched the Ironman video and the finish is in front of Parliament Hill. Pretty cool route overall. Lots of funny turns though. (ie. bike is 2.75 loops)

Now that it's out - interested to hear from the locals what they think of the course!
swim - clean water? (probably, I mean it's Canada, not AZ)
bike - good pavement?
Run - they say it's flat but it doesn't look flat

thanks!

Swim - clear water, they had a tri at that beach for many years. Also a very popular 3km swim that ends just north of the beach. Done both a number of times.
Bike - roads will be very good. It is pretty much flat with minimal risers occasionally. Very fast. Also, roads used for different tri/du venues for many years.
Run - similar to bike but not much shade. Sunny afternoon will cook.

Some parts of Colonel By and Queen Elizabeth are a bit rough

Run is pancake flat except for the inclines to the round-about past Dows lake and up Wellington to Parliament

That was one of the first things I thought of when the rumours started. Could be a VERY hot run that time of year late afternoon!

Thanks!!

I've been looking for a replacement for Tremblant. This looks like it fits the bill.

Any run for me feels like I'm walking on the surface of the sun. Guess I'll have to do much better at heat acclimation this time.

Swim is pretty to clean. I swim there all the time.
Be happy it is not in filthy canal, like some people seemed to want ,😊

Does that mean two different transition locations?

What hotels would be best to look at, to be as close as possible to expo/race start etc??
Thx!

Just some quick replies from press conf.

2 loop swim.in Briattania Bay, T1 at Briattania beach

Bike up to Carling ave and down to SJAM Parkway and then 2+ 3/4 loops going all the way to end of rockcliffr Parkway in east and going south on QE Parkway to PRETORIA bridge

T2 downtown near city Hall.

Run two loops of Col By + QE driveway up hill to Experimental farm

Looks like finish line near Chateau Laurier/Parliament Hill

I will post images of maps later but it may already be online now

Priority registration opens this afternoon general reg next week

Kona and Nice slots TBD. They said Aug 3 race date is on transition between qual years so your either doing an IM crammed in before this year's world's or you literally have 13-14 months for 2026 world's

Three year deal for starters

No 70.3 as the focus is selling out other 70.3s in region

Mayor Mark Sutcliffe asked if he can put a relay together and run the marathon haha

Yes - T1 is on the very western tip of the bike leg, while T2 would be close to Parliament hill/City Hall

So would 2025 race be for men in nice/women in Kona?

Any mention of a 5150 being part of the weekend like they do at some places (including Tremblant)?

They have listed the bike course as "rolling" but that must be a mistake. It is only ~325 m gain over 180 km, that is next to nothing.

The hardest part of the bike might be the bridge over the canal.

Westerlies can pick up on the entire length of the parkway

I know that Lake Placid 2024 currently has slots for Nice 2024 so they might do it here too, but it would seem odd to me to be giving slots for Nice so close to the actual race. Nice 2025 is on Sept 15th that year, so that only makes 6 weeks. I guess most people could turn around an IM in 6 weeks (the 2nd won't be that great), but it would be much easier just to give out 2026 slots. Plus, if they slowly moved the qualifying dates backwards, they could virtually give out more slots per race per cycle.

Back in the day I got a Kona slot at IMC Penticton on Aug 25 for Oct 6 Kona which I foolishly (or maybe smartly) declined

My guess is it is last qual race for current year if the race sells out but if registrations are slow then they use it as first qual race for 2026 to attract registrations.

Also there is a reception at Lieutenants pump tonight at 5 pm. Dave Fletcher from Ironman asked me to invite anyone who wants to drop in

Yeah the way back from Rockcliffe Parkway to Lincoln fields turnaround will be 35 I'm headwind on second loop for sure

For the folks that have been around a little longer - is it typical for registration to open this early for a new Ironman event?

Currently in the 'waiting game' wondering if IMLP is truly being discontinued post 2024, but don't want to miss out on Ottawa as a back-up if registrations fill up quick...

Is there any intel on the timeline for when we might find out that IMLP is truly done?

Might be a good use of the flex90. Sign up for Ottawa and transfer to IMLP if you want later on

Good point. I'll have to revisit the fine print - I had thought the Flex90 options only allowed to move a race to a future-dated race once you pick one and sign up. I might be totally wrong though!

How do you get offered priority registration?

Did they change the cutoff date recently? I seem to remember Ironman Texas saying that they were the only "same year qualifier" in North America, which would seem to suggest that they moved the dividing line to before Lake Placid - but Lake Placid's site is unambiguously showing slots for the 24 WCs.

Just one update. The southern bike turnaround is QE driveway to Col By going over Bank St. Bridge not Pretoria bridge as I mentioned above.

Answering your question the Kona qual cutoff has been IM Tremblant weekend on third week of Aug in the past and then second week of Sep IM Wisconsin was first race for next year's KQ cycle. With Nice world's earlier that changes the picture

Curious as well. I am affiliated with a triclub and profile filled out online. No email sent snd multiple friends have registered

Edit add: i did not receive pre registration note because I unsubscribed all content from Ironman awhile back.

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@rhyspencer

If Bank is the bridge that we'll be crossing the canal, that might well be the only spot on the course that we'd need the small ring, though you could easily muscle up it since it's short.

Maybe Rockcliffe parkway coming back up might be the other spot, but it's been a while since I've biked up it.

Yeah this is largely a big chainring or 1x bike course. What is your estimate on vertical (5x parliament hill , 6xsussex rollers, 5xwestwrn Parkway rollers, 3xbank climbs) . Maybe 600-700m total ?

Run course maybe 150m over two loops (2x Arboretum, 2xParliament hill, 2xBronson overpass)

They're posting it as 323m bike and 253 run, which seems high for the run, but includes hills like Bronson bridge and up the canal locks to Hog's back (or is it on Col By?).

Obvious choices are Chateau Laurier and Lord Elgin that are close to the finish. Maybe the Westin too if you're fine with walking through a mall lol.

Also the incline up to the roundabout past Dow's Lake

timbasile wrote:

They're posting it as 323m bike and 253 run, which seems high for the run, but includes hills like Bronson bridge and up the canal locks to Hog's back (or is it on Col By?).

The run course goes from T2 perhaps at city hall, perhaps at Confed park up a bit back to Wellington, down to Col By and all the way to Hogs back and then you come back to Bronson Bridge, Cross to Queen E Driveway, and then you run past Dows Lake Pavillion to Arboreturn roundabout back down all the way along Queen E Driveway to Pretoria bridge, across to Col By, North to Wellington, a brief short spurt on Wellington to turn around near T2 and finish line. Then you repeat that again and do loop 2 and at end of loop 2 you run past finish line to Parliament hill and then go all the way past Parliament, all the way downhill to the western parkway and turn around and looks like a giant grind back up to the finish like near T2 and Chateau Laurier area (details not yet established).

If it was me, I would want to get that giant torturous out and back done on Loop 1 and end Loop 2 without having to do two relatively giant grinder hills before the finish line.

Not sure how they got 250m vertical on the run, however, the hills at 40 and 42 km along grind out of around 40m each so maybe that is not that far off (elevation delta between Ottawa river in Ottawa to Parliament hill is 45m). But you do five climbs of that on bike, so that right there is 200m of the bike elevation gain.

CTV was at the press conference and rolled up a story here with various turn by turn details:

https://ottawa.ctvnews.ca/...0Aug.%203%2C%202025.

Huh? You don't have to walk through a mall to get into the Westin. The conference/event spaces connect to the Rideau Centre, but the hotel itself fronts Colonel By Drive.

Yeah, IMMT was usually the week before that (3rd weekend in August) and was qualifier for that year's WC, so I'm assuming that Ottawa on 3 Aug 2025 would qualify for WC that same October 2025. So, Nice for men and Kona for Women.

Just replying to the last post

Has anyone gotten a priority registration yes? I have both AWA and Triclub so I figured I'd get a priority, but some people are reporting that priority spots have already gone out

I received a priority registration e mail hours after the new race announcement-as part of a Tri club benefit.

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member CupCake Cartel

On the ironman website they are saying the qualifiers from Ottawa go to worlds 2025 now. But at the press conf they said the cut off date for 2025 is still in flux. Honestly I hope it stays a qualifier for current year worlds vs next year worlds because it just makes it easier to qualify for everyone. Travel is more complex, but in my view travel is the easy part to figure out as there are always flights and always accommodations and you can always quit your job if your employer is an asshole and says you can't go to Kona 2.5 months later or nice 6 weeks later. Few ever got to their grave saying they wished they slaved for the corporation more rather than go to worlds (of sorts)

I received the email


No idea why

Only did 1 IM branded race and that was 10+ years ago

I'd much prefer if it was 16 months vs 2. My employer isn't going to give me much grief, but part of this is also planning family vacations and having supporters with you - which becomes harder if its last minute. At 2 months, it would just be me going. At 16 months, I'd likely have people coming with me. The race may not care if its just me, but the local venue would certainly care if I'm bringing a few people with me.

Though the website is saying that Ottawa 2024 goes to the WCs for 2025, which is clearly a typo.

fortunately i received a priority registration, oddly my girl friend did not. anyone figure out why some awa/tri club are receiving and some aren't?

I figured out why I didn't get a priority registration - I had somehow marked my email preferences to unsubscribe.

The only reason I figured it out was that I went to the part of the website where it says "notify me" and it let me know that I had unsubscribed from all communications. I don't remember doing so, and there isn't an easy to find toggle in your IM profile, but you can do so by doing the notify me thing.

thanks, after you updated did you then get the priority?

looks like my GF somehow had her tri club affiliation removed...
my GF emailed IM to see if they can send her a link..

we are a bit excited to race in our Nations Capital! ha!

I'm curious to hear what the early registration numbers are before Monday. Every long course triathlete I know in the area has already signed up.

Ya I’m not sure why or how or who is getting the priority registrations.
I am a AWA and signed up for all e-mail notifications and I received nothing.

Maybe I should write to Ironman.

I have always found their emails random. I get some priority emails, but not others.

Either way, I'm pretty doubtful it will sell out in a week, but I'm sure if you email them they'll give you a code.

No - but I emailed Ironman to see if they can resend. They're not usually the fastest response, so I'm not expecting an email before Monday anyway. I highly doubt it will sell out before Monday, but its always better to have that assurance.

hopefully it sells out at a later point :)


funny enough, she found the email in her deleted folder.. :-/

I was eager to sign up for the inaugural race in Ottawa, but on the priority registration Ironman site, I noticed that the Flex90 options (split payment and deferral protection) were not available upon payment. Oddly, 'best price and entry benefits' are advertised for April 22. Several of us will have to wait and see what pans out or if the Flex90 program is not available for 2025.

Additionally, The Nirvana options on the priority registration are also listed as a day short, having everyone checkout on race day. For example '4 nights' checking in on Wednesday, the last 'night' is Saturday. August 3rd is Sunday and probably the most important night for race finish hotel proximity.

It almost sounds as though they had to rush this out after an internet leak. 😄

and maybe some glitchy things going on bc i just received a second priority registration link...

They've just resent me the priority link. I'm in!

See you all on the parkways

ETA: From the post above, maybe I just got sent it for the 2nd round. Either way...

For someone who may be deciding between this race and say, Chattanooga next year, which race would you lean towards and why?

I'm equally comfortable in S/B/R, solidly MOP female. I don't mind hot weather, and I am equidistant from each race.

I'm curious to know what the "Max" registration number will be. Will they cut it off 2-2.5k for the first year to make sure it goes smoothly? Or will they take as many as they can and then about 3 months before the race announce they are at "90% full so register now" or something like that.

With the roads closed for the bike course and a staggered swim start I would think they could handle quite a few people.

Tamara Lich and Chris Barber have been hired to handle road closures.


That is ridiculously epic!

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

Signed up yesterday, excited to check this race out. Seems like the city is pretty excited (so far) about it too.

Will be 3 straight years of Canadian IM's for me

2023 Mont Tremblant
2024 Penticton
2025 Ottawa

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Tough Times Don't Last, Tough People Do.

Mayor Mark Sutcliffe asked if he can put a relay together and run the marathon haha

Dev,


Don't underestimate the role that Mayor Mark Suttcliffe most likely played behind the scenes, to make this all happen. When you have a Mayor who is a keen runner and multi time Marathon-Finisher himself, even writing a great book on his own journey to the Boston Marathon a few years ago.

Road closures that are required for this kind of Event, and the permits needed, when first pitched to larger City Municipalities are often met with "No way" from City bureaucrats, and you work from there . . but having a Mayor who is supportive can be all the difference, and rare!

Overall this is great to see. There is a proud and rich heritage of Triathlon in Ottawa and a legacy going all the way back to the earliest days of the sport in Canada in the early to mid 1980's!

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

T2/finish line will be in the exact trucker shutdown zone in front of Chateau Laurier HAHA

I can't comment on Chattanooga as I have not been there.

Fly into Ottawa, take taxi-uber downtown and you don't need anything else. Lots to do and see downtown. The only downside is the swim venue is around 8km from downtown, but you can bike there on your tri bike with a backpack if you want to do practice swims, if not there is public swim at uOttawa 1km from T2/finish line. From downtown, you can bike everywhere on the bike paths which run parallel to the bike course, and frankly I mainly ride the roads on the parkways in Ottawa versus bike paths anyway most days, as I would rather deal with cars going straight than dog walkers and roller bladers on the bike paths.



Here is an overhead view of downtown area where bike course goes by 5x and run finish is. (It is also the infamous site of the trucker blockade from Covid19 lockdowns):



This is a normal Sunday bike closure on the parkways which is part of the race course, and beside it you see the bike path where you can ride when there is traffic on the road





The swim venue is largely right of this pier in a protected cove from all wind directions other than North West





Here is a google maps view. The swim is between what is labelled Ottawa city rafting, Brittannia Beach, Brittannia Yacht club

Fun fact, Sutcliffe is vehemently against the current practice of closing a road along the canal (part of the bike course) on Sundays for bikes, etc.

Most of the flat parts of the run course is on the paths on either side of the Rideau Canal:

Beautiful pics. You may have already answered earlier in the thread, but have you signed up?
The excitement from the local Ottawa community alone might be enough to get me to do this event.

And residents thought that the truckers were bad with urinating in public...wait until they see Ironman triathletes. Haha.

Yeah, not sure what to think about Mayor Sutcliffe. He obviously pushed for this to happen, but he's well known as a pro-car, anti-cycling Mayor.

I'm hoping that Ironman will offer bus transport to the swim start from the T2/Finish area. Most/all races with split transitions do this, I believe... especially since some of the roads around Brittania will have to be closed.

I was told there would be shuttle buses T2/finish to swim start T1. In fact at Brittannia Beach there are barely 400 parking spots in the entire place, so I can't see them allowing any onsite parking on race day anyway

It is a great city to live and do sport. Which is why I live here and did not move to San Jose CA where my previous company was based. My startup (which I started) is based here, because of all of the above. As for signging up, a group of us who did Kona together in 2006 were pondering it. I have not done a full IM since 2015, and I am barely squeeking by in olympic and halfs off mainly master swim training, jogging to pool or transition runs after swimming or bike commuting/1 hrs trainer rides and 1 hrs runs on weekends. With that I can finish half IM's (heading to St. George in 2.5 weeks). But from there to full IM is a big lift and I have a all the families of employees working at my company relying on me to actually have energy to work and not be drained from IM training, and the risk is if I sign up, I will do too much too long too hard and burn the candle at every end.

I may sign up and just do what I am doing till June 1, 2025 and then at that point decide if my body and life can take a 6 week build or if I will break myself doing that. If I think I can do 6 weeks and get to the point that I can jog the entire run and not walk most of the marathon, then it would be nice to do since I will be in 60-64 and the swim start is literally a 10km ride from my house!!! It really is tempting for sure!

Ok, that makes total sense...good to hear. Hopefully there are still ways for families/supporters to get there and cheer.

there is no need for anyone not racing or volunteering to be at the swim start. Everyone will look the same anyway..........

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Pink? Maybe. Maybe not. You decide.

I'm sorry that someone hurt you.

In St. George there is no parking onsite. Athletes take bus to swim start and from 6:30 to 7:30 spectators can take the buses. From 5 am or so to 6:30, athletes have priority on the buses from T2/finish to swim start. I would imagine they would implement something similar.

Cool, thanks. Always good to have cheering crowds at the swim... particularly at the finish. Tremblant was always great for that.

The only race I've done with a split transition was Cozumel, but I couldn't recall who was on the buses because I didn't have anyone there cheering.

did you love coz?

i've always wanted to do it..

I've done Cozumel twice and loved it both times. Beautiful water, great city. The only issue is it can be tricky to get to depending on where you are flying from.

I loved it for the most part, but the heat (2022) almost killed me...literally. It was hot and full sun with 100% humidity on race day. Despite best efforts to hydrate adequately, I was severely dehydrated getting off the bike...suffering from head adema (swollen hands and arms), and had to walk 40k of the marathon. I probably should have DNF'd. Was woozy with weak pulse at the finish.

Not an easy spot for a Canadian to race at the end of November.

Other than that, the course (especially the swim) and organization were fantastic. Cozumel is a wonderful place.

yikes!

i'd be flying from YYZ, so the tricky travel is the reason why i've not done it.
been to COZ several times for spring training camps and love the island.

Flying directly into COZ is obviously much easier, but CUN isn't a huge deal either.

I flew direct from Montreal both times, but the second time didn't arrive until the Friday. The race is just on the cusp of the busy season down there when there are more direct flights.

There have been some good past posts about travelling to Cozumel from Cancun that might be worth looking up.

One of the things that's shocked me is not only the local tri community's enthusiasm, but even non-triathletes. I've had a few people at work who I wouldn't expect to know anything about the local tri scene, but who kinda know that I'm into triathlon, ask me if I was doing the event.

If random co-workers have heard of the event and its on their radar, whoever is doing communications/launch for this event deserves a raise.

Wrong , Mark is against closing the QE Driveway Monday-Friday

I know we're wading into Lavender room territory, but Sutcliffe is very much in the camp of "cycling as recreation" (he tends to view it more akin to his marathon prep) instead of "cycling as transport" (and therefore we need infrastructure to support this.

The first one works really well if you're a mayor trying to bring endurance events to your city. I have no doubt he's going to not work overtime to make this a success as far as his powers and role as mayor is concerned. A big endurance event like this is right in his wheelhouse.

But this is different than running a city day to day where he's choosing one mode of transport (cars) over others (cycling, public transport)

I know we're wading into Lavender room territory, but Sutcliffe is very much in the camp of "cycling as recreation" (he tends to view it more akin to his marathon prep) instead of "cycling as transport" (and therefore we need infrastructure to support this.

The first one works really well if you're a mayor trying to bring endurance events to your city. I have no doubt he's going to not work overtime to make this a success as far as his powers and role as mayor is concerned. A big endurance event like this is right in his wheelhouse.


I'll get my biases out of the way first - Mark Suttcliffe is a long time friend.

He's also one of US - a dedicated, age-group Endurance Sports Athlete, who runs most days, has qualified for Boston in the past (and wrote a great book about his experience)

I'll fully admit that his stance on cycling in Ottawa was confusing to me . . . I thought he would have been a bolder, stauncher advocate for cycling in Ottawa. But having run locally in my own area, for Political Office (Town Council in Aurora, ON), I saw out on the Campaign Trail that average voters, in our mostly car-dependant suburban areas, could care less, about Bike Lanes, Road Safety, and any sort of advocacy in that direction - for them it's all cars, cars cars and more cars. It's a BLACK MARK against you with most voters. So you are in a tricky situation as a candidate and then if you get Elected.

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

That's what I assumed and makes 100% sense.

Mark actually likes the idea of active transportation, but his campaign was about getting elected, not promoting a vision for the city that he actually believes in.

Pandering over leading. Politicians gonna be Politicians.

Pandering over leading. Politicians gonna be Politicians.


I was advised by some very savvy successful Political veterans, that when campaigning and engaging with voters to be as neutral as possible - just let them talk - and many do!

What you learn from going door-to-door in your own community is fascinating, tremendously rewarding, but also very frustrating. I mention the last point because, you THINK everyone is completely plugged in, on top of what's going on, and engaged in the community - when nothing could be further from the truth. With the vast majority of people, it's the polar opposite - to a shocking degree actually!

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

Alright I'm in. Should be a fun day.

Same here. WTF.

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Next races on the schedule: none at the moment

I don't see how this doesn't sell out in the first week. I am actually considering doing this and I haven't raced a tri in >10 years.
I wonder if this has been placed here at this time as a precursor to losing Placid. (no idea if that is happening but the writing is on the wall for sure).

I think it would be an evolution of losing Tremblant as a full event.
Lake Placid and Tremblant were close enough that very few would be doing both.

Wtf?!?!?
Sold out already?

Try again, maybe? I got a sold out message, but went in again and got registered.

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Munq

Yes it finally came through.
I was scared for a moment.

I had the opposite reaction. I was scared when my registration went through.

Coming back to the course, is this an Aussie exit or are we doing 2 loops in the water?

I believe you exit run over timing wire and then dive in. That way there are no one loop heros who fake they have done two loops

An Aussie exit would be fun, but even if we don’t hit the beach, the water is very shallow near the shore so it would be dolphin diving for the entire turn around.

I am in! Excited.

Also did Ironman finally cut active.com out of the registration loop? I registered entirely within their site, and it worked pretty well except for the stripe integration part - it was flaky as always. Progress!

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Next races on the schedule: none at the moment

Good to hear - I always wonder how many people get caught/don't get caught on 2 loop swims.

I'm curious if there's going to be congestion on loop 2 given how close it looks to the shore.

If the swim typically ranges from 1h-2h for most people, and it takes 30 mins for everyone to file through, then it might get tricky on the back half.

One of the things I find odd with the run course is that we only do Wellington 1x. Per the course description we do Wellington, then hit the canal, and then don't do Wellington again for the 2nd loop. They could easily turn around sooner at Dow's lake (or even just skip it and turn around at Bronson), or turn around sooner on Col. By.

It seems to me that if you're looking to show off Parliament, Supreme Court, etc, you'd do it for both loops since you need it closed for most of the race anyway.

The only thing I can think of is that if you only have it for 1 loop, you can re-open that section sooner - but I don't think they're closing Portage anyway.

It looks to me that you will in fact run that section twice. The first time is starting your loop 1 (a short out and back, i.e. km 0 to 3), and the second time is finishing the run (the same out-and-back, km 39-42.2).

That section of road will need to be closed until midnight, but the Portage bridge would not need to close (it wouldn't be accessible from westbound Wellington).

Placid is two loop swim and personally I did not noticed any issues.

the thing about the course mapping, maybe at this stage they're just showing the idea of the course and as time progresses they'll sort out the specifics, bc totally having both run loops in front of parliament would be awesome... i'm pretty sure they have openly noted they aren't sure of T2 or the finish line locations...

I think you're right that we do it twice, but the image is confusing.

There's both a 2km and a 40km marker on Wellington (near Bank?), which would mean we definitely do it twice. But there isn't enough distance between there an the finish line unless the 40km marker should really be on the north side of Wellington - signifying we pass Parliament and then head out for our final few kms.

Seems odd that you wouldn't just do 2x of the same loop - that's going to be confusing when everyone's at their lowest mental capacity.

My interpretation was we do 2x20km loops and then do the 1km Wellington out and back ONCE at the end of second loop after bike course is effectively closed for most people (bike course typically closes at 5:30 pm which is 10:30 into the race, so you don't have hoards of people on the run out and back until all the cyclists are off there).

I personally think that the grind up and down wellington from 40-42 km will be a massive slog that athletes won't really like, but let's see.

In any case, in keeping with the theme of my brain writing cheques that my body can't cash, I signed up to secure a spot. Now I have to ignore that I signed up and just train for swimming and olympic tri like I do (10km runs, 1 hrs trainer rides etc), and then see if my "normal plan" of scaling to half IM length rides in the summer and some 15km runs can scale to more like 4.5 hrs rides and 2 hrs runs for 3 months in 2025 and I get to the start line to finish my first one of these fulls in a decade. Its probably not the brightest idea given everything going on in my life....worst case I pull the plug using Flex90 or downgrade to a half IM next summer.

Hell, I haven’t laced them up since Timberman 14 years ago, 35lbs ago, and two kids ago and I’m thinking about it with the bike goin right by my front door and the run a 10 min bike ride away !!
Ok, I just thought about it and i’m good to just watch and cheer ..:)

Welcome to Ottawa. You will enjoy the trip

Dev, I think when you head back via Queen Elizabeth you take Pretoria over to Colonel By for the second upper loop, then back downtown the next time for the finish (look at km 20 then 22 on the map)

When leaving transition for the run just before the 2km mark, the first runners will be crossing the last loop bikes who will be turning left onto Lyon. Maybe a foot bridge there?

Question for the locals: is the bike course suitable for a group to come up and do a pre-ride this August? I saw in a post earlier that certain sections are even closed to cars on weekends, is that right? This assumes we’re not a-holes and ride single file, etc.

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It seemed like a good idea at the time. . .

These are the parts they have closed to cars on weekends:

https://ncc-ccn.gc.ca/events/weekend-bikedays

Thanks!

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It seemed like a good idea at the time. . .

type-B wrote:

Question for the locals: is the bike course suitable for a group to come up and do a pre-ride this August? I saw in a post earlier that certain sections are even closed to cars on weekends, is that right? This assumes we’re not a-holes and ride single file, etc.

Yes, a good chunk of the course is closed to cars on Sundays up until either 4 or 8pm, depending on the road. There's a section in the middle where you'll need to take the Multi-Use Path (MUP) along the river/canal to get between the parkways, but most of the kms of the course are closed to traffic. The exception is Col By parkway on the east side of the canal, and the parts downtown. If you take the MUPs as a go between, I believe that you can do the route without traffic (though its been a while since I've done the Rockliffe part so someone please correct me if I'm wrong).

The only catch is that the parkways are generally well used by families and non-athletes out for a Sunday ride. The stronger cyclists tend to move to the much more hillier Gatineau side. I tend feel awkward blasting through at any kind of speed if its busy. I wouldn't do it at race pace, but if you're looking to recon the course and you're courteous to those also using the parkway, then its good to get in a course recon.

If you really want to scope out Col By, there's a MUP parallel to the route - but this might be better as a run recon (it's on the run route too) - it can also get busy with lots of walkers and runners.

More info: https://ncc-ccn.gc.ca/events/weekend-bikedays

ETA: One thing I should note is that the route marked as "Sir John A MacDonald Parkway" in the Ironman route is the same thing as the Kichi Zibi Mikan in the NCC site. Ironman is just using the old name.

Thank you kindly!

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It seemed like a good idea at the time. . .

While you're out on the parkway, head into Quebec and ride a lap of the loop

General reply to the thread. Watching IM Texas livestream had me thinking about the bike course at IM Ottawa. It looked like a total cluster at times on the loops of Hardy toll road. With a 2.75 loop flat bike course in Ottawa, is this a setup for a similar situation? I know the course is closed to vehicular traffic, but how many car lanes are available to cyclists- would it be one or two lanes in each direction?

Kitchi Zibi Mikan is 4 lanes wide, but often only 2 are closed (one direction) for bike days, and it is currently under construction for the LRT (and may still be), so might only be 2 lanes total
Col By, Queen Elizabeth and George Etienne Parkways are all 2 lane roads (1 in each direction)

Etienne has a paved shoulder so is fairly wide.

Queen Elizabeth varies in width but is usually quite wide. Col By is more narrow but should be wide enough to support passing. Its often used for local tri and hasn't felt congested when I've done that race. But for the IM both of these routes should be fine since we're only going one direction.

The only catch is if they also include the run on parts of it, rather than using the parallel MUP for the run on Col. By / Queen Elizabeth, but there's no reason why they wouldn't use the MUP.

After doing the CHEO ride this weekend, I sincerely hope that they're able to clean up Kitchi Zibi Makan in time for the race. The construction and compressed lanes made me quite worried about trying to navigate that on a tt bike! The rest of the course was pretty solid, all things considered.

One thought I had was that they don't need to go all the way to the current construction zone. Just extend QE driveway section to Dow's lake instead and on the western parkway pull the turn around in.

Fair point, but coming from T1 (ie. Britannia), how would you pass through the construction? Maybe clear up at least one side and then have a turnaround for the other loops?

I looked up the construction timeline, and it appears that this should be well and done by next summer. Supposedly it should be done by this spring - or at least this stage of it anyway.

https://www.octranspo.com/en/news/article/november-2023-to-spring-2024-kichi-zx012bbx012b-mx012bkan-eastbound-and-westbound-between-woodroffe-avenue-and-island-park-drive-lane-reductions/

Or out and back on Colonel By after crossing over bank, stay on left side of the road (East side), ride towards Hogs back and then turn around and come back north on the canal side of the road (in other words ride on left side of road like Brits) . Just use a single lane to get people out of Brittania to Kitchissippi lookout.

But hopefully construction in that area is done.

 

I hope they repave the section west of the war museum. I rode it today and it is rough.....really, really rough.