Subaru Ironman Canada 2008

by Todd Smith on September 15, 2008

Swimmers await the start at the 2008 Subaru Ironman Canada

Here’s the last catch-up for my recent newsletters. You can read the full story of the Ironman here.

Waking up early, I drove about forty minutes to the starting line of this monster of all races. It started at 7:00 AM for the general entry and 6:45 AM for the pro entry (which I missed). I think there were about 2000 contestants covering the entire beach in Penticton, BC for the start.

As they swam out into the distance I waded into the cool water and waited about an hour by the finish line before the first swimmers arrived.

When the water became shallow enough, they pushed off the bottom and did the butterfly with their arms. Soon they were hopping and running through the water to the shore, ripping off their wetsuits as they ran to grab a bike.

Swimmers near the finish line for the swimming race of the Subaru Ironman Canada

The first swimmer runs out of the water at the 2008 Subaru Ironman Canada

A crowd of swimmer finish the swim at the 2008 Subaru Ironman Canada

Being a swimmer for many years in school, I spent relatively much more time at the water’s edge than covering the biking and running. But eventually, I did move over to Main Street where the bikers set off for their 112 mile bike ride.

Bikers start the second leg of the 2008 Subaru Ironman Canada on Main Street in Penticton, BC.

A biker sets her eyes on the goal as she begins the biking portion of the Subaru Ironman Canada.

A Biker waves to a friend in the crowd who has come out to cheer everyone on.

I then followed the race south about 15 miles and found everyone passing MacIntyre Bluff on Lake Vaseux.

Bikers start the second leg of the 2008 Subaru Ironman Canada on Main Street in Penticton, BC.

I went home, had a nice lunch, spent the afternoon doing various things almost forgetting about the race until about 4:30 PM. I knew the pros would be done, but I also knew there would be tons of people still running the marathon. Sure enough I found a steady stream of runners at the half-way point of the run.

Runners reach the half-way point of their marathon (third section of the Ironman).

Runners keep on moving even though they have been pushing for about ten hours so far in the Subaru Ironman Canada.

I didn’t make it to the finish line… but I can only imagine what the war-zone looked like there.

You can see a ton more photos of the race in the Straight From the Camera Section of my site.

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