The Toronto Triathlon Festival is a qualifier for Age Group World Championships. To qualify you need to finish top 3 of your age group (mine being F25-29). Even though I knew I’d be punching above my weight trying to qualify, I really wanted to give it an honest effort.

I raced the Hyde Park Sprint Triathlon three weeks prior to the Toronto Triathlon to benchmark my progress, and didn’t get a huge amount of confidence… I finished the race in 1:27 – 2 minutes slower than my first triathlon at Crystal Palace, 10 minutes slower than I was hoping for and I managed to come off my bike at one point.

When I looked at last year’s Toronto Triathlon finish times… the top three times were 1:11, 1:14 and 1:17. My aim became a) finishing in sub 1:17 and b) praying that faster athletes don’t show up to the race – if that happened, I might just qualify!

Well I certainly gave the race a good honest effort. I finished in 1:16, which was my exact target but I ended up 5th in my age group… this year the top three times were 1:09, 1:10. 1:10. I had no chance! Motivation to train train train train – need to get my swim and bike times a few minutes quicker.

The race in summary…

• Overall, I was 6 minutes slower than the top three girls, and one minute behind 4th place.
• I wanted to finish the swim in sub 15mins but I finished in 15:16.
• In the first transition I got a bit stuck in my wetsuit which cost me at least 30 seconds (2:32)
• I was 12th out of the swim and moved into 5th after the bike.
• I’m really happy with my time on the bike (34:52). The course was noticeably more flat than my previous races.
• My second transition felt like it went really smooth (1:26)
• And I really pushed myself on the run despite the gruelling heat (22:43)

Highlights of the day

Seeing Dan qualify for Worlds in the Olympic Distance Triathlon for M25-29.

Racing with Alexandra for her first triathlon – she smashed it! 

All the support we got out on the course. So blessed to have such amazing friends and family. 

Celebrating Father’s Day after the race at Ann and Tony’s house. 

Next Challenge = Olympic and Middle Distance Triathlons.