Fern’s August, 2011 Kelowna Apple Race Report

The Apple weekend includes a number of different events and is very well organized.  There were 1200 Age Groupers in the Sprint and Olympic Triathlons on Sunday.  Normally, I do triathlons for the sheer enjoyment of the good workout, the camaraderie, being outside, the views and environment, the food, meeting challenges I set for myself . . ++.  The time, however, I was going to have to race.  I really wanted to qualify to go to the World’s in Auckland, New Zealand and, well, there were some women I was going to have to be faster than.

I was able to lock onto some great heels during the first loop of the 1500 M swim.  The 2^nd loop was quite messy as we caught up to the men in the previous wave.  I lost my draft and just ploughed through the water to the finish.

The 40K bike route was 3 fast loops with 1 hill and some false flats each loop.  There was only a small amount of head wind and the temperature was moderate.  Had a couple of close calls with one guy cutting me off and another person blocking when there were 3 of us trying to pass.

My legs were tired in the run as I don’t do much running training due to a torn meniscus.

However, I did manage to pass a few women in my age group in this run leg.  My knee felt fine after the race – yeah!

Overall, I’m really pleased to say that I took 6 minutes off my time from when I did the Apple 2 years ago and placed 5^th amongst some very experienced triathletes in my age group.

My ranking qualified me to be on Team Canada in the World’s in Auckland!  I’m so honoured and excited!!

Fern Esau