Taylor C. Reid: Saskatoon Chase Race

The Saskatoon Chase race was my first big none drafting triathlon. The chase race is a full none drafting Olympic Triathlon (1500m swim, 40km bike, 10km run) race where both men and women race for the over all title with an equalizing time. This year the women were given at 16min head start on the men.

I went into this race very excited and not sure what to expect. There were some big names in the field including Brent Mcmahon, Jeff Symonds, Sean Bechtel and Melanie McQuaid. I had been on my new TT bike for about a week and a half (thanks to Caledon Hills Cycling and Cervelo for the hook up) before this race so I was just starting to feel confident on the bike.

The swim was none wetsuit and a 2 lap beach start. I had a rough start and was pushed off the lead groups feet. The wind made the lake fairly choppy. I led the chase group out of the water. We where about 50sec-1min down from the main group. I had a quick transition onto the bike ITU style.

I caught Sean Bechtel and Jeff Symonds around 10km into the bike. It was a very windy day with about 23km/h winds with a mix of cross/head winds and some tail wind. The wind pulled my bike back and forth a little making holding a strait line a little tough. I was able to catch Brent Mcmahon just before 20km. The last 20km of the bike was spent chasing down Jon Bird and the other women. I was able to pull of a 56.54 40km bike in the end. When ever I saw my power drop to low I would yell at myself to try and motivate myself.

Photograph by: Michelle Berg, The StarPhoenix

T2 was very fast with a quick change over to my running shows. Melanie McQuaid had about a 9 min lead starting the run. When I heard that I know it was going to be a very hard run. The first few km of the run I had a small cramp and my leg felt every heavy but I was able to start to get rolling about 3km in. At 5km I heard that Melanie McQuaid was 6min up and I new that there was very small chance of me catching her but I still pushed on. In the end of the day she finished about 2:40 ahead of me and I ran into 2^nd over all and 1^st male.