This post has been sitting in my drafts for the past few months. I think a mix of school, mixed feelings and eyes on the next big thing kept me from sending this out. Here’s the low-down on the biggest race of the year, my goal race of the season: the Lausanne World Triathlon Grand Final.
The trip: Lausanne
I first want to thank everyone who supported me by following my trip, sending me comments, emails and all other forms of support. It’s much appreciated and it really helped me get through the trip!
It’s quite daunting travelling alone. I felt, at many points in the trip, that I wasn’t doing as much as I should be. For instance staying in my aunt’s tiny town of Bagnes for the most part of my trip when I should have been travelling around. I didn’t explore much of Lausanne, other than the Olympic museum and the beautiful lake on the race site. However, I would definitely do it again. Perhaps next time with someone else to push me to explore more!
The Olympic museum in Lausanne 
Testing the waters a few days before the race 
Team Canada at the Parade of Nations
The race
My race started near 11 am, so I had time to properly wake up, eat long before the race and take the train in to the race venue. I was feeling great. After meeting up with my teammate Mathieu (in the age group above me), we did a run warm-up and, after a final check on our bikes and transition setup, we jumped into the lake for a small swim warm-up.
I met a few other Canadians in the 16-19 age group coral before the race. We were all trying to stay warm for what seemed like an eternity until the start! We were finally let into the water.
Swim
The gun goes off and I start swimming like a maniac, but about 10 strokes in, we start getting hit hard by big waves that weren’t there before! This really shocked me and I got spat out the back of the swim group. By the first buoy I found a good rhythm, going harder than I normally would with the goal of just making it onto a decent group of bikers.
Bike
I had a pretty good transition, but missed a group of strong bikers and couldn’t make it back to them. I put my head down and tried to put out a really strong first lap on this hilly course. On the second lap, a large pack passes me and my teammate Mathieu yells at me to join them. The front of the 20-25 year old group that started after us had caught up. I joined them for the last lap, taking advantage of the draft from such a large and fast group.
Run
I made up most of my time on that lap and after a smooth second transition, I was out on the run course. Everything felt great at this point. The start of the race was rough, but the run made up for it. Again with some nasty little hills, I ran my way to 44th place out of 81 finishers. Much better than the 78th place I was in out of the water!
In this video, you’ll see myself and a fellow Canadian waving at the camera after we enter the water! You’ll also notice that on my second bike lap, my teammate Mathieu (who started in a wave a few minutes after me) is in his lead pack and they catch me. I hang on for what ends up being one of the fastest laps for my age group of the course!
Canadian Elite: Tyler Mislawchuk 
ITU photographer Tommy Zaferes (and athlete) who inspires me to photograph races. This photo was also taken by 2nd in the world Mario Mola!
I then lost my phone while watching the pros race 🤦
The take away
Again, thanks for following my journey. You can view my full photo log from this trip here. I will continue to post here, I might summarize the few running races I’ve done since Lausanne and I will definitely highlight some of next years’ races.
I will not be racing Worlds in the upcoming season (Edmonton) but I have exciting plans for some longer distance triathlons, more running and other fun stuff!
