Canberra HIM

[bomberdon]

Hi there,
just wondering if anyone is entering the Canberra HIM this year (December) or has participated in the event in previous years?
Any feedback on the course would be appreciated!

cheers
Don.

[Zac150]

Don,

I have entered whilst I haven't participated in a half IM I trained a lot with a group last year who all completed the event.

what info on the course are you after?

[bomberdon]

Thanks for the reply Zac.

I completed the Bussleton HIM this year and just happen to be in Sydney the week before the Canberra HIM - so I thought...why not?

Wondering...
- what the swim is like? Believe it's in Lake BG? What's the water quality like? (the Swan River over here is a shocker to swim in)
- water temp in Dec - you reckon it will be a wetsuit swim?
- cycle course, is is flat or hilly, combo? (Busso is relatively flat and fast)
- run course - is it flat?

cheers!
Don.

[Zac150]

Don,

I can't tell you exactly what the temps are like in the water, check the ACTEW AGL website (ACT company which looks after water etc), I know the guys were watching the water temps last year, I will ask where they got the info from. The organisers seem pretty conservative and err on the cautious side, I believe the last two years have been wet suit swims.

The course is pretty exposed so if like last year the lake is perfect and still expect the course to be hot, theirs not a lot of cover however this is better than the year before where conditions were pretty rough in the swim which means you are riding into a headwind for half the ride.

The quality of water in the lake is variable, put it this way I don't swim in there by choice; however with all the rain we have had the lake will be flushed out so we are starting from a pretty good base this year it gets very bad by March / April and last year a couple of swim events were shut.

The ride course is a 33km loop, which I would say is flat to undulating with one good climb out of coppins crossing, if you are here a few days before the event I would suggest riding the course as the hill at coppins looks a lot worse than it is. There is an initial climb of say 700m it then flattens out (gentle incline) for about 1km or so and then climbs about 200m the ride then undulates for another 2km before another 500m climb. The climbs wouldn't be over 3 degrees so there is not much to them.

The runs is a loop by the lake it is dead flat except for 1 hill which is about 300m up and say 120m down (much steeper down the hill than up). The uphill is sufficient to require me to drop down to the front chain ring (middle gear) when I ride it so it is not much but at the end of the half I think it is going to be a killer.

Hope this helps.

Hows the training going?

[bomberdon]

Thanks for the course info Zac.


As for training, well....it's going ok. Very hard to get motivated with the cold and rain, but it's getting easier.

Will wait until the very last minute to register though

[Zac150]

I didn't think it rained in sunny W.A.

Try motivating yourself to get out of bed during a cold Canberra winter

[Scarfy96]

Thanks for that course info. I am registered for this as well - first time HIM so will be interesting.

Did the Maitland tri last weekend as a season starter 1500m, 55km, 12km and that wasn't too bad so I guess I am tracking OK.

[Zac150]

I guess we should change the title of this thread to Canberra Half Iron Duathlon. The lake is currently closed and the chance of reopening in time for the half is very low.

[sli123]

A no swimming half ironman? Awesome....where do I sign?