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Summer 2015 Racing Update
By:  Kyla Vanderzwet   (2015/08/17)

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Hello to all our readers!  It’s been a while since we’ve had anything new on the website, but rest-assured, we’re still training hard!  Here’s a snapshot of the summer race events that XC Ottawa members have taken part in.  Maybe you will get a few ideas for yourself!

Ingrid is known for her incredible swimming abilities.  In July, she completed the 9th edition of the Bring on the Bay 3k Open Water Swim. The race, which starts at the Nepean Sailing Club and finishes at the Britannia Yacht Club, helped raise over $56,000 for Easter Seals Ontario, an organization benefiting disabled children in Ontario. The event attracted swimmers from all over the country, with an age range of 11-73. Ingrid swam a time of 45:11 in very challenging and choppy waters. It was good enough for 41st overall and 4th in the female wetsuit category out of a record 590 swimmers.

Ingrid (on the right) swims with her male competitor.

Later in August, Ingrid also competed in the 2nd annual Ottawa Riverkeeper 4k Swim. The race started at Parc des Cedres and crossed the Ottawa river, to finish at Lac Deschenes Sailing Club. The race was a fundraiser to support clean water in the Ottawa River and raised around $7000 for water quality test kits. In her first time swimming the event, Ingrid finished in a time of 58:32, which gave her 4th overall and 1st women.  Way to go Ingrid!

Here's a video with footage from the Riverkeeper event

Megan and Karl did their annual cottage race series - a team triathlon and a 2-person canoe race (as described in a previous article ).  They won both of these events, although the fun they had was much more relevant than the results! In Megan’s words, “I find these annual cottage races particularly enjoyable because you are racing in sports you don't normally do.  The atmosphere is very festive, but at the same time everyone tries as hard as they can and are all in the same race - from the little kids, to my uncle who is over 80 years old.”

Karl also took part in a Summer Twilight track meet, hosted by the Ottawa Lions.  He completed the 800m and 1500m races in 2:13.40 and 4:21.36 - pretty respectable!  The Lions offer a number of Twilight races through the summer, and the full calendar is available here.

I did a few races this summer too.  I started off with Lap the Gats on May 30th.  The ride raises money for Parkinson’s research, and I rode with the Carleton University Neuroscience team. The race challenges riders to complete as many 21km loops as they can in 3 hours. Starting from P5, cyclists head towards P8, up to Fortune Lake, down Black’s Lake hill, and back to P5 to complete a loop.  I managed to do 4 laps this year, although it took more than 3 hours to finish.  This is an annual event, and I definitely recommend it!  

The other races I did were “Beaver Chase” running races - so named because the first race apparently involved a participant unintentionally chasing down a beaver.  The Beaver Chase is part of the Run Ottawa race series put on by some dedicated volunteers.  The races are a fun, low-key and low-cost way to get a good race effort in!  

Sheila hits her stride.

Finally, we have Sheila!  Sheila suffered a few unfortunate falls this summer while rollerskiing and cycling, which you may have read about on her website.  However, she still managed to get some quality racing in earlier in the summer.  She raced the Ottawa Race Weekend 5km in May and achieved her goal of a sub-20 minute 5 km.   She then whittled her time down to 19:48 during Run Ottawa's Free 5k Saturday Run in June.  This is another great series put on by Run Ottawa.  She loves the low-key atmosphere of Run Ottawa's free races.  They're held the first Saturday of every month and seem to encourage a pretty diverse group to get out and run.

That's all we have to report for now.  Stay tuned for more articles!

 
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