As our cycling Club continues to mature, many of our members as looking to expand their athletic horizons and bring in some new disciplines and challenges.

For 2015 we are very pleased to now include a fledgling Multi-Sport Program, championed and lead by Thomas Hughes. Those of us who are long time cyclist as still a bit confused by the addition of swimming and running, but we do take great pride in seeing new opportunities for our Club Members

Welland 1/2 IronMan

As we are new to understanding this sport… what better way to introduce it to you but with Thomas’s own words….

Swim 2000m (officially) 44:42. This is a slow swim. Then again my garmin says it was 2500m. I was swimming with people in my wave. The lesson learned is that if you are swimming with people who are slow, you will be slow.

Bike 90k 2:25:41. 37.1 km/h. This is a PR for me. How many times can you say "on your left" as I passed through the hoards of swimmers faster than I. I have been working on "incremental gains". Getting more aerodynamic, less rolling resistance, etc. You can train 100 hours for a 2% gain in power. You might get the same result from learning to ride with your shoulders tucked down.

Run 21.1km 1:49:03. This is also a PR for me. Torrential rains made this a little epic. I have been working on my stride, and it has paid dividends.

Total - 05:09:43. (13th in my age group, 73rd overall in the race) I was hoping to break 5, but a slow swim and some "issues" in transition made that impossible. My powertap wasn't working. My top was inside out. I haven't raced in two years and my transitions showed it.

I did get a shout out from the race announcer for Dukes (I was wearing my cycling jersey on the run).

For those of you thinking of going long, the Barrel Man 1/2 Iron is in September, and uses most of the same bike course. I highly recommend it as a first long course race, and registration is still open.

Guelph Triathlon

We would also like to let to know that veteran Marcus Boyle also like to add a bit of swimming and running to his cycling. He recently participated in the Guelph Triathlon were he Placed 1st in the 50-54 age catergory and finished a very impressive 28th overall.

We are looking forward to seeing more MultiSport results in the future as this season for this type of racing has only just begun.