When the Muskoka race became the Muskoka 5150, the sprint distance run course was changed. However, the swim and bike course have remained the same.
Set in the parking lot of Huntsville Secondary School and the Huntsville Community Centre, the Muskoka race offers two distances: a Sprint Distance race held on Saturday afternoon, and an Olympic Distance race held on Sunday morning. The 5150 (Olympic Distance) offers a variety of qualification opportunities for world championships and Ironman races.
750m Swim: this is an open water start at the mouth of the river. You will walk down a rough trail to get to the start. It is a point to point swim that has varying times depending on the current. The river zig zags a bit with orange buoys periodically placed. You do not have to keep the buoys to a particular side, you just swim down the river. When you get to the end, there is a set of stairs that you will be helped up, and then you will run a few hundred metres to transition. When this race is held in June, the water can be chilly depending on the spring (in 2013, the water is expected to be 65F/18C)
20km Bike: As you exit transition, you will be going right up a hill for about 20m, so choose your starting gear appropriately. If you have never started the bike with your shoes attached to your bike, this is not the race to start. This is an out and back course: 10km out, 10 km back. You will climb for the first 10km, and then return with mostly down hill. The climbing for the first 10km is almost like a stair case: climb, bit of downhill, climb, bit of downhill. There is some steepness, but the climbing is shortish. There is a longish climb right before the turn around. It's Muskoka, so there are going to be hills. There are no real flat sections except for the first and last km.
5km Run: the run course has changed. It used to be 2-loops, and now appears to be 1. According to the run profile, they have added a big hill at the start, but then you get to run down it. You will then run along the trail that lead you to the swim start, and turn around to head back to transition. After running past transition, you will head on to the streets. This part is similar to years past. You'll run slightly downhill, turn down a couple of streets, back up to the main street for a bit, turn around, and then head to the finish line. The running on the main streets have a slight gradient to them, but nothing significant.
Overall: this is a fun course. It has some challenges, but nothing significant. It is a good warm up for some of the hillier courses coming up in July (Gravenhurst and Bala).
Good Luck!!!
The 5150 race course is similar in intensity to the sprint distance. The 1.5km swim starts in the bay and makes three left hand turns before heading up the same river as the sprint race. The secret to swimming up river is to stay near the weeds. Weeds don't grow in strong currents. When near the mouth of the river head to the left side near the speed limit sign and stay there until the first bend, then head across to the right side of the river and stay near the weeds until the next speed limit sign, then cross the river the last time and head towards the steps.
ReplyDeleteThe bike course is 40km out and back. Mostly small hills with a few steep short hills. After the turn around you'll have a 2km steady climb until you get to the rolling hills again. The hills are too short and steep to roll from one to the other. So gear down before the hill.
The run course is two 5km loops over varying terrain. You'll go part way around both running tracks and through a crushed gravel road before doing your second loop. There is one short steep hill just before the start of the second loop. There are aid stations in two locations along the run course. If your lucky a guy will be on the side lines with a garden hose to keep you cool.
Enjoy,
K. Hodgson