Tri or Du...there's still three events

What would you do if the race you trained for became a completely different event on race morning? Typically more problematic when competing in triathlons over any other event, this happened at the HSBC Cobourg races both Saturday and Sunday. Swells between five and seven feet caused race director John Salt to switch all triathlons to duathlons. While great for the runners in the crowd, strong swimmers find it a little more difficult to handle.
If racing is 90% mental, how do you switch gears and get your head around a run, bike, run rather than a swim, bike, run; particularly when as a triathlete you probably haven?t done many run to bike bricks? Start by choosing your event wisely by picking races that use quiet bodies of water for the swim (hint not a Great Lake) and search the history of the race to see if it has been a problem in the past. As an example Steelhead 70.3 is held in Lake Michigan and has enough of a history of cancelled swims that they have a posted policy in the event details. If you do want to race a possible tri to du course then do a few run to bike bricks similar to duathlon training. This will not only work on the physical specificity of the race it will prepare you mentally so that you know with certainty that you can physically make the switch.
At the HSBC International Tri to Duathlon (5/40/10) Kris Bonn raced a 2:24:37 and was joined by Stacey Berdan (2:49:04) and Francois Martineau (2:49:45). At the Sprint Tri to Du (2.5/20/5) Jackson Laundry crossed the line in 1:08:35 and was followed by Uber runner Jutta Merilainen who finished second woman overall, first in her age group with a time of 1:09:26. Other Sprinters were Jeff Deville (1:10:09), David Butler (1:13:01), Andrew Speedy (1:15:32), David Conroy (1:20:59), Stacey Berdan (1:21:08), Jennifer Tretina (1:21:12), Cuthbert Cheung (1:24:24), Laura Gagne (1:29:44) and Genevieve Romard (1:52:06). The newly christened Try-a-Du (1.5/10/2.5) saw Johnathon Butler finish in 43:50, Crystal Rehayem (53:25), Joanne Hormann (57:29) and Pat Broekema ( 1:00:00). The scheduled Duathlon (5/20/2.5) hosted Carl MacDonald in an age group third place finish with 1:09:20, Brian Laundry (1:15:23), Chris Geurtsen (1:19:21), Michelle Pothier (1:26:52) and Norm Gagne (1:30:56).
Running out of chocolate was the only fear three locals had at the Chocolate Runs in St. Catherines. Nancie Gibson cruised to a fourth overall in the 13.35k finishing in 1:03:55 while Petra Austin (1:59:30), Cathy Warren (2:22:57) and Patti Teske (2:22:57) raced the half marathon...and ate chocolate.
At Ironman Louisville (3.8/180/42) Allan Faulds finished 49th overall, fourth in his age group in 9:48:57 while newbie Ironman Duane Bryson raced to the line in 12:24:48.
Also at the races this weekend were Melanie Flynn (40:27) at the Toronto Women?s 5k, Dan Trip (35:08) and Robert Walroth (45:03) at the Kash End of Summer Dash 10k as Bill Huffman (2:36:10) and Patrick Drolet (2:07:47) enjoyed the Quebec Half Marathon.