Bala 2009

Bala is one of the better Sprints in Ontario. This year ChipTime did the timing versus 2005 when SportsStats did it. The bike course had one turnaround which meant you weren't going to lose precision time from cornering. That said the bike course was a continually a non-flat adveture. Road & asphalt conditions were solid & enjoyable to ride on. The only adverse condition was the transition area to mount /dismount which was saturated with rain water. The evening before 5 in. of rain had fallen within a 3 hr period leaving the stretch of grass from inside the transition area to the mount/dismount area a mini-swamp. Avoiding all mud, I carried my bike on my shoulders both in & out. The run course as well was very hilly, with some side shoots of true cottage roads. The water in the lake was perfect but i heard many say it was cold by previous years standards. As our age group was waiting at the dock for the horn, we saw Buddy Green of Sudbury in the lead group finishing his swim. It truly was an amazing site to see. The power in his catch & stroke almost looked like he was doing a butterfly stroke. His upper body literally cam e out of the water before his recovery arm sliced back into the water just above his head. If you have ever seen a dolphin swim, this is the only analogy i can think of to describe what we saw. He was clearly well ahead of all the other "pros". His swim time was 8 minutes so many seconds & I later learned that he had come from a swimming background.
For me who has always struggled with my ability to get faster in the swim, I had my best swim time yet. 15 mins 10 secs. First, i swam straight, learning to site much more frequently, and i was able to get myself into a rhythm that worked. The other key secret i have learned is stay relaxed. When you tighten up or try to overwork ; your swim stroke works against you. In other words you're being counter-productive and wasting valuable energy. to see all the results go to www.chiptimeresults.com