2026 T100 Vancouver Sprint

Before we get into this race report, it's important to understand the events leading up to race day. 

4 weeks before race day, my family and I went on vacation. Training was limited to a 5 hour hike I did with my sister. After a week of vacation, it was back home and business as usual. I knew that we would be camping the week before the race, so for the next 2 weeks, I would need to get all my training in for proper prep. The first week went fine, but that weekend there was a death in my family and I needed to fly "home." I did get one good run session in, but nothing else. 

When I got back home, I was able to get a good bike session in before our second vacation.

I brought my gravel bike and was able to get a good ride in while camping, but spent the rest of the time relaxing with family. 

There was miscommunication on my part about when we would be coming back. For some reason, I assumed we were coming back Thursday, but I was wrong. We would be coming back Friday, well after package pick-up and bike drop-off. We changed our ferry reservations to make sure I was back in time. 

We left the campsite on time and made it to our first ferry. 

It was delayed. 

After the first ferry, we drove to the next ferry. We just barely made it and had just enough time to clean up the aftermath of a car sick 2 year old in the back seat before the second ferry left. 

The second ferry was delayed. 

We got off the ferry and realized we were now in Friday afternoon, rush hour traffic. What should have been a 45 minute drive took well over 2 hours. 

We made it home, I loaded my bike on the rack, and left for package pickup. 

Traffic was still bad. What should have been another 45 minute drive was over 90 minutes. I arrived just in time to check in and drop off my bike. 

I drove home, unpacked the rest of camping, then prepped my gear for the race. 

All this rushing around ended up triggering a stress migraine later that night and after a restless and virtually sleepless night, it was race day. 

I am not going to lie, there was a part of me that just wanted to say, "You know what? Forget this!"

But I had been in a similar situation before. And if I could race a 70.3 with no sleep after a migraine, I can race a sprint under the same conditions. 

I made it to the race early and parked 5 minutes down the road. On the walk in, I met up with my friend and former teammate Alison. We chatted as we walked and caught up on life. 

In the mad rush the day before, I had misplaced my timing chip. Now this sounds familiar. I was able to get a replacement and then set up my transition area. 

A few other things got lost in the shuffle. I forgot my body glide (for my socks and wetsuit). Not a big deal.

I also forgot to check/pump my tires. Luckily they were good.

And my power meter battery was dead, so I would riding by feel alone. Again not the end of the world. 

Once setup, I watched the Olympic distance start. The water had little current, it was high tide, and the water was warm (18 degrees).

After chatting with quite a few athletes that I know from coaching, it was time to line up. 

The Swim

It was a rolling start, 2 athletes at a time every 5 seconds. I thanked the volunteer as I made my way to the water. It was colder than I expected, but still very nice. 

I kept a good line out to the first turn buoy. There was a tanker lined up perfectly so sighting was a breeze. 

I took the first turn and noticed the next buoy was not at 90 degrees. This made the turn not as sharp and easier to get a new sighting line.

Everyone seemed to be going off to the left, but I kept my line and swam a straight line to the next few buoys. 

I rounded the last turn buoy and was headed into shore. It was starting to get a bit more crowded now. I grabbed a draft when I could, but soon the swimmer started off course. I kept my line. 

Soon I was at shore. I swam all the way up and made a good exit. 

As I made my way up the beach, I was not feeling great. Not sick, just very run down. There was a good 10 or so seconds where I considered dropping out. There was a mini aid station with water so I grabbed a cup and threw the cold water on my face. I shook the feeling off and kept marching toward my bike. 

 

I took my time in transition. The race organizers had put up more fencing to control the flow of athlete traffic. This meant we had to run all the way around transition before entering. Not a big deal, I memorized my landmarks from both sides. Not my first rodeo.

I turned left at the second porto-potty and headed toward the white tent until I found my bike. I changed into my gear and was headed out. 
 
The mount line was about 20 meters up the road, so I took my time walking on the pavement in my cycling shoes. I crossed the mount line, got on my bike and was off. 

The Bike

The course took us on all my old familiar training routes. We went up the hill past the Jericho Hostel and up onto 4th.

As I took the turn onto 4th, I saw 3 athletes walking their bikes. I felt bad for them. If they were walking this early and on this hill, they were in for a rude awaking when they got to Spanish Banks. I gave some words of accoutrement as I rode by.

I took the hill nice and easy. We had at least 2 more hills to go and a 5k run. That and I had no power meter to keep me in check. I had the option to display speed, time, and/or distance but opted for a blank screen. 

As we rounded the top of 4th, we had a good downhill onto Chancellor. I used this to gain enough speed to make it up the small incline before heading into UBC. 

Riding through the neighborhood at UBC was a good opportunity to get aero and hydrate. Soon I was making the left onto NW Marine Drive and heading back down to Jericho. 

I stayed to the right as the course merged with those on the end of their lap. And I stayed right to make sure those who were better at descending than me could fly by with ease. Coming down this hill is very technical as it has some twists and turns. I rode within my limit and only went 'full send' toward the bottom where I felt safe. 

I veered left and into the parking lot for the turn around. What comes down must go up. So back up we went. 

Once again, I took the hill very easy. It's not as long as the hill on 4th, but it has some punchy bits. We turned right at the top and rode into UBC. 

These were roads I am very familiar with. I used to ride this route all the time when I lived downtown. I gained good speed and stayed tucked in aero.  

We got to 16th and turned left, This would be last hill on the course. I knew it well from the UBC triathlon. After riding down East Mall, we rode onto the Main Mall and the cobble brick path that is the UBC Tri run course. This took us past the UBC Tri transition area and down the East Mall walkaway (the start of the Great Trek, formerly known as the Fall Classic). This dumped us out at the top of the NW Marine Drive hill.

It was here that I got confused. I saw a race official pointing to the right. I knew we were supposed to go straight, but maybe there was a medical emergency and they were rerouting us. I saw a few athletes ahead of me go right, so I went right. 

I then stopped immediately as I saw another race official wave me back. I asked the first official why he pointed right and he said, "I was not pointing right. I was pointing at you." 

Note to any officials out there, if you are going to point, please only point in the direction we need to go. We are moving fast, our brains are not working 100%, and we cannot read your mind.  

I flew down the hill a second time leaving more room as the race was now very crowded. I rode the down hill speed through the flats along the beach to the construction detour. I took the ramp slowly and under control and was back in aero as we rode into transition.

It was yet another long walk all the way around to my spot. An official joking said, "We changed the format. It's now Swim-Bike-Swim-Run."

I laughed and asked, "Can it just be Bike-Bike-Bike?"

A lady laughed and said as long as she did not have to swim. 

"I can swim for you if you run for me." I joked 

I racked my bike and started off on the run 

The Run

I walked the first bit, getting some hydration and a gel. Once onto the main path, I started to run. I walked through the first aid station and grabbed some water. 

My legs were not giving me what I wanted and I ended up walking more than I would have liked. While looping around the lake, I got some much needed encouragement from the amazing course marshals. 

We looped past transition and I made a mental note of all the signage. There were several ways to go depending on what lap you were on or what distance you were doing. It seemed pretty straight forward to me. But I did see several sprint distance athletes either finish too soon or go out for an unneeded second lap. 

After an out-and-back along Lacarno Beach, it was time to run to the finish. With 1.5k to go, I set the goal of running all the way to the finish. 

I was all in now. I looped around the roundabout that marked the end of 1 lap and turned right onto the finish chute. The chute was a large blue carpet over sand. I could feel it shifting underfoot. I pushed foreword but under control. This was not the time to get injured. 

As I approached the finish line, I realized there was no one around me. I centered myself in the chute and thought, "This will make for a cool photo."  

And it did.

After the race, I went back to transition to collect my gear. There were still 3 athletes on the race course so we all had to wait. As they came in, we all cheered for them. They seemed to have enjoyed having the crowd there. 

I packed my gear, walked back to my car, changed, then went back to watch the pro race. 

It's a pretty cool thing to have the 20 best female pros in the world race in your backyard. 

 

All in all, I am very happy with my result. I could have done better on the run, but given the lead up to race day I'd say I did well.

Swim: 00:16:36
T1:      00:08:03
Bike:   00:50:33
T2:      00:05:15
Run:    00:41:39
Total:   02:02:05

I have one more race on the books for 2026 and my coaches and I are already starting to plan what 2027 may bring. Stay tuned.