Residents in portions of the Saanich Peninsula and motorists along Lochside Drive and West Saanich Road should keep an eye out for cyclists this Sunday, June 3.
From around 6:15 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., the cycling portion of the 2018 Subaru Ironman 70.3 Victoria will run from Elk Lake, north to Lands End Road in North Saanich, and back. Top athletes in the sport, as well as age group category racers will be taking part in the event, so expect to see bikes on a variety of area roads on Sunday (please refer to attached schedule of affected roads for specific areas).
Athletes arrive in Victoria this week and check in Friday afternoon at Hamsterley Beach at Elk Lake in Saanich. There, athletes will be briefed over multiple times Friday and Saturday, as they get ready for the race and take part in local clinics.
The race starts at 6 a.m. with the Pro Men Start, followed shortly by the Pro Women.
It begins with the swim portion in Elk Lake: a 1.9 kilometre single lap into the lake and back from Hamsterley Beach. Athletes jump onto their bikes and tackle a 90 km single loop that takes them along the scenic route to the Royal Oak area, Cordova Bay, Lochside Drive, through Sidney, North Saanich and down West Saanich Road into Central Saanich and Oldfield Road, which takes them back to Elk Lake.
From there, they run two loops of Elk and Beaver lakes for a total of 21.1 km.
The racers should be complete their event anywhere from around 9:30 a.m. to approximately 3:30 p.m.
In last year’s race, Marko Albert from Estonia was the top finisher in a time of three hours, 58 minutes. He was followed by Canadian Taylor Reid (4:01:02) from Guelph, Ontario. Top female finisher was Kelsey Withrow from the U.S. (4:25:11), who had made a comeback after being hit by a truck in 2014 while training. Penticton’s Jen Annett was the second female across the finish line last year (4:26:48).
This year’s awards ceremony will be held at the stage at Hamsterley Beach from 3 to 4 p.m.
