It was a long day in the rain for the Ironman athletes .
As if swimming almost four kilometres, cycling more than 180 km and then capping it all with a 42.2 km run wasn’t ridiculous enough, participants in Sunday’s Ironman Canada-Ottawa sloshed through an ongoing downpour.
The deluge continued as dripping-wet participants transitioned from swim to bike to run.
But what about those who showed up in support of their friends and family?
Here are a few vignettes of those who braved the rain.
Ponchos and a proud young artist
A group in red plastic rain ponchos stuck out from the muggy crowd in Sunday’s Ironman Canada-Ottawa .
They held four colourful signs with the obvious touch of a kid’s passionate creativity.
That kid — and proud artist — was eight-year-old Kaia Eliora Naidoo-Masse, who was visiting with her parents from Toronto in support of Patrick Grzelak.
“Kaia has inspired us all artistically. These are all her paint markers. I got a new printer, so we printed pictures of Patrick from his past athletic adventures, and sometimes just selfies. We also added some gemstones,” said Anushka Naidoo.
Naidoo-Masse’s sign featured a drawing of the athlete in all three stages of the triathlon, her own handwritten “Go! Go! Go!” and, of course, a butterfly sticker.
Naidoo first became close friends with Grzelak’s partner, Liia Vuur, after meeting at the University of Victoria.
Now, along with their friends and families from Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver, they came together in Ottawa for the first time.
They admitted the weather initially made them a bit nervous, hence the ponchos, but they all agreed turned out to be a “very special day.”
A special day indeed.
Keeping her cowbell dry
In stark contrast to the poncho group was Sarah Zanchetta, quietly sitting on the wet grass near the finish line in support of her husband, Brody Zanchetta.
Leaning on a giant cowbell — that actually rings — covered in plastic wrap, she said she couldn’t unwrap the papier-mache project because of the rain.
“But it’s been a good makeshift umbrella. I’ve been carrying it on my back, so it kind of protects me a bit. I didn’t plan that part,” said Zanchetta.
The couple drove to Ottawa from Toronto on Wednesday for the triathlon, the giant bell on top of the athlete’s bike in the back of their car.
An art educator at the Art Gallery of Ontario who teaches kids how to make sculptures, Zanchetta said that her husband probably wasn’t surprised when she made him a giant cowbell.
“It’s not out of my realm!”
When her husband, a paramedic, first said he wanted to train for the Ironman, Zanchetta knew it would be a huge feat, but never thought he wouldn’t be able to do it.
After countless Costco trips and months of training, she said it felt like “insanity” when they finally made their way to the capital.
“He’s been dreaming about doing this since he was like 12 … and now he’s 32!”
Sitting by herself, waiting patiently Sunday, she said she didn’t want to lose her project to the weather. But she knew she would have to unwrap it when her athlete crossed the finish line.
Unbothered by the rain
Huddled cozily under a National Post umbrella on a bench in front of the Confederation Building were Cate Collins and Vic Chimienti from Belleville, waiting for their 30-year-old nephew, Josh Collins, to run by.
Though the couple had only been at this spot for about an hour, they said that they had been following the athlete along his route since 5 a.m. that morning.
But they weren’t the only ones cheering him on.
They had other family members stationed around the route to ensure they would catch him at every angle to play his motivational song through a speaker, “Legends are Made” by Sam Tinnesz.
Collins said that her seeing nephew finally competing, after watching him undergo a gruelling 18-month training schedule, meant the world — especially because he’d never even run a marathon.
“This is a big, scary, audacious goal. I’m so proud of this guy. He had a calf injury a couple of weeks ago, and yet, he’s still going at such a speed,” said his aunt.
She added that his motivation for the triathlon came from his want to build “street credibility” as a massage therapist.
As the rain picked up again, the couple didn’t seem bothered by it at all.
“We’re just taking in the energy of the city,” Collins said.
From a sea of carbon fibre bikes and high-tech race shoes to determined athletes chasing the finish line, competitors took on the 226-kilometre (140.6-mile) IRONMAN Canada-Ottawa course through Ottawa on Sunday.
Lawrence Bautista paused for a moment to refill water bottles during the bike portion of the event.
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