Wednesday August 19

The day after the race was for recovery. A later morning swim with some of the other teams provided a little lactate removal. The session ended with a few of our athletes on the waterslides - definitely a relaxing atmosphere. For an island of 100,000 people the sporting facilities are excellent. Credit Union Place is a multi-plex building with 2 hockey arenas, a pool and an attached restaurant facility similar to Marquis Downs looking out onto a horse racing track. Beside the buildings are beach volleyball and soccer pitches. (RossAnn says it's not a volleyball "pitch", she says "court". A fresh lobster to anyone who sets us straight on the proper name.)

Wednesday afternoon saw the crew get out of town with their parents to Cavendish Boardwalk and then onto the beach for a few hours. Back into town for a pre-race (relay) meeting at 5:00 PM rounded out the day.

Thursday August 20

The triathlon relay takes place tomorrow. This is new to all of the teams. Each of the three athletes does a mini sprint of 300 m. swim, 7 km. bike and 2 km. run. The next athlete is tagged and jumps in for their swim, bike, run. and finally the third athlete is tagged and goes. There is a little more strategy to this as the first lead pack on the bike is crucial. We spent a few hours at the course this morning getting familiar with the tag zone and diving off the platform after the tag.

This afternoon provided a chance to take in some of the other events. Unfortunately the boys basketball team lost to New Brunswick in the fifth place consolation. On the bright side, Team Sask. is finally into the medals with a four medal day in rowing.

There's lots of excitement around triathlon. Excellent news coverage and lots of questions from those not familiar with the sport. We're looking forward to a large crowd tomorrow and hopefully we can make our fans proud.

Talk to you later.