Amber Ferreira Finishes 4th at the 2013 Mont Tremblant 70.3

 Amber and I ventured up to Mont Tremblant this past weekend for another 70.3 event. She was on the verge of qualifying for the 70.3 Championships going into this race(for professional triathletes, the top 35 pros qualify for the championships and it is based on the top five races in the qualifying year) holding the 20th spot with only six races remaining before the qualifying period ends in mid-July. She needed a good race here to ensure(most likely) a spot for the Vegas event in September.

Amber has certainly "done work" this year

As has been the case with most of her races this year, we had to make this a quick trip. We drove up to Montreal late Friday night then finished the drive the next morning. We arrived just in time for the pro meeting where the course was introduced and photos were taken.

All the pros racing MT70.3

Luckily after the triathlon logistics were all sorted out we did have some time for some good food and exploration. If you have never been to Mont Tremblant, it is a really fun place and I would recommend it. It's like a little European village.

Amber exploring Mont Tremblant

A bol of cafe

We had arranged a home-stay for Saturday night so we tried to get in touch with him in order to get directions to his marina(he lived on an island). However, probably due to the poor phone reception we never connected and had to, at the last minute, find a hotel to stay. Luckily, I knew just the place. The Auberge Mountain View was as quaint as I remembered from last year's Ironman. What I didn't remember was the fire alarms going off several times through the night. So much for a restful sleep before the triathlon!

After finally getting a few hours of sleep, we awoke and headed to the race.

Amber putting on her Zoot (wet)Suit

We must have eaten something at the dinner because both of our stomachs were bothering us(fine for a spectator not so good for a racer). To add to a poor night's sleep and aching stomachs, Amber had a last minute goggle snafu and had to quickly find me to switch out her goggles only minutes before she started the race.

Where are my goggles?

Amber getting ready to swim

 After the Candian national anthem, they were ready to go. Amber will describe in more detail how the swim went but she came out in the back of the front pack in around 28 minutes.

Bike Transition

 She then took off on the bike. This bike is pretty much two out and backs so I had a little while to explore the trail system and see if I could find any good places to spectate. What I found was an AMAZING trail system that had paved bike paths as well as a mountain bike(or trail running) trail system with jumps and banked turns. I easily occupied myself in them and could have for many hours if I didn't need to get back to the course.
At one point I actually ran underneath cyclists racing.

Triathletes on the bridge

 And another time could barely see them through a golf course.

I also ran into one of Bambi's friends:

The bikers to lead the first 3 pro females on the run course

 I headed back to the race where I arrived just in time to see the top 3 women head out on the run. Linsey Corbin had a three minute lead on Magali T followed by Melanie McQuaid. Another woman came by(Suzanne Z?) and then it was Amber! But she DID NOT look good. There were two women right on her tail and she yelled to me as she passed that her stomach was killing her.

Amber at her worst

I cheered her on thinking that a top ten finish would be nice especially given the less than optimal race-day lead up. I headed to the next place where I could see her which was about five miles into the run. Instead of seeing her in fifth place, however, she was now in fourth! She had actually passed the woman ahead of her and was closing in on Melanie. However, Melanie still had over a 3 minute lead so Amber would have to keep up her pace if she wanted to even come close.

I saw her again at mile 9 and she had cut the lead to less than three minutes but we both knew at that point she couldn't make up that time. She ended up in fourth place with a time of 4:38:xx. Not bad at all and will likely be enough to earn her a spot at the 70.3 Championships!

Amber crossing the finish line!

The top 4 women-Amber, Linsey, Magali, and Mel

Linsey crouching to congratulate Amber at the finish

For anyone considering a race for next year, I would definitely recommend Mont Tremblant. Not only is it a great course but the spectators were great and we have never seen so many people at the awards ceremony! A must do race!

The podium: Amber, Magali, Linsey, and Annie Gervais(Mel didn't make it)

Up Next: We leave next week for Frankfurt Germany for the European Ironman Championships on July 7th!