“Boutique” Racing Comes Fast: Challenge Cap Quebec in Words and Pictures

The third running of Challenge Cap Quebec added a new twist to Challenge Family racing in North America – for the first time the day included a full-distance race. Dominique Piche, the man behind Challenge Cap Quebec, described the event as “boutique” racing, and once again delivered quite the experience for the athletes.

The racing takes place around Quebec’s old harbour and, while the course doesn’t take athletes through the city’s famous old city any longer, it’s all within walking distance. We’ll have more of our interview with Piche for you tomorrow, but the man who created the IRONMAN races in Mont-Tremblant is determined to maintain the experience for athletes. The weekend’s racing had roughly 2,200 competitors between the sprint, Olympic distance (held on Saturday), half- and full-distance races. Piche’s goal is to expand that number to roughly 2,500 in the near future.

The reason the course can’t handle more than that is the number of loops – yesterday’s full featured eight loops on the bike along a highway, and four of the run which follows a river trail. The day begins with a swim inside the harbour, which keeps athletes out of the St. Lawrence River with its 10 knot current. The flat, fast course lived up to its billing yesterday, with full-distance rookie Nicolas Gilbert blasting to a 7:51:10 winning time, with age-grouper Luke Evans nailing another 8:19:28 finish to go along with his 8:19 clocking in Arizona last year.

The speedy women’s performance of the day came from Ariane Lalancette, who took the women’s P113 race in 4:07:51, which was good for fourth overall in that race.

Here are some photos from the day’s racing – top-five results from Sunday’s racing are included below.

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