Paula Findlay was once again crowned the Canadian National TT Champion on Friday, as the middle distance triathlon star took the victory in Saint-Prosper, Quebec.
For the Edmonton native, the title was her third in this discipline and was remarkably won less than 48 hours before she is set to compete at IRONMAN 70.3 Mont-Tremblant.
Following a stressful ordeal just trying to get her bike to the start line, Findlay shared on Instagram after the race that she was proud of the way she managed the challenges in the buildup.
Seattle stress almost throws spanner in works
On her way to the race, Findlay’s bike wasn’t put on the plane at Seattle Airport, and only made it back to her the night before the time trial in Saint-Prosper.
Speaking about her experience, the 35-year-old admitted on Instagram that losing her bike was less than ideal preparation for a national championship, but also had the grace to thank everyone who had helped her get it back to her.
“After 2.5 days lost in Seattle, my bike has made it to Montreal, the night before the TT at Canadian Champs, so we are throwing it in the rental car and driving 4 hours to the race site tonight.
“This was one of the most stressful and frustrating travel experiences of my life, and although @aircanada was at the root of it, there are some extremely amazing employees who helped make this happen, personally going down on the tarmac to search for the bike, re-tagging it and following up with me dozens of times.
“That, plus the insane outpouring of support from friends and complete strangers offering to go to the airport for me, lend me a bike, send me Air Canada contacts, etc, I am completely blown away by everyone’s kindness.”
Three time’s a charm
After the impact of the preceding few days, a drop in performance at the race might have been expected, but incredibly, Findlay managed to put together one of her best ever performances.
Winning in a time of 39:24 over the 28km course, the PTO World #8 beat runner-up Olivia Baril by 24 seconds and third place finisher Sarah van Dam by 28 seconds to take her third national title.
Expressing her happiness on Instagram post-race, Findlay said her result was testament to the importance of hard work over time and the bigger picture.
“Consistent days, weeks and years of hard work matter way more than what happens in the days before a race. Proud that I was able to switch from chaos into race mode and let my body do what it knows how to do. I felt great and held my best power ever over the distance.
“I have a lot of respect for the other women in the field and knew that it would be incredibly hard to pull off another win, and it ended up being a very close race! Thank you for all of the support and encouragement leading into this, although the TT is quite lonely in the moment I knew I had a lot of people behind me.”
Mont-Tremblant up next
Not content with just a national title, Findlay packed up her things and travelled to Mont-Tremblant after the race, where she will compete in her third IRONMAN Pro Series event of the season on Sunday.
Facing off against fellow T100 Tour contracted athlete Tamara Jewett, plus Australians Ellie Salthouse and Grace Thek, Findlay will have her work cut out as she makes her debut in Quebec.
However, with a win at the North American IRONMAN 70.3 Championships last month and a third place finish at IRONMAN 70.3 Oceanside already this year, the Olympian will be one of the heavy favourites to take the tape on home turf.
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