Milton Triathlon & Duathlon

I really enjoyed this event. It was my first ever triathlon so I'm glad I did the try a tri and avoided the sixth line hill, definitely not ready for that, next year I will be.

The park is wonderful, my family and I made a weekend of it and camped out, certainly made getting to the even much easier.

The volunteers and staff were extremely helpful, and the event very well organized. All the other racers were very friendly. This was a great experience and I can't wait to do it again.

The only thing I was disappointed with was the Subaru Triathlon Series does not have finisher medals. Especially being my very first one, I was looking forward to having a keepsake. Moving up to the sprint triathlon when I look at peoples times, there will be not triathlon medals in my future. :(

This race is a traditional early-season test.

The swim is in a small shallow reservoir so it's generally warmer than other bodies of water but given date still pretty cold. No currents or waves to content with, sighting is easy.

The 30 km bike is a bit longer than typical and features an early test: 6th Line Hill. This is a 1.5 km long climb about 5 km in that gets steeper as it goes... Save your strength as you ride up or you'll end up walking the last bit! Otherwise the course is fairly sheltered and rolling (until you return down the same 6th Line Hill...) If you can pre-ride the bike course you'll have a better idea of what you'll face.

The run is a 7.5 km out-and-back course, generally uphill then downhill, with more forest trail than road. The course starts with a short sharp slope that serves as a warning of what's ahead, but don't take it too seriously. The trail portions are well shaded.

Note: The bike course takes place on the only access road and a Try-a-Tri race proceeds the Sprint. You must be parked before 8:30 AM or you'll have a 1 km hike. Conversely, Try-a-Tri racers can't exit between 9:45 and 10:30 because the Sprint racers are using the access road.

A good challenge to start your season! I've done this race five or six times.

I would echo all of Jo Sharland's sentiments so I won't write it all out again. I love this race as well. Was the site of my very first tri - the Try-a-tri back in 2006 so I have a sentimental attachment to it. The course is challenging just enough to be fun and not long enough to really break you. The water isn't great but it is what it is and it is right next to transition. Always a good spirit among the racers and spectators. Great that you can drive from Toronto easily and just make a day of it - not having to stay overnight. Love the Sixth Line Hill for its up and its down, but definitely you want to be prepared for it.

I loved this race , it's not a standard sprint triathlon since the bike is 30k and the run is 7.5 k. Both the bike and the run are pretty challenging but its phenomenally well organised like all the Subaru events and the post race food is yummy!

Swim - Kelso lake is a bit muddy with poor visibility - we swam in wave 4 so the water was particularly well churned up by the time we started. The lake was chillier than last week owing to the recent rain and the wind made it pretty choppy at times. On a nicer day this would be a lovely swim !

Bike - the course is challenging especially with the Sixth Line Hill coming at around 5k - this hill is steep and a lot of folks were off their bikes and walking. I would advise anyone doing this race for the first time to come out and ride the course at least once. Almost as daunting is the descent on the way back. There was an unauthorised truck on the course while I was descending and I found this quite alarming . at the bottom of the hill you need to slow down and bear sharp left - this was well controlled by police officers.

Run - again quite challenging. Primarily on trails with a particularly nasty hill thrown in at around 3k. The back half of the run is downhill and you can really fly. I absolutely loved this part as I needed to make up for a lot of time added in Transition 1 ( darn that wetsuit ) one thing I would note is that there are few volunteers marshalling on the trails - one guy running near me took quite a nasty fall. fortunately he was OK - not sure what we would have done if he had needed some extra assistance.