The physical feat is awe-inspiring. But I'll let the numbers speak for themselves. Just for an idea.....the world class athletes, the ones who do this for a living, they very rarely break eight hours. Almost never. Usually they're closer to eight and a half hours. They give you 17 hours to complete the race. If you finish in 12 hours, you're considered quite good already. We're talking about a serious endurance race here. Okay. So you have an idea of what the event is all about. What I really want to talk about is the atmosphere.

The atmosphere is phenomenal. First of all, pro athletes and amateurs are all mixed in together. You can be Joe Shmoe, and running alongside Peter Reid. It's a very friendly thing. The announcer, just before the swim, asked if anybody had an extra pair of goggles. One of the age groupers (that's what they call the amateurs) had broken his strap. Olivier Bernhard, a pro triathlete who ended up finishing second overall, lent him a spare pair of goggles. Isn't that great? What other sport can you see such things in?

At the beginning, it's a mass start. 2000 people plunging into the lake at the same time. They call it swim combat. It's pretty neat all right.

Fast forward past the swim, past the bike, onto the run! Peter Reid was in the lead coming in. For several kilometres before the finish line, people lined the streets, cheering him on. It was also pretty neat. BC boy does his province proud. Yeah!

The rest of the day is taken up by other finishers. Everybody gets a cheer as they go by. People calling out names of complete strangers, clapping enthusiastically. Big party. All the people there are friendly as hell. Talk to anybody. The spirit of the thing. Starts from the athletes and volunteers, and transfers to the crowd. They give it back better than they get it. Supporters and athletes feed off of each other. Fans feed off of each other. Athletes do the same. It's one of those events where you feel like everybody's your buddy. Really cool. I highly recommend going out and visiting. If you can do it, you should be an athlete in fact. Yeah. My only regret is not staying until the end. Those who are doing it for the first time, dragging themselves in just under the deadline, walking in with their children, the kind of stories that might make you cry, you know? Next year, I gotta stay until the end. Hope I see y'all out there.