Canada's triathlon team is doing Olympic homework in London.
The International Triathlon Union World Championship Series hosts a women's race Saturday and a men's race Sunday (CBC, CBCSports.ca, 11 a.m. ET) on the Hyde Park course that will be used for the 2012 Summer Games.
Kirsten Sweetland and Kyla Coates of Victoria, Edmonton's Paula Findlay and Kathy Tremblay of Montreal are the Canadians in the women's field.
Victoria's Simon Whitfield, Kyle Jones of Oakville, Ont., and Calgary's Jordan Bryden follow in the men's race.
Triathlon Canada high-performance director Kurt Innes brought seven support staff he wants working with the Canadian team at the Olympics two years from now.
A mantra of high-performance sport is "no new faces." Athletes want to know and be comfortable with the doctors, massage therapists and chiropractors treating them before and during major competitions.
"The reason I'm bringing everybody here is to make sure everybody is a good fit with our current athletes," Innes explained from London. "We can make adjustments next year and then we'll have 100 per cent right staff on board in 2012. And then no new faces or changes for the final year."
The Canadian triathletes are staying in apartments near Hyde Park. They will do the same at the 2012 Olympics until after their races.
"We're most likely going to stay in this apartment complex or something very similar to it," Innes said.
Similar setup in Beijing
Canada's triathlon team had a similar setup at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, where Whitfield won the silver medal in the men's race. The triathletes stayed in a house near the course at the Ming Tombs Reservoir and also had their own chef.
The Canadians will have their own chef again in 2012, although they don't have one in London.
"We'll bring somebody in who knows our athletes and can cook to exactly what we need based on the individual dietary and high-performance requirements of the athletes," Innes explained. "The costs are quite minimal when you think about how much it costs to eat out each night.
"You don't want to spend close to a million dollars a year preparing athletes to win a gold medal for this country and you blow it the week of because they've eaten in a restaurant and caught some kind of a food-borne illness."
The Hyde Park course is flat and fast. The 1.5-kilometre swim is in the Serpentine, which is a lake in the middle of the vast downtown park. The 40-kilometre bike is eight laps around the park and the 10k run another three loops around.
Innes has been feverishly gathering video of the course and intends to shoot video race day for analysis later.
"I want these athletes to know every different pot hole on the course and every left turn, every right turn, when they have to change gears and that sort of stuff," Innes explained.
Ironing out the details
Whitfield won gold in 2000 when triathlon made its Olympic debut in Sydney, Australia. The 35-year-old says Sunday's race in London affords him the opportunity to plan for 2012 and iron out wrinkles that could affect him race day.
"It's a great dress rehearsal actually, just know the lay of the land, where to run and try to ride, where to swim and most importantly eat," he said in an e-mail to The Canadian Press.
"We won't be staying in the village before the race. The place we're in this year looked great on paper but just doesn't work. We'll start looking for a different location to try next year and finalize before 2012."
Innes estimates the weekend's Olympic simulation cost $55,000 and says Own The Podium paid for it.
OTP was established five years out from the 2010 Winter Olympics to help Canadians win medals in Vancouver and Whistler, B.C. It continues as the main funding body for both summer and winter sports. It is paid for largely by Canadian taxpayers.
"It's important for the Canadian public to understand what the program stands for," Innes said. "We're here to win medals for this country. That's my job and the job of every one of these athletes who are here."
