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Cody Beals gets ready for Challenge Roth and title defence at Ironman Mont-Tremblant

"Defending my title at Ironman Mont-Tremblant is a priority on par with my debut at Kona"

Challenge roth

In 2018, Cody Beals, the Guelph, Ont. native, had a dream season on the long course scene. “2018 will be a tough act to follow,” said Beals earlier this year in February. The Canadian won Ironman 70.3 Taiwan, Victoria, Eagleman, and then went onto win his Ironman debut in Mont-Tremblant. To top it all off, Beals won Ironman Chattanooga, which earned himself a spot to the Ironman World Championship in 2019.

Cody Beals set the bike course record at Ironman Mont-Tremblant 2018.

This year, Beals had a tough start to his season – if you consider a hat-trick of second place finishes tough. In his last three races – Challenge Cancun, Ironman 70.3 Victoria and Eagleman – Beals has runner-up. “My back-to-back races at IRONMAN 70.3 Victoria and Eagleman went as well as I could have hoped,” says Beals. ” It’s hard to get excited about three 2nd place finishes so far this year, but frankly, I was relieved just to finish these races.”

Since March 2019, Beals has been dealing with a foot injury that forced him to adapt his training and learn some tough lessons heading into the next half of his season. “I knew that my 2018 season with fives wins would be a tough act to follow and 2019 has already delivered some humbling lessons,” says Beals. “This injury has finally forced me to abandon my old laissez-faire approach and implement more proactive practices around injury management and body maintenance. Another silver lining has been devoting more focus on my cycling and swimming, which are stronger than ever.”

Cody Beals on the run at Ironman Mont-Tremblant 2018. A race he would go onto win.

Related: Catching up with Cody Beals

Now with the help of a physiotherapist and a new outlook on training, Beals is preparing for a challenging final half of the season. First up is Challenge Roth in July, then Ironman Mont-Tremblant in August. On October 12th, the Canadian will make is Kona debut. “I’m optimistic that I’ll be healthy and on good form for Challenge Roth next month. After that, defending my title at Ironman Mont-Tremblant is a priority on par with my debut at Kona.”

Defending my title at Ironman Mont Tremblant is a priority on par with my debut at Kona.

Now that Beals is beginning to feel stronger and learning to be more proactive with injury management and body maintenance, the Canadian is getting ready for an exciting race in Roth, Germany. At the race this year, six of the top 10 men at the 2018 Ironman World Championship will be on the start line: Bart Aernouts (second), David McNamee (third), Braden Currie (fifth), Matt Russell (sixth), Andy Potts (eighth and Cameron Wurf (ninth).