As Jen Annett prepares for the Ultraman World Championship, we explain how she set the world-record at Ultraman Canada

In August 39-year-old Jen Annett didn’t just win the 2024 Ultraman Canada Triathlon – she shattered a number of records, including the world-best time for an Ultraman race.

Jen Annett shatters world-best time and wins Ultraman Canada overall

While Annett and her crew were celebrating and waiting for the next athlete to cross the finish line (which came three hours and ten minutes later), race announcer Steve King began looking into the record books and putting Annett’s achievement into perspective. Yes, she had just won the race overall, yes, she set every female record on the course except for the swim, but she had also broken Dede Griesbauer’s previous world best for the ultra-distance by 69 minutes. Her 21:39:21 finish time was also the third fastest at Ultraman Canada.

As important and inspirational as her Ultraman victory was, it added nothing to the family bank account. Unlike 70.3 and Ironman races, winning an Ultraman offers no cash prizes. Initially Annett didn’t think she would be able to head to the Big Island for the Ultraman World Championship at the end of the month, but a fundraising campaign that raised almost C$21,000, means that we’ll see Annett racing in Hawaii.

Annett will be taking on another pro triathlete who made her debut over the Ultraman distance this year, Denmark’s Michelle Vesterby.

Ironman champion and “super mom” steps up to Ultraman racing with huge overall win in Arizona

So how did Annett do so well in her Ultraman debut? Here’s a breakdown of how the three days.

The Weather

No question that Mother Nature always has the first and last say in the fortunes of any endurance sport performance. Over the three days of the event she was in a giving mood. From the moment the gun went off at Pioneer Park for the 10 km swim in Naramata, to when last-place finisher, Mizuki Imaizumi crossed the finish line at suppertime on Sunday, conditions were favourable. There was no forest fire smoke in the air, the winds were moderate and the temperatures were mostly in the upper 20s.

The Course

The weather can change significantly over the days and hundreds of kilometres that are part of Ultraman Canada. One thing that does not change is the course profile. If you were hired to find a course to set a world record on for an Ultraman and you chose Canada, you would get fired. Its 4,758 m of elevation is more than the events in Arizona (3,048 m) and Australia (4,155 m). Only the Ultraman World Championships in Hawaii with 5,248 metres offers more vertical challenge.

One aspect of the Canadian course that may contribute to faster times is the lack of turns on the cycling route. Not having to navigate an urban maze means racers and crew members don’t need to invest time and energy in route-finding. The run course is also quite simple to navigate, however the simplicity comes at a cost. The course profile looks like a Swedish saw blade and the middle section is unpaved and the road surface feels more like your grandmother’s washboard than a place where a world record would be set.

The Support

Unlike shorter triathlons, ultras are different because they require support crews to help athletes while they are on the racecourse. Supporting Annett during her record-setting effort in July were her son Nixon, her husband, Jason, seasoned ultra-sherpas Shelie Best and Gary Scatchard, along with two-time Ultraman Canada winner, Dave Matheson. Off course she was supported by others, most notably her coach of almost ten years, Jonathan Caron.

5 Questions with Ironman’s fastest women’s cyclist, Jen Annett

The Athlete and Inspiration

The triumph of 2024 was sewn from the tears and beers of 2023 and, by that time, Annett had already been a pro for well over a decade. She burst onto the long-course triathlon scene by taking first by a huge margin at Ironman Canada in 2008 and, ever since then, has done exceptionally well at local races and reasonably well on the international Ironman circuit.

One wonders if it was inspiration or desperation that motivated Annett to race five (yes five) Ironman events last year. It was perhaps a season of solid mediocrity, save for a glimpse of promise (third) at Lake Placid, and a forgettable 23rd at the World Championship in Kona. The result of her efforts in 2023 failed to put much bread on the table or any tri-joy in her heart. Realizing Ironman racing was an unreliable meal ticket, she took on a full-time job and was soon facing the reality of most Ironman athletes: the delicate balancing act of work, family, household and training.

Paradoxically, the shakeup reignited her passion and to seriously contemplate Ultraman Canada. In her planning for the 2024 season, there would be no expensive races she would need to travel to. The focus was on local events her family could come to watch, leaving family finances intact.

Annett’s meandering path to the start line of her first Ultraman took another step closer to reality during the IPA-induced fog of a New Year’s Eve conversation with her coach, Jonathan Caron. After reflecting on her disappointing season, Caron recounts her asking, “How dumb of an idea it would be to do Ultraman.” Coach Caron replied, “It wasn’t a matter of it being good or dumb, but what would be fun for her? And the idea was fun, very fun!”

The final step to the start line was the commitment. Once she hit “send” on the registration site, she realized that 2024 would be different than any other year in her triathlon career. Sure there would be an Ironman in 2024, the one in Penticton in August, but doing an Ultraman was a new challenge.

The Preparation

Fortunately for Annett, she was surrounded by sages who knew her well athletically and personally. These advisors also happened to be experienced coaches and ultra-athletes.

To maintain balance in her life her team realized not many changes needed to be made to her training regimen. Her coach, Jonathan Caron, is not a proponent of specific “ultra” style training with huge volume. Other than some extra long swims, her training log looked like most years. Her run training may shock you as there were not many long runs. Pummelling her legs with added run volume was off the table. Running quickly in the event would come from taking it easy on the bike on days one and two. Would the strategy work for a double marathon?

The Performance

What happened over the three days of the Ultraman Canada was a benevolent conspiracy of the right training, the right conditions and the right people.

The first day of the event was on Friday, July 26th. It was the day of the 10 km swim and the 160 km bike. It was also the anniversary of her father-in-law’s death. Rather than being saddened by the loss, Annett reflected on how much he meant to her and all the support he had given her as a professional triathlete. Annett recounts him being there shouting, “Go get her, super mom, you got this.”

Buoyed with his positive energy and the gentle conditions Okanagan Lake offered that morning, she dipped her toe in the water, emerging 2:51 later, with an almost 20-minute lead over her closest competitor.

Her weakest discipline behind her, along with a substantial lead, meant she could relax on the bike and still probably win day one.  Annett stuck to the plan over the 160 km route and when she arrived at the finish line in Okanagan Falls, records fell like dominoes. Her 4:09:35 bike split was over half an hour faster than the ten-year-old previous record set by Yvonne Timewell. Despite her pedestrian swim, she set the fastest first-day record of 7:00:53, bettering Kate Bevilaqua’s 7:26:38 set in 2015.

The goal of day two was to bike conservatively and save energy for the next day. She did just that. She also set a female course record for the 275 km ride from Penticton to Osoyoos, back to Okanagan Falls, and ending in Princeton. Although suffering back issues, she posted a 7:52:27, also well ahead of the previous female record and turning in the fourth-fastest bike split ever for the event.

As the Sunday sun rose through the overcast and eerie skies of Princeton, Annett awoke with a mind clouded by uncertainty and legs heavy with soreness. Despite cycling within her limits, fueling properly and resting sufficiently, the fatigue from her record-setting first two days was unmistakable.

“I woke up in the morning and was thinking ‘I have to run 84 kilometres today and my legs are already sore, what’s going to happen?’ My goal was to run a 4:45- to 5-minute km pace and that’s how I started. I know that when my legs are trashed it takes about 45 minutes for my legs to come around.”

Sure enough, her legs bounced back, as did her mood and confidence, not only because of the positive feedback from her watch, but also from her crew’s encouragement. A unique aspect of ultra triathlon is competitors are permitted pacers and Annett had three of them, a friend, her brother and two-time Ultraman Canada champion Dave Matheson. He was impressed with just how composed Annett was.

“She was in a great mood when we met up at the halfway point and throughout the entire time I ran with her,” Matheson said. “She was having a great time and had a positive attitude until she crossed the finish line. It was like she was just out for a regular Sunday long training run, laughing and having a good time with her crew.”

Pacers or no pacers, an athlete still needs to traverse this course with 754 metres of climbing. As crushing as climbing the hills were, the downhill parts were worse.

“Those downhills at about kilometre 70 to 75 were certainly the most difficult for me,” Annett adds.

With the washboard roads, undulating terrain and rest of the field behind her, she crossed the finish line in 6:46:01 with her entourage alongside her. It was 13 minutes faster than any female had ever gone on the run course. For many of her triathlon followers who pegged her as an uber-biker, this speedy run was a bit of a shock, but it wasn’t to the people closest to her, especially her coach. Caron noted that “from day one of coaching her I knew she was a great runner and she will win races and move up on the run.”

“We always planned races to close the deal on the run and in our first Ironman working together, she outran the entire field and posted the fastest marathon,” Caron continued.

Ultraman World Championship

Next up for Annett will be the big race on the Big Island from Nov. 29 through Dec. 1. You can find more information on that race here.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Jen Annett (@annett_jen)