Three-thousand athletes will swim, bicycle and run through Ottawa on Sunday in the 2026 Ironman Canada-Ottawa event. It’s the second straight year the Ironman triathlon will be held in Ottawa. The Ironman began Sunday morning with Ottawa under a Yellow Warning-Rainfall, calling for more than 50 millimetres of rain. CTVNewsOttawa.ca looks at what you need to know about the Ironman Canada-Ottawa. What is it? Ironman Canada is a long-distance triathlon event, featuring a 3.8-kilometre swim, followed by a 180-kilometre bike ride and a 42.2-kilometre run. The Ironman Canada-Ottawa triathlon is part of the VinFast Ironman North America Series. The course The Ironman Canada-Ottawa begins with a 3.8 km swim at Britannia Park. The athletes will complete one loop of the swimming course. The athletes will then complete a 180 km bike ride on a fully closed-road course between Britannia, downtown Ottawa, Blackburn Hamlet and Mooney’s Bay. The bike course travels along Carling Avenue, the Kichi Zibi Mikan, Wellington Street, Colonel By Drive, Sussex Drive, the Sir George-Etienne Cartier Parkway, Rockcliffe Parkway, Rue Laurier in Gatineau and across the Portage and Alexandra bridges. The second transition is in Major’s Hill Park in downtown Ottawa, where athletes will transition from the bicycle to the running course. The 42.2 km course will see runners compete in two loops of the course that include running along Queen Elizabeth Driveway, through the Central Experimental Farm and around Parliament Hill. The finish line is located on Murray Street next to the National Gallery of Canada and Major’s Hill Park. Race schedule for Sunday There will be a mandatory shuttle bus to the Britannia Beach swim start between 3:30 a.m. and 5:30 a.m. Fly-past The Royal Canadian Air Force will perform two fly-pasts during the Ironman Canada-Ottawa event. There will be a fly-past on Friday at 6 p.m. over Major’s Hill Park. On Sunday, there will be a fly-past over Britannia Beach at 6 a.m. at the start of the race. Athlete check-in Athletes can check in for the Ironman Canada-Ottawa at Major’s Hill Park on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. The check-in will be open Thursday from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. Race timing and cut-offs All athletes will have 17 hours to complete the entire course once they cross the swimming mat at the swim start. “Anyone who does not complete the event in 17 hours will be designated as Did Not Finish (DNF) in the official results,” according to Ironman. The swim course will close two hours and 20 minutes after the last athlete enters the water via the rolling start. Any athlete that does not complete the 3.8 km swim in two hours and 20 minutes will receive a DNF. The bicycle course will close 10 hours and 30 minutes after the last athlete enters the water. Each athlete will have 10 hours and 30 minutes to complete the swim, transition one and the bike course, regardless of when they start the swim. The intermediate cut-off on the bike course is 120.5 km at 2:55 p.m., while the intermediate cut-off on the run course is 20.9 km at 9 p.m. “Any athlete that does not make the intermediate time cut-offs will not be allowed to continue and will receive a DNF. The bike course cut-off will be at the dismount line 10 hours and 30 minutes after the last athlete enters the water,” says the athlete guide. The run course will close 17 hours after the last athlete enters the water. Any athlete that takes longer than 17 hours to complete the race will receive a DNF. Road Closures There will be several road closures across Ottawa and Gatineau for the Ironman Canada-Ottawa. The City of Ottawa said roads will be closed beginning at 3 a.m. on Sunday, and some roads may remain closed until 1 a.m. on Monday. Major roads impacted by the event include: View the racecourse through the interactive map on RacePoint. OC Transpo routes that use these roads will be detoured during the event. Last year’s results Luke Evans won the first ever Ironman Canada-Ottawa event, crossing the finish line in 8 hours and 40 minutes. Shane Lynch crossed the finish line in 9 hours and two minutes. Aliisa Heiskanen was the first female to cross the finish line, completing the course in 9 hour and 32 minutes. Meghan Howell finished second, with a time of 9 hours and 43 minutes.
