Ironman 70.3 World Championships

The only way to get into the World Ironman 70.3 Championships is to qualify at another Ironman 70.3 race. Winning your age group qualifies you automatically and each race has a few extra spots which go to the top finishers in the age groups with the most competitors in them. I qualified twice, once at Ironman 70.3 Syracuse in September of 2011 by placing second in my age group and again at Ironman 70.3 Mont Tremblant in June of 2012 where I also placed second in my age group. The race was held in Clearwater, FL up until 2011 when it was moved to Las Vegas. Why WTC has to hold all of their championship races in extreme heat is a total mystery to those of us who live in northern climates!
I was feeling relatively positive about the race and even coming from the great white north I had…