IRONMAN Canada-Ottawa is a split-transition 140.6 — Canada's only full-distance IRONMAN. You don't pack one bag, you pack three colour-coded ones that travel for you, plus orange and black personal-needs bags for mid-course, and your bike goes in the day before. Here's exactly what goes in each, when check-in closes, and how race morning runs.
On a split course you never return to where you started, so your kit is split across colour-coded bags that get moved for you while you race.
The swim and bike start at Britannia Beach on the Ottawa River. The bike comes back to a different transition downtown by the National Gallery, and the run finishes at Major's Hill Park beneath Parliament Hill — you never return to where you started. That's why your kit is split across bags that get moved for you while you race.
IRONMAN's colour-to-bag scheme is the same the world over, so this part is settled. Pack each bag for the discipline it powers. On a full there are also personal-needs bags for the bike and run — an orange bike bag and a black run bag of mid-course aid you hand in on race morning and collect at the marked points out on course.
Ottawa runs a mandatory day-before bike & gear-bag check-in — bike and blue bag at Britannia Beach T1, racked overnight, and the red run bag downtown at the National Gallery T2. There's no race-morning bike check-in to fall back on, and the exact closing minutes are confirmed from the 2026 guide.
The 2026 official guide is in. The times below are now confirmed for this edition — a few moved from last year.
The order is what matters: personal-needs drop-off runs 03:30–05:30 at Major's Hill Park, transition opens at 04:00 and closes at 06:00, then the rolling swim start off Britannia Beach at 06:00. Bikes stay racked from the day before.
The blue bag is your bike / T1 bag — helmet, bike shoes, sunglasses, race belt and ride nutrition. It's racked with your bike at Britannia Beach the day before.
Yes. Bike & gear-bag check-in is mandatory and day-before, on Saturday, with your bike and blue bag racked overnight at Britannia Beach. There is no race-morning bike check-in, so don't plan to bring it on the day.
Only your white morning-clothes bag and your personal-needs bags are handled on the day. Blue and red are dropped the day before and you can't get back into them — everything for the bike and run has to be right before check-in closes.
IRONMAN Canada-Ottawa is a split (point-to-point) transition: the swim and bike start at Britannia Beach, the run starts from a second transition downtown by the National Gallery, and you finish at Major's Hill Park. The colour-coded bags carry your kit between those points so you don't have to.
On a full you can. You receive an orange Bike Personal Needs bag and a black Run Personal Needs bag — mid-course aid like extra nutrition, salt or a spare tube — that you drop between 03:30 and 05:30 on race morning and collect at the marked points out on course. They're not returned afterwards, so don't put anything of value in them.
The mandatory Bike & Gear Bag check-in at Britannia Beach closes Saturday at 16:00, the day before the race (the run gear-bag check-in downtown closes at 17:00). This is confirmed from the 2026 athlete guide, not a provisional time. Have your bike racked and bags dropped before then.
Add Ottawa and RackSide turns this into a personal, deadline-aware plan — your wave time against the confirmed 2026 cut-offs and a packing checklist you tick off.