Slowly but surely, Mont-Tremblant is establishing itself as a top destination for triathletes. Mélissa Rattue – the Canadian ambassador for Women for Tri, an emergency physician at the Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts hospital and a triathlete – is one of those people who loves triathlons and has settled for good in Mont-Tremblant.

As medical director for Mont-Tremblant Ironman events, under the supervision of Dr. Marc Gosselin, Mélissa is on the front line for the Ironman events. She receives those injured on-site before sending them to the Sainte-Agathe hospital or to a third centre for specialized treatment. This proximity to the injured doesn’t much bother her. A huge sports fan, Mélissa has completed several ultra-marathons in the mountains, a half-dozen 70.3 and 5150 events and an Ironman in Mont-Tremblant in 2015. It was love at first…experience.

“The best Ironman” – Mélissa Rattue

“I haven’t done any other Ironman events,” Mélissa concedes, “but an athlete who’s done them all over the world has told us that this is the best Ironman, the finest event, and the best organized, and as far as I’m concerned, it’s true. The whole weekend is a party. You are not even aware that you’re doing an Ironman and it’s not even hard, it’s so much fun. Well, OK, it’s hard (laughs). I’m exaggerating. But the people, the volunteers, the circuit, the course…everything conspires to make it go by too quickly. Truly, it was magic.”

A gem of a place to train

Mélissa had always dreamed of living in the Mont-Tremblant area. As an emergency physician, she has to stay close to the hospital where she practices. So she looked at Mont-Tremblant, mainly because of the triathlon, the training facilities and the outdoors. “I fell in love with the Écoluminis real estate project,” says the young woman. “I wanted the third floor, it was free, and I took it right away.”

“With the new swimming pool, which is superb, and the marked route, which is cleaned every week, this has become a gem of a place to train,” she states. Mélissa would like, however, to see access to the running track that goes around the football field at Curé-Mercure High School become less restricted. “It would be really superb if we could have more access. It’s great for doing interval training, because it’s right beside the pool and you can get there by bike. But everything else, from the pumptrack for the kids to the tunnel under montée Ryan and all the rest, is really fantastic,” Mélissa concludes.