Dave Carlson had a bit of family honour to defend.
Having watched his nine-year-old son Pate take on the youth triathlon course in Kelowna on Saturday (Aug. 20) and have second place in the bag only to have a pedal fall off partway through the bike leg, he knew what he had to do for his race.
“I had to dedicate this race to my son Pate, and my wife Jennifer and other son Kieran,” Carlson said.
The inspiration obviously took hold, as the elder Carlson finished 36th overall and eighth in his age group with a time of 2:11:48 at the Canadian National Triathlon Championships in Kelowna.
Carlson, 43, used to race triathlons extensively growing up, however, has slowed his pace in the past five years, to racing about two a year.
He received a year-long training block from his wife to train with Cal Zaryski, and was able to shave 10 minutes off of last year’s race, as well as 10 pounds off his frame.
“I put lots of work towards it and made more of a commitment this year. Other years it was more of a ‘get off the couch’ attempt.”
Carlson is a notoriously fast swimmer, having trained with Don Tremblay in Canmore, and was fifth out of the water. He shaved three minutes off his time from last year and attributes that to some of the open water swims.
Family support and dedicated training are integral for the result, he said.
“We do this as a family. I was speaking with my wife and we turned to each other and said ‘can you believe we’re doing this with our kids?’” Carlson said.
Canmore’s Tom Omstead wasn’t far behind. The author-turned-athlete finished 39th overall and second in his age group with a time of 2:12:18.
“For me, it’s about racing myself. The guy in first place (in my division) was a hardcore triathlon guy. I narrowed the gap on the run, but ran out of race,” Omstead said.
His swim time of 23:44 was a personal victory.
“To go sub 24 minutes, I’m really happy with that.”
He’s been competing in triathlon for some time and travelled to the world championships in 2003 and find it keeps him balanced.
“I love all three sports. If you do the rotation, you’re pretty balanced physically. It minimizes the chance of injury,” Omstead.
However, when asked to compare triathlon running versus novel writing, he didn’t put one ahead of the other.
“One is harder mentally, the other is harder physically,” Omstead said.
Nancy Pauw of Banff usually finds herself in longer races, however, since her son lives in Kelowna, she decided to compete in the Olympic distance triathlon.
In doing so, she finished in the Top 10 of her age group and qualified for a spot at the triathlon world championships.
She’s already finished an Iron Man race in France this year, and has two half Iron Man races planned for October and December, however, she was pleased with her performance in Kelowna.
“I thought it was really fun. I loved every minute of it.”
An unforgiving cyclist, Pauw sat second after the bike.
“My splits were the same as the half Iron Man for me, I’d like to learn how to go faster.”
That means leaving more on the race course and pumping up the pain, but Pauw is up for the challenge.
Bradley and Lindsey Skinner took a different approach to triathlon training – hiking the jungles of Peru. The local teachers spent a month in South America before competing in their second ever triathlon in Canmore. Both faired well, as Bradley recorded a personal best and finished 25th in his age group. Lindsey finished 28th in her age category.
“We didn’t know what to expect, but it was a great course,” Bradley said.
Training in the Bow Valley proved perfect for the teachers, who had an advantage on the hill climbs.
“We live up in Peaks and the climb up there is bigger than the climb on the course. We were on regular road bikes and were passing people with super bikes and teardrop helmets on the climb, but they’d blow by us on the descents,” he said.
Bradley will compete in the Banff triathlon to close out the season and said he’s now got the bug.
“It started out as a bucket list thing. We went to the Kelowna triathlon as a family and it looked like fun,” he said.
Other Bow Valley finisher include Cindy Koo Enevoldsen (14th in her age group), Carrie McLaughlin (32nd in her age group), Dave Frick (62nd in his age category).
For full results, visit www.raceheadquarters.com and follow the links.
