WASA LAKE, B.C. – The time to conquer land and lakes is back and spirited local triathletes dove head first into the season’s first open water race.
Ten locals competed at the Wasa Lake Triathlon near Cranbrook, B.C. on June 9, taking on the field in swimming, biking and running in the sprint distance (750-metre swim, 20-kilometre bike, five-km run) and a standard distance (1.5-km swim, 40-km bike, 10-km run).
Cracking the top 25 in the sprint were Canmore’s Brad Dixon, finishing sixth overall with a time of 1:15:59, and Lisa Guest crossing the line in 25th overall at a time of 1:22.15.
Local racers Lara Seward-Guenette finished at 1:33:38; Earl Embertson finished at 1:40:19; Stu Austin had a time of 1:47:58; Robyn Austin, 1:57:11; and Bridget Aby had a time of 2:29:47.
In the standard, locals Aly Topping finished with a time of 2:55:05; Alecia Rush finished at 3:06:27; and Cheyenne Hennessey came in at 3:19:12.
“My goal at Wasa was to not walk in the run,” Guest said. “I have Ankylosing Spondylitis. It causes bone spurs and fuses your bones together, causing loss of mobility, hence taking up triathlon in 2011. Now it’s my thing. In the [Bow Valley], we are lucky to have a very supportive triathlon community. Everyone has their own health issues, or other things going on, everyone one is supportive and inspirational one way or another. You don’t have to win, you just have to get out and be part of it.”
Dixon, Guest, Emberton and Aby each placed first in their age and gender categories, respectively.
It was also Aby’s first triathlon and she’s looking forward to working to improve her time and becoming more competitive in future races.
“I feel really great and I’m hooked now,” she said. “I finished and I’m working on getting better to keep on going into seventies and beyond.
“I didn’t know anything about triathlons, to be honest ... the [Bow Valley] community is very inclusive.”
In order to help grow a local triathlon community, a Facebook group was started called Bow Valley TriGeeks.
On August 18, Grizzly Mountain Events hosts the XTERRA Canmore off-road triathlon.
