When you hear the word “Triathlon” these thoughts may come to mind: “Hmm, now what does the ‘Tri’ stand for, I know there must be three “somethings”, but what are they?” and again: “That’s something that only MAJOR athletes do, not the ‘average Jo.’”
These were my thoughts too, so when my neighbour Wayne (whom I went to high school with and who was not into sport back then, rather he was in the Library Club) told me he was doing triathlon, I started wondering whether I could do it too!
I found out a little more about the swim/bike run sport and thought, hey why not try it?
I found out that there are different distances for triathlon and that they weren’t all “Iron Man.” An Olympic distance triathlon for instance starts with a 1.5 km swim followed by a 40 km bike ride, and finishes with a 10 km run. Wayne told me about the sprint distance triathlon which was half of that and I was sure that with some training I’d be ready, so I started swimming some laps, borrowed a road bike, ran a little and completed my first triathlon without much trouble.
It’s interesting how when you think about something you’ve never done, and your mind tells you that you can’t do it or it would just be too hard, but then when you do it for the first time, you think, “Oh! That wasn’t so bad after all. What was I worried about?!” I really enjoy triathlon now and I’ve done a few and pray that I can keep doing them into my 70s.
Last weekend a group of eight locals did the “Dirty Laundry Sprint Triathlon” in Summerland. Finishing the race was (pictured here) Calvin, Rhea, Juanita, Steve, Alf, Vicky, Heather and Melanie. The youngest in our group was 6 years old and the oldest...well lets just say...over 50, hee hee.
This was their first triathlon for two of the athletes, but they tell me, “not their last!” Calvin was the first to race his triathlon with a 50 metre swim, a 1.5 km bike ride and a .5 km run. Next was Rhea who swam 100 metres, biked five km and ran 1.5 km and finally, it was the adults’ turn. We swam 750 metres, biked 20 km and ran five km. A great day was had by all!
There were another few hundred other triathletes who also enjoyed living healthy in the sunshine while swimming, biking and running at beautiful Okanagan lake.
On Sept. 16 we have our very own Sprint distance Triathlon at Pavillion Lake. Last year a group of local people tried it out and this year, it has become an official Triathlon thanks to the efforts of Wayne Little. I will be swimming, biking and running on the 16th as will other local people. Come and cheer us on! Who knows? Maybe next year, it will be you!
Vicky Trill