Multiple lakecity residents were in Kamloops May 3 for the Kamloops Spring Sprint Triathlon.
It was the seventh annual event, which has been known to include more than 200 triathletes and took place at the Westsyde Pool and housed multiple race categories including super-sprint (300-metre swim, 10-kilometre bike ride and three-km run), sprint (600m swim, 20km bike and 5km run), standard (1,200m swim, 40km bike, 10km run), relay sprint (600m swim, 20km bike, 5km run) and relay olympic (1,500m swim, 40km bike, 10km run) distances.
From Williams Lake Gary Unrau (1:35.13 sprint), John Russell (1:33.27 sprint), Bridgette Russell (2:51.14 Olympic), Lisa Martin (1:44.35 spring), Catrina Ertel (1:39.17 sprint), Kim Lanki (1:36.20 sprint), Tanja Armstrong (1:50.28 sprint), Lynn Airth (1:50.36 sprint), Kyleigh Williamson (1:36.27 sprint), Deena Williamson (3:00.38 Olympic), Craig Munroe (2:57.51 Olympic), Jen French (2:59.53 Olympic) and Lori Munroe (3:07.36) took part. Times listed are in brackets.
For some it was their first triathlete, while for others like Deena, they had multiple races under their belts.
For French, it was her first time training for and completing a triathlon.
“It was a learning experience for me,” French said. “I’ve done many running races and I swim a lot so being on a road bike was the challenge. Surprisingly, the swim to bike was the easy part. The bike to run was more of a challenge — getting off your bike to run the first few kilometres my legs felt like bricks.”
Race day nerves also played a role, but French described them as addicting.
“My dad experienced the morning excitement with me,” she said. “He was there bright and early to help get my transitions ready. He thought it was pretty neat to see all the athletes immediately become friends and help each other out with questions and tips.”
The best part for French, however, was crossing the finish line. Up until that point she said she’d questioned why she was attempting the feat.
“When I crossed the finish line hand-in-hand with my daughter, Tiera says to me after: ‘mom, I’m going to do a race like this all on my own one day,’” French said. “With a big smile, she answered my question.”