Over 170 athletes from across Canada and around the world competed in this weekend’s Billy Loutit Triathlon in Athabasca.
“This was a phenomenal success, one of the most competitive fields we’ve had,” said organizer Mark Francis. “It’s just an excellent event, beautiful weather. A little bit of wind on the bike course, but other than that, everything’s gone very well.”
This was the largest turnout for the Loutit triathlon, Francis recalled, beating their previous record of 130 athletes.
“Every year, we’re growing because more and more kids stay in it,” he said. “Once they do it and realize it’s not that tough and they continue to work towards it, they stay in it.”
On Saturday, kids competed a kid-friendly triathlon, “Kids of Steel.”
Athletes of all skill levels came from as far away as Australia and South Korea to compete in the sprint and standard triathlons, competing in teams or as individuals.
The sprint triathlon featured a 1500 metre swim, a 5km run and a 20 km bike ride, while the standard triathlon required competitors to swim 3,000 metres, run 10 km and bike 40 km.
The winner of the standard triathlon was Spencer Peterson, who finished with a time of 2:27:34. Top female was Jennifer Jones, who crossed the finish line at 2:55:37.
In the sprint triathlon, Jane Yardley finished first at 1:15:44 and Gregory Sandboe was top male finishing in 1:37:35.
Francis said Peterson grew up in Athabasca and moved away, but continues to come back every year to compete.
“He’s starting his 10 km run and most people in the standard haven’t even come back,” Francis noted. “He’s finished before some people have even started their run, which is an incredible feat.”
Francis said the average time to complete a triathlon was hard to estimate because of the range of competitors, as was the case this year..
“It’s hard to peg because you have the ultra-competitive athletes that are shooting for best times, and then you have people who are shooting to finish,” he said.
“But that’s the great thing about triathlons:, you’re actually racing your own time. You don’t have to be an ultra-competitive athlete; it’s just that you want to challenge yourself.”
