The closure of the Kinsmen Aquatic Centre has come as a shock to many in Barrhead, including those involved with the Queen of Hearts Triathlon.
Without a body of water for athletes to swim in, it looks like this may be the end for the increasingly popular and empowering event scheduled for Sept. 13.
Essentially the triathlon is killed, said Tonya Card, who has been on the Queen of Hearts committee for three years and has participated in the event from the beginning.
“We have to pull the plug on the triathlon as it’s a three event race. It’s a shame, because there are so many people who worked so hard for the last four years,” she said. “There was a lot of time and effort put into building this event. It’s really, really unfortunate.”
The committee will meet at their regular board meeting Tuesday night, where members will discuss their options and make a decision. Unfortunately there isn’t much time to decide their course of action because of a quickly approaching deadline.
“We’re up against a wall, because March 1 is our deadline to submit all our routes and our fees,” said board member and race director Murray Tuininga. “We have to make a spur of the moment decision.”
Changing the date of the event is out of the question, as dates needed to be submitted to the Alberta Triathlon Association by the end of Dec. Tuininga said this is because the association needs to ensure there are no races within 150 kilometers of each other on the same weekend.
What about using the Westlock or Whitecourt pool? Murray said that would mean planning a whole other race. A big part of the problem is volunteers, as the event needs over 75 in order to run smoothly.
“The community is great and steps forward, but are you going to be able to ask for that in Whitecourt?” Questioned Murray. “We can’t expect volunteers to drive there.”
“You can’t say we need volunteers for the race that we’re holding in Whitecourt,” agreed Card.
Card said a triathlon might be possible if Barrhead is able to collaborate with another town. However Swan Hills already holds their own triathlon every two years, and Westlock hosts one annually.
Because of the growing popularity of triathlons in smaller towns, Card said it would not only be difficult to collaborate, but Barrhead is in danger losing their triathlon weekend all together for future use.
“Triathlons are gaining in popularity and you’re finding them in smaller centres where you might not have thought of it before,” said Card. “If we have to give up our weekend, somebody else might scoop it up and we might not get it back. That’s a risk too.”
Murray said there has already been talk of the possibility of trying to pull off a duathlon, which is a run, bike, run event.
Duathlons are not as popular as triathlons. However Card said she thinks Barrhead needs to try and maintain some kind of event, regardless of what it is, just to keep the ball rolling.
“We’ve gotten so many people up and off their couches over the last four or five years that never thought they could ever do something like this,” said Card. “More and more people are seeing that it’s attainable for them to do this too. Now that’s going to just slide right out the door.”
The only problem with a duathlon, is Sandy Beach holds the main provincial duathlon the weekend before Barrhead’s triathlon was scheduled.
“They’re closer to the major centres than we are, and people probably aren’t going to do two in a row,” said Tuininga.
Card added the committee could just try organizing a road five or 10 kilometer road race, in the hopes the longer distance would attract runners.
There are several paths the committee can choose to take, the final one being they scrap the event all together in the hopes the triathlon has the ability to rebuild when the new pool is functioning.
Because the committee can’t organize a race unless they know a new pool will be up and running by Dec. the year before, Tuininga said the triathlon will be absent in Barrhead for at least two years. He fears the event will lose its momentum by then.
“People will have forgotten about Barrhead’s triathlon and that it was a race to attend,” he said.
Because of their professions, Card a personal trainer and Tuininga a physiotherapist, the two strive to promote health and wellness in the community. Card said they urge people to get fit and be healthy, starting with the younger generation.
With the planned introduction of the Kids of Steel into Barrhead’s triathlon this year, Card said the committee was working towards getting youth into the habit of healthy living right off the bat.
“Our overall goal was to create this new little crop of triathletes and basically help the individuals and the adults as they grow,” said Card. “I don’t know how we’re going to accomplish that now.”
The committee was also trying to make the event more family oriented starting in 2014 and had decided to include men as well, in addition to youth. Members decided to change the name of the event to the Fit for Motion Barrhead Triathlon.
What is really disheartening, said Card, is the great reviews the triathlon recently received from the Alberta Triathlon Association. Barrhead’s race was pegged as the one to go to, and was becoming increasingly popular with every year.
The first three years the race had a maximum of 75 participants. Last year that increased to 100 athletes, and this year the committee had planned to raise that to 125 adults plus the Kids of Steel.
The majority of the participants were local in the beginning, but last year at least 75 per cent of the athletes came from out of town.
“It fills up the hotels, it fills up the restaurants,” said Card. “It was a great showcase for Barrhead.”
