The annual Tyhee Lake Triathlon took place last Sunday, and racers couldn’t have asked for more perfect weather. Under mostly sunny skies, single racers and teams took to the water, their bikes and their feet to race in three distances.
Organizer Jody Barber said she was very happy with the crowd at the race.
“Given that numbers have been down for a lot of other races, this is a fantastic group to have out,” she said.
Competitors came from Smithers and Telkwa, and as far away as Prince George, Prince Rupert, Edmonton and even Saltspring Island.
“There’s a lot of people who, when they’re going somewhere on vacation, they’ll check the race schedule,” she said.
Barber said she was happy to see new faces, as well as seeing some people realize long-time goals, such as completing their first every triathlon.
“I just love providing people with the opportunity to race,” she said.
She also said the event couldn’t have happened without such a dedicated group of volunteers.
The Olympic distance consisted of a 1,500m swim, a 40km cycle, and a 10km run. Jane Hollenberg won the Open Female division, with a time of 2:35:20.9. Matt Reeve won the Open Male race, in 2:1144.6. Donna Mulvey won the Female Masters race with a time of 3:02:11.1. Simon Kruithof finished first in the Male Masters group, in 2:40:22.5. The team of Ali Howard, Peter Krause and Cormac Hikisch won the team race in 2:08:37.1.
The Sprint distance consisted of a 750m swim, 20km cycle and 5 km run. Erin Hall won the Open Female race, with a time of 1:28:50.7. Joseph Ulrich won the Open Male race with a time of 2:02:30.7. In the Junior Female race, Kaileen McCulloch won in 1:28:02.8. Jason Gagnier won the Junior Male race in 1:37:19.6. In the Female Masters race, Lorelei St. Rose won with a time of 1:21:07.5. Lyle Giesbrecht won the Male Masters race in 1:35:02.7. Team Les won the team race in 1:25:29.4.
The race also included a Try-A-Tri, which involves a 300 m swim, a 10 km cycle and a 3 km run. Lauren Fehlings won the Female race in 46:06.1, while Jonathan Unrau won the Male race in 49:53.0.