It was a record breaking year for the Paradigm Naturopathic Triathlon.
Now in its sixth year, the annual event played host to a record 223 registered athletes who swam, ran and cycled for gold at Vernon’s Kin Beach Sept. 9.
While she said not all those who registered were able to attend, race director Laura Medcalf said this is the biggest year yet with racers from across British Columbia and Alberta in attendance.
“We have a large contingent from the coast. We also have a large contingent from Victoria, of course the Okanagan, and then we do get a couple coming in from Alberta to raise the draft a little,” Medcalf said.
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The morning kicked off with the crowd-favourite Splash and Dash for ages three to five.
“Super little, super cute – they did a little run through the water and then they got to run through the finish line and have a snack,” Medcalf said, adding that each participant received a medal for completing the course.
For the older racers, however, the stakes were higher.
“The other end of the spectrum is our draft legal provincial, junior championships and youth series race. The athletes there, this is their sport. They take this pretty seriously,” Medcalf said, adding that those racers were hunting for points and provincial titles.
In the U23 draft legal category, Tessa Schnare of Surrey completed with a time of 45 minutes and 40 seconds. Vernon’s Braden Kersey took the junior draft legal category with 34.23, followed by Trevor Laupland of Kamloops at 34.32 and Annika Ariano of Coldstream at 36.06.
In the youth draft legal, Lincoln Hoel of West Kelowna took gold with 34.05, followed by Max Angove of Kamloops at 36.59 and Bradley Christison of Victoria took bronze with a time of 37.20.
Emelia Schwarz of Kelowna dominated the 14-17 category with an official time of 41.10, beating out Vernon’s Elijah Van De Vosse who stole silver with 44.36 and Kamloops’ Lucas Heer who took bronze with 45.39.
The competition was close in the 12-13 category with Kamloops’ Sienna Angove taking gold with 42.37, followed by Vernon’s Liam Greenan at 42.57 and Luca Van De Vosse also of Vernon at 43.10.
Mia Stevens of Surrey took gold in the 10-11 category with a time of 23.06, knocking Jonah Benoit of Summerland to silver with 23.54 and Payton Mitchell also of Summerland to 24.23.
Vernon’s Cadel Simms took gold in the ages 8-9 category with an official time of 16.28. Aidan Carreon Sabatino of Kelowna was not far behind at 17.06 and Dimitri Armstrong of Kamloops a close third at 17.12.
Kelowna products claimed gold and silver in ages 6-7 action with Finn Kirk taking first at 10.28 and Kaden Hidber clocking in at 10.36. Hannah Gooch of Chilliwack took bronze with a time of 11.35.
“It’s a beautiful time of year to get kids back into sport and anyone can participate,” Medcalf said.
Registration for next year’s race will open in spring 2019. For a full roster and event standings, visit sportstats.ca.
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