It may have looked like the numbers were going to be down a week ago, but the turnout for the 26th annual Tyhee Triathlon turned out to be a record setter.
While the team numbers were down, the individual entrants were at an all-time high with 108 participants. There were also some record setters in the group.
There was a new record set in the sprint team category by Team Rando. Michael Mitchell also blazed through the course for a new record in the men’s long category. His time was about six-and-a-half minutes faster than the runner up.
The weather cooperated nicely with a comfortable temperature, gentle breezes and no rain.
In the women’s long category, Sara Barr took the open division while Lara Collingwood was tops in the master’s.
Robert Millar was the winner in the master’s long division.
In the sprint race, Kaia Andal took the junior female, Rebecca Powell was tops in the open, Shelly Worthington was triumphant in the masters category.
For the men, Peter Krause topped the open, Konrad Thummerer was successful in the junior group, and John Jackson ran away with the master’s division.
The Try a Tri race, designed to encourage newcomers to the event, saw Bridie Hikisch run away with the youth, while Laurel Tormene took the open slot. On the men’s side, Landen Franes captured the youth while Benjamen Bailey was triumphant in the open category.
The Duathlon race featured a contest without the swimming section which many newcomers find daunting. Ellen Christison took the open while Joanne Williams won the masters. On the men’s side, Jeff McKay was first in the open while Liam Overstall was triumphant in the master’s.
Race organizer Ali Howard was more than pleased with the turn out for the event.
“It’s amazing that people are trying to do the whole thing on their own,” she said. “The weather was incredibly cooperative, no rainstorm like last year. The water temperature was 19, quite comfortable for swimming. Wet suits are mandatory at 14 and we were quite a ways from that.”
“It was a real privilege to be at Tyhee Lake Park. It’s an amazing setting for a race. It allows us access to the quiet rural roads. The facility itself is fantastic with the gazebo and the gentle lake. It provides for a really nice course. We’re very lucky every year to get permitting. We made a lot of effort this year for parking. We hope that regular park goers were able to enjoy their day as well and maybe enjoyed some spectating and could cheer on some of the racers,” she said
Howard was very happy with the numbers of participants from outside the local area.
“We had over 40 people from out of town. At one point it was more from outside the area than from local. That’s amazing. It drives a lot of businesses because they have to stay somewhere. You can’t do a race check-in at 7:30 if you’re coming from Prince Rupert, for example. Local businesses really get behind the race. They sponsor it. There’s amazing generosity from the community,” she said.
As far as local park users go, she said that every year there are people who come up after the race and tell her how much fun it was.
“The next year they are often in the race,” she said “They were just down for a day at the beach and they cheered people on and they think that they want to get involved the next year.”
