Sunday morning winds blew over tents set up at the event area of Elk Lake’s Hamsterly Beach but had little effect on the times of the top finishers of the Saunders Subaru Victoria Triathlon.
The only thing that kept winner Adam O’Meara from breaking four hours in the Half Iron for the second year in a row was his decision to stop and pick up son Max 30 metres from the finish line. Instead he finished 14 seconds over, a worthy trade on Father’s Day.
“Carrying Max over the finish line, I thought about it all race,” said O’Meara.
“The water was a little choppier (for the swim) than usual but not enough to slow you down, though I did notice it on the bike.”
It’s the third straight year O’Meara has won the Victoria Half Iron on the Subaru Western Triathlon Series. He is two for two in 2012, having won the season kickoff at Shawnigan Lake on May 27.
O’Meara was the first swimmer out of the water who wasn’t on a relay team. Olympic-bound Brent McMahon of the Canadian triathlon team was among the relay competitors. McMahon led the swim and did the bike portion of the Half Iron too, before giving way to 2008 Olympian Carolyn Murray for the run. Under the name “Olympians,” McMahon and Murray were third in the relay standings on the 1.9 kilometre swim, 88km bike and 21.1km run of the Half Iron.
Lucy Smith caught Janet Nielsen (second place) in the run to finish as the top women in the Half Ironman distance with a time of 4:41:37.
“I didn’t want to pin it too hard in the bike,” said Smith. “It was more of a cross-wind than a head or tail wind.”
“I’ve been racing a long time and I’ll keep coming out and racing,” said the impressive 45 year old. “It’s more about being part of such an awesome community.”
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