North Bay Triathlon Weekend saw participants of all ages and as far away as Maine, swimming, biking and running their way to the finish line, starting at Olmsted Beach at Trout Lake.
The oldest competitor was 74 years old.
”We haven’t had it for the past three years because of COVID and road construction. So it is great to see it back again this year,” said Chris Mayne Triathlon chair for the Kiwanis Club of Nipissing.
Organizers and participants alike were closely monitoring the weather in the days leading up to the event.
“This has been in the works since January with monthly and eventually weekly meetings. All of a sudden last Sunday North Bay had some of the worst air quality in North America because of the forest fires. We could actually see that as a reason to have to cancel the event,” shared Mayne.
“People were calling concerned, but by Tuesday, and Wednesday, the air quality improved, but at the same time as that improved, the forecast mid-week was for thundershowers all weekend both Saturday and Sunday, so that was another concern," he added.
"All you can do is watch the weather and even on Saturday morning they were still forecasting thundershowers early afternoon which is when the kids tri was, but as it turned out, for both events the kids tri Saturday and the adult tri today (Sunday) we had clear blue skies, a little bit on the hot side but essentially perfect weather for the triathlon. It is not actually a full triathlon, it is considered a sprint triathlon.”
Participant Ian Dmytrash was in the area from Edmonton attending his sister’s wedding and took advantage of the opportunity to compete.
But the route to the finish line was almost as gruelling as the event itself.
“Both our flights got cancelled coming to North Bay, so we ended up flying Thursday evening to Toronto and then Friday morning our flight got cancelled to North Bay so we took an Uber to get here. By that point, I said I wasn’t doing the triathlon because too much had happened. Then Friday night I got a message my sister’s friend had found a bike so I registered. I think I was the third last to register.”
The triathlon was the day after the wedding but after a good night’s sleep, he was raring to go.
“I was thinking to myself that I had every reason not to do it, I had every excuse not to finish but I didn’t want to take the easy way out. It was really hard, first open water, a hot day and I hadn’t biked since last year,” explained Dmytrash shaking his head.
“It was organized really well, everything was set up nicely. It is obviously very scenic, way prettier than the one I did last year. Doing the open water, it was a nice calm swim. I think I was the last one in the water, but I didn’t care, I just wanted to finish. I finished in just under two hours, and that was the goal. If I could do it again here next year, I would do it again.”
First-time participant Alex McDermid thought it would be a memorable way to celebrate her birthday.
“I was talked into it by one of my friends,” laughed McDermid.
“She is doing another triathlon this summer and wanted to do one over the long weekend and she said, ‘Let’s do it for your birthday.’ So, that’s how I ended up signing up.”
McDermid who is typically a long-distance runner trained for two months working on her biking and swimming techniques. The swimming portion started in the YMCA pool before transitioning to open water.
At the end of the day, McDermid is glad she took up the challenge.
“I thought I was going to be over two hours, but I was actually under two hours, so that was pretty exciting,” said McDermid with pride in her voice.
“It was way harder than I was expecting. It was very trying but it was a ton of fun. I would definitely give it a try again.”
The more experienced athletes compete in what the triathlon chair refers to as a “triathlon circuit.”
“Their summer is almost booked up with triathlon events. It is impressive to see people in that kind of condition,” said Mayne.
“It is a very friendly group, they all know each other, and they all enjoy the exercise. And Trout Lake is such a great location for it, with beautiful clear water to swim in, it tends to be nice and sheltered from the wind, we do a great run through Anita Avenue so there is not a lot of traffic, it is actually fairly scenic.”
The triathlon got its start in the late 80s.
“This is an event that actually started in 1987 with Judy and Arne Schmidt. They ran it with Rotary for about 10 years. They did a great job, but when it was time to retire from it, Lloyd and Viola Burke took it on for Kiwanis and it has been run by Kiwanis ever since,” Mayne explained.
“It is funny, we used to see our friends, ourselves and then it was our kids and now it is the grandkids and the parents and grandparents are coming out to watch.”
The event is not intended to be a fundraiser.
“There are significant costs but if there are any proceeds from it and most years there are, this year that will be going towards Kiwanis’ commitment to the All-Wheel Park project as part of the community waterfront. Overall, Kiwanis commitment there is $100,000,” Mayne explained.