PENTICTON – Canadian Olympian Brent McMahon from Victoria is the new Challenge Penticton half-distance champion with a time of 3 hours and 50 minutes.
“I feel fantastic. It’s my first Challenge event and it obviously went well,” says McMahon. “It takes a lot of hard work to do that and there’s great Canadians and international athletes here so they didn’t make it easy on me, I had to work hard the whole bike to stay near the front.”
In second place was Kelowna’s Trevor Wurtele coming in at 3 hours and 53 minutes. Since the Ironman went to Whistler, Challenge organizers have been trying to ramp up the number of participants and with just under 1,300 people taking part, they’re happy with the turn out. The athletes are happy too with a variety of races to choose from.
“There’s a full-distance race which is a four kilometre swim, 180 kilometre bike and a 42 kilometre run,” says Race Director Michael Brown. “There’s also the half-distance which is a two kilometre swim, a 90 kilometre bike and a 20 kilometre run and we have relays in both divisions as well.”
Despite the rain over the weekend, the athletes persevered. For a little extra boost, spectators were lined up along the race routes to cheer the athletes on.
Also along the race routes were hundreds of volunteers cheering the participants on and providing them with snacks and drinks.
“It’s good to be on the line when you see them come through after a long trek on the bike/run and it’s just good to help out, it feels good,” says volunteer Brad Hickey.
It’s a long day of work for many of the dedicated men, women and kids who donate their time to help keep the racers going.
“I am here at 8 a.m. and I finish when the last runner comes through so I’m here until 11 p.m. or 11:30 p.m., sometimes midnight,” says long-time Challenge Penticton and Ironman volunteer Cara Moog.
The triathlon’s organizers are already gearing up for next year’s race, which will be different from previous years as Penticton prepares to host the ITU World Triathlon and Multisport Festival in 2017.
“It’s going to be a three kilometre swim, 120 kilometre bike and 30 kilometre run because that’s the distance we are going to be doing for the world championships,” says Brown.
That means athletes can qualify in Penticton in order to make it to the world championship.
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