This one isn’t just for the professionals.
For the seventh year in a row dozens of eager athletes will dip their toes in the competitive waters of run, bike, swim on July 8 at the Natural High Charity Triathlon in Okotoks.
“Of the registration, what we’ve got right now, about half are first timers,” said race organizer Andrew Gustafson. “Part of that is our swim is a little bit shorter than a standard sanctioned sprint distance race and we have a tri-it distance race which is an easily accessible race.”
The full sprint distance triathlon features a 500m swim, 20km bike, 5km run and is open to anyone over the age of 14. The tri-it distance, especially popular with rookie racers, is roughly half the distance.
“It’s a 250 swim, ends up being about a 12k bike and a 2 k run,” Gustafson said. “It’s not something you need to have to be an avid well-trained triathlete to accomplish. It’s something that’s very accessible to people who have a very base level of fitness.
“It’s an opportunity for people to step up and try something. A lot of people have triathlon on their bucket list. It’s a cool thing to say that you’ve done. This is one that allows you to do it without sacrificing your entire year training for it.”
Though catered to more intermediate or introductory racers, it is a triathlon and one that packs a punch for the uninitiated.
“It’s a fun one to watch too,” Gustafson said. “It’s people that struggle in their transition a little bit, they’re a little bit slower, they’ve got maybe not so fancy bikes. It’s fun to watch people that are doing it without maybe the skills to do it.”
Those who struggle at one of the three triathlon distances have a tendency to register in the relay race which has teammates each tackle one third of the competition.
“For our race what it brings typically is families, jump in and do it together,” Gustafson added. “We will see father-mother-daughter teams. Bob Brown from Shoppers Drug Mart, he’s one of our sponsors, and he puts two teams in with his kids and his wife and a couple cousins.”
The Course
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
The annual event will follow an identical route in the swim and run portions of the race with minor modifications in place for the road cycling portion.
Starting with the 500m open water swim in Crystal Shores Lake and followed by the bike, the event is finished off with the run around the lake and back.
Due to road construction on 32nd Street, the 20km bike route has competitors cycle from Milligan Drive to north on Highway 2A all the way up to 306th Avenue east towards 32nd.
Lane closures during the race include the northbound right hand lane on Highway 2A up to 306th Avenue from 8:30-10 a.m. As well northbound 32nd Avenue between Don Seaman Way and Milligan Drive will be completely closed off from 9-10:30 a.m.
Alternate routes for commuters include 48th Street and 338 Avenue.
For more information go to naturalhigh.ca/naturalhigh-triathlon
Racing for a cause
Since day one the triathlon has been held first and foremost as a charity race for KidSport Okotoks.
“We grew up playing sports. Our kids play sports,” Gustafson said. “Kids need sports, the development they get from sports is second to none and the benefit of sports are just so many we couldn’t possibly list them all.
“It’s a shame, a travesty really when kids are prevented from participating for financial reasons.”
KidSport Okotoks’ mandate is support to children in order to remove financial barriers that prevent them from playing organized sport.
One-hundred per cent of money raised from the race goes to KidSport.
Gustafson said upwards of 80 children in the community could have sports funded in part by the triathlon.
“We can do this race and have a great time doing it, we have a lot of fun, meet fantastic people and engage a lot of people within the community,” Gustafson said. “And people come together to do an amazing event, if we can do that and at the same time allow kids to play sports, it’s a win, win all the way around.”
