The Whistler Kids of Steel triathlon and Adult Try-a-Tri has run in a lot of different weather over the years, some of it good, but Saturday's event was probably the nicest yet with clear skies, sunshine and almost no wind for the difficult bike section.
Kids eight and nine swam 100 metres, biked two kilometres and ran one kilometre. David Wood was first overall out of 21 boys and girls with the group in 15:40. Evan Fedder was fifth overall and the second boy in 18:27 and Whistler's Eric Milley sixth overall and third among boys in 18:34. For the girls, Laiken Greffard, Kaila Lafreniere and Syney Wilson of Whistler were second, third and fourth overall in 16:33, 16:52 and 17:03 respectively.
Kids 10-11 raced the same distance. Ainsley Greffard of Surrey finished first overall in the category in 14:51, and was the first female overall. Jennifer Lafreniere of Whistler was fourth overall and the second female in 15:23, followed by Squamish's Linnea Uunila in fifth overall, third among girls, in 15:26. The first boy to the line was Whistler's Ian Milley in second overall in 15:03, followed by Whistlers's Ben Brownlie in 15:23.1 and Micky Williston of Squamish in 15:39. There were 32 athletes in the category.
In Kids 12-13 the distances were 300 metres for the swim, 10km for the bike and 3km for the run. Whistler's Jack Wright won the event in 44:58, followed by Alexander Valentin in 45:54 and Alec Coleman in 47:56. Sarah Fedder was the top female in fourth overall in 49:05, followed by Lauren Benedict and Nicky Klimchuk-Brown in fifth and sixth overall in 51:50 and 52:36.
The Kids 14-15 category distances were the same as for 12-13. Ari Blondal was first boy to the finish in 40:48.9, followed by Leal Makaroff in 42:21 and Zach Yamaoka (fourth overall) in 46:12. Aimee Shannon was the first female in 43:55, followed by Anna Yamaoka in 47:29 and Paige Quinn in 49:30.
There were only three athletes in the 16-18 category, which included a 500-metre swim, 14km bike and 4km run. Robynne Shannon was first in 1:01:36.8, followed by Sarah Look in 1:11:34 and Italo Massaglia in 1:21:15.
In the adult sprint race — 300-metre swim, 14km bike, 4km run — Jon Decaigny was first to the finish in 56:09.
This was the second year that Decaigny has raced the Try-a-Tri, using it as a tune-up event for other races.
"I wanted to beat 55 minutes and be first on the bike, that was it," he said of his goals. He might have accomplished the first one, but had a bad swim where he was passed in the water by several other racers and was 12th at the first transition. He did make up a lot of time on the bike with the second-fastest time, then had a solid run to place first.
Between his first triathlon and the most recent, Decaigny completed the Squamish Triathlon and the GranFondo. When asked what's made the biggest difference over the last year, Decaigny said, "The biggest difference is not having an extra 30 pounds to carry around," he said. "I've also learned to take my time in the transitions, and not to rush and have everything take longer."
Second to the finish line was Tracey Wright, a marathoner who signed up for the triathlon along with her son, Jack, who also won his age category.
"I've done a few triathlons before but it's not something I do regularly," she said. "I decided to do it this year because it was a great event to do with Jack.
"It was lovely. The weather helped, but it was a really good event, it was a lovely sunny day, great views, great volunteers — you couldn't ask for a nicer day for this."
Francois Chevalier was third overall and the second male racer in 1:00:21, with Mark DalSanto placing third in 1:01:42.
Second among women was Lucy Giblenn in 1:06:25, followed by Monika Rempel in 1:08.25.
