Whistler’s triathletes came out of hibernation last weekend with their first race of the year, the UBC Triathlon-Duathlon on Saturday, March 6.
Always popular with beginners and veterans alike, the event included a male and female Olympic distance triathlon (1,500 m swim, 42 km bike, 9.7 km run), a sprint distance triathlon and relay triathlon (800 m swim, 22 km bike, 6.3 km run), and a short course triathlon (400 m swim, 11 km bike, 3 km run), and a duathlon (3.3 km run, 22 km cycle).
More than a dozen locals took part in the race, with five triathletes winning their age categories, two finishing second and one finishing third.
In the women’s Olympic distance triathlon, Whistler’s Marla Zucht was fourth overall out of 45 racers and second in the 30 to 34 age division with a time of two hours, 51 minutes and seven seconds.
In the men’s Olympic race Pierre Berube was sixth overall and second in the men’s 35 to 39 group with a total time of 2:30:46.
Ben Hurd was 48 th overall and fourth in the men’s 25 to 29 race with a time of 3:22:48.
In the women’s Sprint category, Christine Suter was 11 th overall and first in the women’s 35 to 39 group with a time of 1:27:35.
She was followed closely by Dawn Weberg-Titus who was 13 th overall and also won the 45 to 49 category with a time of 1:27:55.
Brandi Higgins was 62 nd across the line, but sixth out of 25 racers in the women’s 30 to 34 division with her time of 1:42:12.
In the men’s Sprint Paul Suter won the 40 to 44 age category in 1:19:52, finishing 11 th overall out of a field of almost 200 racers.
David Higgins was close behind with his time of 1:21:50, finishing 14 th overall and third in the 30 to 34 group.
Paul Nicholas also cracked the top 20 in 19 th place, winning the men’s 35 to 39 group in 1:22:45.
On the women’s Short Course, Karen Blaylock was 14 th overall and first in the women’s 45 to 49 category with a time of 56:20.
Jane Dow was 53 rd overall and sixth in the same category in 1:09:56.
