Dave Chamberlain of Maple Ridge was doing it for his sister-in-law, who was "diagnosed with cancer a number of years ago."
Jen Annett of Penticton said, "It's just about having fun today. I don’t have any goals except to hopefully be an inspiration and motivation to others."
Blake Richardson, also of Penticton, said he's new to the sport and looks at the weekend as training for the real deal next year.
All three athletes chatted with PentictonNow very, very early this morning as they prepped for their Sunday leg of the 2020 COVID Ironman Canada Penticton, a grassroots event that grew into being in the past few weeks to fill the hole of the renewed but pandemically canceled Ironman Canada Penticton.
Today would have been the big day, where the entire city went crazy for Ironman.
Instead, a number of folks decided to race today anyway. Mission, BC-based nutrition producer F2C Nutrition waded in as the date grew nearer to support those competing and to set up aid stations along the way.
Ultimately, the event was expanded to include the entire weekend (Friday too), allowing athletes to undertake the swim, the bike, and the run on the days that fit best for them. There weren't any rules saying everything had to be completed the same day.
But a few will, nevertheless. And Annett, a pro triathlete who's made a big name for herself internationally, was among them. Just after 6 this morning, she, with a number of others, jumped in Okanagan Lake to swim 3.8 kilometers. Then she hit the bike for 180, and then she'll run 42.
Ouch.
"One of my fellow athletes and my coach were talking about doing it a week or so ago," said Annett just prior to swimming today. "And we decided last weekend that we'd support it and it would be kinda fun."
"I'll be doing the original one-loop swim. I'll have a paddler with me, my husband. Then I'll be doing the new bike course through Osoyoos and Richter (Pass), through the Twin Lakes, and the out and back in Willowbrook. And then I'll be doing a run route along the KVR, then along the Channel, and then do it all over again. That'll be the Ironman distance."
Annett, who was hit by a media motorcycle in her most recent attempt at the world championships in Kona, Hawaii, said she had no time goal today, though we're pretty sure she had a personal mark in mind. Once a competitive athlete, always a competitive athlete.
Richardson, coached by noted triathlete Kevin Cutjar, said he was part of a group of ten Cutjar trainees taking part this weekend.
"I'm doing the full Ironman, but over the course of the weekend," he said. "I'm new to the sport and my swim is pretty weak right now, so I did it in two 2-kilometer sections."
Richardson did the bike portion yesterday, a ride he said was his longest ever. He knocked ten kilometers off the run Friday, and today will complete the final 32.
"I registered for Ironman a year ago now. I was sitting with my buddy at the Hooded Merganser, and we were like, 'Let's just do it.'"
And, he said, he's "definitely" competing in the 2021 Ironman.
For Chamberlain, 2020 would likely have been his last Ironman. He's done nine of them throughout the years, and entering one more in Penticton seemed like a plan.
"But once it was canceled," he said, "I made the decision to do it anyway. I'm doing it in honour of my sister-in-law. Three weeks ago I did a virtual Everest on my trainer, raising money for a cancer group she's involved with."
"And then I was going to come here even through there wasn't an official race going on. A little bit of suffering is nothing compared to what she has to go through."
Like many in the sport, Chamberlain sticks around not only for the fitness aspect, but also for the camaraderie.
"I got pulled into this endurance vortex, as I call it, and it’s hard to get out. The people, the sport, it's just tremendous."
According to Greg Cowan, CEO of F2C Nutrition, "It's all about trying to bring back something normal again. We have race announcer Steve King over at the Peach. We had so many people stop at the aid stations yesterday, excited to see athletes back on course. We just want to bring back some normalcy."
