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Okotoks community triathlon hits milestone

Natural High marks 10th anniversary of charity swim, bike, run event

There’s nothing quite like crossing the finish line.

The 10th annual Natural High Charity Triathlon celebrated its past and present when athletes completed the swim, bike and run showcase at the Crystal Shores Beach House Saturday morning in Okotoks.

“John Taylor, he came last overall for the men and he’s a grandpa and his grandkids were there to hug him at the finish line. There’s lots of neat stories like that every year,” said race director Andrew Gustafson. “Melanie Arbib, she’s a cancer survivor. She was going to run her first triathlon I think it was eight years ago when she was diagnosed and had throat surgery. Now finally, eight years later she completed that race.

“There are cool stories like that that happen every year and that’s what inspires us to keep going with this race.”

The triathlon dates back even further than a decade.

Okotoks played host to the Alberta Summer Games in 2004 when triathlon race directors ensured the event was as authentic as possible.

“My wife and I really thought to have the triathlon at the lake, they wanted to do it in the pool,” said Okotokian Alec Gill. “But real triathlon is in open-water. That year we ran the triathlon sport when they were running here. The lake at the time was very dirty and there were very few homes, but we convinced everybody it would work very well. And it did.”

The race ran for a few years as the Foothills Charity Triathlon, put on by Garth and Maureen Misura as a fundraiser for the Canadian Humanitarian Organization for International Relief from 2005-10, before Natural High took on the event a decade ago.

“I was involved in it with them (the Misuras) I was one of their committee members,” Gustafson said. “In that time they had accumulated a few grants to collect some equipment for the race and in 2010 when they decided they didn’t want to do it anymore and asked us if we would take it over, it was a pretty easy decision. It’s a great event.”

Joel Wilkinson was the race winner on Saturday in the sprint distance, finishing in 1:02.57. Gill was the top Foothills performer in fourth place while Big Rock Runner Charl Volsteedt was sixth. Okotokian Kylie Tiedje, 15, was the fastest female in a time of 1:24.06.

The Tri-It distance saw Okotoks’ Tristan Marcial finish first, Rosie Bouchard take second and Keaton Van Rooyen take third.

Gill, a consistent top-three finisher in the event, had a memorable finish in 2005.

“The very first year it ended up being a sprint between Richard Ellum’s son and I Cameron Ellum,” Gill said. “It was a sprint to the finish, they almost didn’t know who won. I knew Cameron had just the head ahead, but I did eventually win a few years ago. I’ve done it every year and it’s been very exciting for me.”

A competitive triathlete and qualifier for the world championships next year in Edmonton, Gill holds the Okotoks triathlon in the highest regard.

“I enjoy it the most because it’s an event right here in town,” said Gill, a teacher at Big Rock School. “It’s nice to see the community get involved in it whether it’s by volunteering or competing. It’s one of those events you can go to and know so many people.

“Now in my life it’s not about winning anymore, it’s about staying active, my children race now and they enjoy it.”

The next generation has increasingly become a big part of race day.

The Tri-It distance and kids races, for those aged 6-9 and 10-13, have opened up all sorts of entry points into an approachable level of triathlon.

“When we took it on it was just a men’s sprint and women’s sprint,” Gustafson said. “We added a Tri-It distance because we had feedback from people that were interested, but not sure they were capable of a sprint distance. We added the kids race, too.”

As Gustafson explained, triathlons have also evolved.

There are many more options for triathletes to choose from than there was 10 years ago.

“In one aspect the sport has grown and in another most of the races are smaller, ours included,” Gustafson said. “We have dropped in numbers over the years because there are so many more of them. Generally, I think it’s a good thing if more people are competing in triathlons.

“It’s a fairly approachable sport, it’s not one that requires tremendous skill level or tremendous group effort. You don’t have to find a team.”

Over the past decade, close to $200,000 has been raised and donated for charity, with KidSport Okotoks a major benefactor from the event.

Behind every successful longstanding event is an army of volunteers in the engine room. Gustafson said it takes typically 90-110 volunteers to put on the event, many of whom have been lending a hand since day one.

There are three generations of Gustafsons involved with Andrew’s parents serving as dedicated volunteers and the Gustafson kids either racing on the work crew.

“It’s many, many hundreds of hours,” Gustafson said. “It’s about 7 ½ hours of time that people commit on race day and they do everything from simple check-ins to managing intersections and being yelled at by people in traffic, setting up and managing the run course and water stations, we have lifeguards, we have divers underneath the swim to watch people from below.

“Richard and Kathleen Ellum have managed our Kids Fun Run, this is their tenth year doing that with us ... Noreen Gray has set up our run course for ten consecutive years. I think there are 20ish people that have been volunteers for 10 consecutive years.”

*Editor's Note: Melanie Arbib had a benign, non-cancerous, tumour removed from her throat. She did not have cancer.


Remy Greer

About the Author: Remy Greer

Remy Greer is the assistant editor and sports reporter for westernwheel.ca and the Western Wheel newspaper. For story tips contact [email protected]
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