Three Okotoks area athletes headed south to compete in the world triathlon championship late last month — way south.
Okotokians Anton Nel, Dan Mayhew and John Van Heyst competed for Canada at the International Triathlon Union world championships in Auckland, New Zealand at the end of October.
The three qualified at various races in 2011 to earn spots for the world championships. Nel and Mayhew qualified in the 40-44 men’s sprint and 35-39 men’s sprint (750m swim, 20km bike ride and 5km run) respectively in Edmonton in 2011. Van Heyst earned a berth in the 50-54 Olympic division which is twice as long as the sprint division. Van Heyst qualified in Canmore.
The trio trained together throughout the winter and summer in preparation for the world championships in New Zealand.
“We would go for bike rides together or maybe swims, but it can be tough to juggle with everybody’s family and work schedules,” Nel said. “That is one of the reasons why I chose the sprints because it fits my schedule better.”
Although swimming at Crystal Shores Lake and the Riley Minue Pool in Okotoks is great, it’s not quite the same as swimming in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Auckland.
“The water was about 14 degrees (Celsius) that is cold,” Mayhew said.
Nel said the ocean is much more challenging than what Okotoks has to offer.
“It is a lot different than a lake swim,” Nel explained. “It’s much more difficult swimming in the ocean because of the waves and the sighting is different. Even though we were in the harbour you could still feel the current.
“People lose sighting and they start swimming over top of each other literally… of the three elements of the triathlon, the swimming is the most intimidating.”
Mayhew agreed.
“You are catching up to the slower swimmers in the age category ahead of you and then faster swimmers from the next age group are catching up,” Mayhew said. “There were about 100 people trying to get around the buoys at about the same time.”
The bike ride was next and it was hilly and windy. However, it took a while to even get to the bikes. Mayhew estimated the transition from the swim to the bike rack was close to 800m.
“You had to run up all these stairs to the bottom of the pier and up to grab your bike,” Mayhew said. “Then the transition from the bike to the run was about 500m. It wasn’t the type of triathlon that you would want to compare your time with other triathlons.”
The course for the running portion of the event was thankfully forgiving.
“The run was nice and flat,” Nel said.
Van Heyst had to run the route twice, as compared to his fellow Okotokians who ran once around the 5km loop.
He said the only difficulty was the number of turns and bends in the race.
Van Heyst finished 36th in his event in New Zealand covering the Olympic distance — the same Canadian flag-bearer Simon Whitfield did in winning two Olympic medals — in 2:27.56.
Nel was 48th at 1:15:47 and Mayhew 76th in a time of 1:29:45.
The three Okotokians all compete in triathlons for different reasons.
“You challenge yourself,” Mayhew said. “I can’t control how Anton does, I can only control what I can do.
“You are competing against yourself.”
Van Heyst got involved in triathlon for his health.
“My dad had a heart attack at a pretty young age,” Van Heyst said. “This whole racing thing helps me get motivated. The whole cross-training with the biking and swimming is a lot easier than just running.”
Nel, a physician, said he took up triathlon because he can make it fit his schedule and the variety of disciplines makes it good exercise.
All three have qualified for the International Triathlon Union world championship in London, England’s Hyde Park next year, as a result of their showing in the provincial championship in July in Edmonton.
Van Heyst is the current provincial champion. Nel was third in the 40-44 men’s sprint at 1:12:31 and Mayhew second in the 30-34 men’s sprint at 1:28:19
Despite having to pay their own dime to get to New Zealand and Jolly Old England next year, they are making tentative plans to make the trip across the pond in 2013.
“It’s a privilege to race for Canada and the only way to compete is to qualify at the provincial or national level,” Nel said. “It’s an honour to compete against some of the best athletes in triathlon in the world.”
