Rossland kids ran, biked, and swam hard at the Christina Lake triathlon last Sunday, a tough race with a 100-metre swim, six-kilometre ride, and two-kilometre run.
After the swim, Sage Robine, 12, lagged Grand Forks’ Megan Chapman, 13, by a minute. Robine fought back on her wheels, heading into the run two minutes ahead of Christina Lake’s Kristin Delgelo, 12, as Chapman dropped into third. Robine didn’t let up, stretching her lead still further to finish in 40:05.
Rossland’s all-female team “The Star Dazzlers” took second place out of eight teams in the co-ed team event, about five minutes behind “Mid Forkains,” an all-male team from Grand Forks and Midway.
Hollie Arsenault, 10, powered through the swim in three minutes, putting Rossland in a tie for third place. Madeline Kinghorn, 9, put the pedal to the metal and pushed Rossland into second place with a split of 25:15, but gold was out of sight as the Mid Forkains’ Liam McKinlay biked the leg three minutes faster.
Ten-year-old Brooklyn Donovan solidified Rossland’s silver with a time of 35:38 after a blistering 10-minute run that was just seconds shy of nine-year-old Jackson Phipp’s time for the Mid Forkains.
Rossland also cheered on a younger all-male team in the same event: Swimmer Andrew Sibbald, 7, biker Kian Merringer, 7, and runner Emry McGill, 8, reached sixth place in 37:50, a mere two minutes behind the much older Star Dazzlers.
Rossland’s “Polka Dotted Hippos,” fought hard as Clair Sibbald, 9, Natasha Robine, 9, and Alexander Forshaw, 10, took eighth place with 39:32.
Meanwhile, the 55+ category at the Christina Lake sprint triathlon last Sunday had two notable entries.
Christina Lake’s 66-year-old Glen Brewer finished in a searing 1:34:47, a time that easily beat out male competitors one-third his age.
Sixty-one-year-old Lyn Mackey of Grand Forks finished in 1:45:59, a time worthy of a top-six finish in both the 19-to-39 and the 40-to-54 categories.