Malcolm Stinson is tripling his pleasure this week at the International Triathlon Union world championships in Edmonton.
The 54-year-old Prince George native took the plunge with 78 other racers in his men's 50-54-year-old age class for Friday's sprint triathlon and finished 31st in his category, competing the course in one hour 14 minutes 54.3 seconds.
It was his second race in two days, with one more -- the Olympic distance triathlon -- still to come on Monday
"I'm tired, but it was a gas, it's fun," said Stinson. "It's so neat because there are people from all over the world and its a good production. Everyone who comes here is just so positive and they're really impressed with how Edmonton is putting on the show."
Stinson, who has won three consecutive Prince George Triathlon men's sprint titles, said he got off to a great start Friday in his 750-metre swim in Hawrelak Lake in downtown Edmonton but wasn't satisfied with the rest of his race.
"The bike went good but the [20-kilometre] bike was a bit slow for my expectations and I struggled through the (five km] run, the last part was tough."
Having already competed in the aquathon (750m swim, 5 km run) on Wednesday, in which he placed 21st in his age category, Stinson will get just more two days rest before he lines up for the Olympic distance race, which consists of a 1,500 m swim, 40 km bike and 10 km run.
"Hardly anyone is doing all of these races but I figured it's in my back yard, I might as well," Stinson.
"I'm glad I did that [aquathon] because it gives you a chance to get the feel of the swim before you do the triathlon," he said. "What happens is you go so hard the first few hundred metres and then you start having breathing problems because you're breathing so fast and by the time you settle in the race portion is over."
Stinson lived in Prince George until he was 17, when he left to attend the University of Alberta. He's lived in the Alberta capital ever since. In July, Stinson returned to his hometown, where his parents Iris and Don live, and won the sprint event for the third time in the Pomeroy Inn & Suites Prince George Triathlon at West Lake provincial park. Jay Smith, his 35-year-old girlfriend from Edmonton, won the women's sprint.
"The people who run the Prince George Triathlon are really conscientious and really do a good job, it's too bad more people from outside Prince George go there to race because it's a really good race," Stinson said. "It's a hilly, tough bike course, a beautiful clean lake, and a nice run."
One other Prince George triathlete, Bill Newman, raced along with Stinson Friday in the 50-54-year-old class and Newman placed 28th in 1:14:31.3. Newman finished second behind Stinson in the P.G. Triathlon in July.
The elite women's triathlon is today, followed by the elite men's race on Sunday. The finish-line celebrations Friday in Edmonton were tempered by the death of a triathlete from Portugal, who suffered a heart attack during the swim event in the men's 55-59-year-old sprint race.
Stinson works as a contractor/entrepreneur involved in the oil industry and first took up the sport in 1989 when he raced in the Penticton Ironman. He did well enough in that race to qualify for the Hawaii Ironman but did not compete.
He didn't race another triathlon until 2006, but has been a regular participant ever since. He qualified for the Canadian team for the ITU world championship in 2011 in Beijing, where he finished eighth in his age class. In 2013 he placed 20th at the ITU world sprint event in Auckland, New Zealand. Stinson, a former senior triple-A level hockey player who competed in the Hardy Cup for the Mundare (Alta.) Sabres, races at least 10 triathlons every year.
