First-time triathlete Conrad Allgaier was wearing the right number for Sunday's Northern Sport Centre Prince George Triathlon.
He was No. 1 when he took the plunge into West Lake to begin the 1,500-metre swim and after 40 kilometres of bike racing and a 10km run he was the first Olympic-distance racer to get to the finish.
Having returned to cross-country ski racing last winter, 15 years after he gave it up, the 31-year-old from Prince George decided to have a go at a swim-bike-run event. Based on his success Sunday on a hot, hilly course, this won't be his last triathlon.
"I just decided to do it - it was tough," said Allgaier. "I got into road biking last summer and I think multi-sport is kind of cool. I did the Iceman when I was young.
"It's a very hilly bike and the wind was pretty rough too. My swimming sucks, I was probably one of the last guys out of the water."
Allgaier needed just two hours 25 minutes 47 seconds to complete the course. He said he struggled in the lake but made up for lost time with his powerful pistons on the pedals and pushed himself to get through the challenging elevation changes on the run. He's been learning how to swim the past two months with the Prince George Barracudas Swim Club masters program and that practice in the pool got him through the race. The pain he was feeling right after reminded him of how he used to feel after draining his energy reserves in a ski race.
"It's not pleasant," he said. "It's tough to figure out how hard to push, especially if you haven't done an event before. You don't know who are the team guys and who are the soloists, so even if you are trying to pace off somebody, it's tough."
Allgaier, who works as a registered nurse and in the bush as a tree-faller, won by a huge margin, nearly 22 minutes ahead of second-place Sam Milligan (2:47:34) and 26 minutes faster than third-place Nick Markowsky (2:51:54) in the standard-distance men's race.
Leanne Garrison, 31, who won the women's sprint last year at West Lake, upped her training regimen to tackle the Olympic course. As the only female in her category, she was guaranteed gold but that didn't take away from the satisfaction she felt after winning her hometown race on the long course.
"I would have liked more people to compete with this year but it's a nice feeling," said Garrison. "It's been a tough year for training because of the weather but the half-Ironman I did in early June set me up pretty good."
At that race in Oliver, Garrison placed sixth among 13 women, knocking one hour and four minutes off her previous best time at that distance (1.9km swim, 90km bike, 21.1km run).
Quesnel mayor Bob Simpson, 60, seems to get better with age, winning the men's sprint in 1:14:22, five minutes ahead of Will Andal (1:19:29). Tim Brown was third overall (1:21:12).
Although he had the fastest swim time among the sprinters (13:24), same as women's sprint event winner Gillian Roberts, Simpson lamented the fact he wore blue goggles.
"I tried new goggles today and they were blue and they neutralized all the colours so I couldn't see the buoys (which mark the swim course) and unfortunately I ended up out front so I didn't have anybody to key on," said Simpson.
"It's a tough course. Both the run and bike are hilly and it's hard to get a rhythm, but it's a great warm-up event for the summer season."
Following on his bronze-medal success in 2002 at the age group world championship in Cancun, Mexico, Simpson is preparing for this year's world event Sept. 18 in Cozumel, Mexico. Prior to that he plans to race the provincial sprint championships in Victoria and the provincial Olympic distance race in Kelowna. He's also going to the Americas Masters Games in Vancouver, Aug. 26 to Sept. 4, entered in the cycling and triathlon events.
Roberts, who placed second in the Olympic distance event in 2015, clocked 1:22:21 on Sunday in the sprint - a 750m swim, 20km ride and five km run. She used the race as a tune-up for a half-Ironman event next Sunday.
r the half-Ironman in Calgary and for me this is really short and quite fast, because I train for six-hour races," said Roberts. "Generally at this event I would do the Olympic, but because the timing was so close I opted for the sprint this year to save my legs in order to perform at my best next weekend," said Roberts.
The native of London, Ont., moved to Prince George two years ago to take a job as an elementary school phys-ed teacher. Roberts, 25, has a background in running and synchronized swimming. She was first out of the water and finished her run in 22:22, quicker than all the other sprinters.
"For me, doing the 5K today, I literally felt like I was sprinting and I was very pleased I was able to go that fast off the bike," she said.
Rebecca Powell (1:24:55) and Kelly Yorston (1:29:28) were second and third among women in the sprint. Dan Bedard defended his duathlon title from last year, finishing the 40km bike, 10km run course in 1:50:52. Tara Nicholls (2:29:08) won the women's duathlon.
Fifty-eight competitors took part in the 33rd annual event.
