Alicia Somerville exceeded her expectations.
The 10-year-old had set a personal goal to finish the 19th Prince George Kids Fun Triathlon higher than seventh place, where she finished last year's race. Somerville finished first of nine girls in the female 9-10 division with a time of 24 minutes, 11 seconds (00:24:11). It was her fifth time doing the Kids Triathlon, fourth time as a soloist.
"It's fun to do and a good commitment to make," said Somerville. "It's a good accomplishment."
The triathlon is a mini version of the adults three event discipline of swim, bike and run. The distance for the kids gets longer as they age. Somerville completed a 100 metre swim, four kilometre bike ride and a one kilometre swim. She said her most improved event from last year was the swim, since she took a few lessons beforehand this year.
Somerville said she doggy paddled last year, while this year she was able to swim most of the 100m on her back.
Her parents, Craig Somerville and Amanda Alexander, are avid triathletes themselves who took on the challenge of the Subaru Ironman Canada competition last year in Penticton. Alexander said they let their daughters - six-year-old Isabel was 17th in the eight and under category with a time of 00:32:30 - decided for themselves if they want to take part in the kids triathlon and other sporting activities.
Alexander added that her eldest daughter had nervous butterflies in her stomach on the drive to the Four Seasons Pool and Fort George Park where the event took place Sunday morning.
"I was very surprised I won," said Somerville. "It seemed like my bike was slower than usual. But I started and ended the run strong, though I got a cramp that really hurt but I had to keep going."
Next year, Somerville said since she can't do better than first place she'll have to set her sights on getting a personal best time, though she'll be doing double the distance - 200m swim, eight km bike and two km run - since she'll move up into the 11-12 age group.
Somerville said she's considering teaming up with friends next year on a team.
The Kids Fun Triathlon is open to kids between two and 15 years old. They were 165 kids signed up for the 2013 edition though a couple dropped out due to the cool, rainy weather.
Marnie Alexander, in her second year of organizing the kids triathlon, said the goal is to get the kids to continue doing triathlons into adulthood. She added that the most difficult part is usually trying to transition the kids from pool swimming to open water swimming.
"It's great to see the kids out being active with their families out cheering them on and supporting them," said Alexander. "It's a nice family oriented event that's accessible for people of all socioeconomic backgrounds."
One of the best aspects about the kids triathlon, said Alexander is the fun nature of it as everyone cheers on their fellow competitors to the finish as Dayton McCarville will attest to. The 11-year-old was the final racer to finish in 1:08.10 and had the entire crowd of kids and parents at Fort George Park cheering for him as he ran across the finish line.
Alexander said they have had requests from some to the older kids to add a more competitive division where they can challenge themselves against some of the elite runners and triathlon competitors in Prince George. It's something she said she's considering for the 20th anniversary triathlon next summer.
Other winners were: Connor Levins (boys eight and under); Kendra Gauthier (girls eight and under); Aiden Reeves (boys 9-10); Samuel Marchand (boys 11-12); Logan Ozcan (boys 13-14); Jordan Ozcan (boys 15); Danika Fiala (girls 11-12); Sydney Lopez (girls 13-14); Destiny Whitehawk (girls 15).
