In what appears to be a budding rivalry, Prince George triathlete Josiah Wilkinson outran North Vancouver's James Sikich to win his second BC Summer Games gold medal on Saturday.
Wilkinson secured the victory in the junior boys (16-17 years old) F1 event, made up of three rounds of a 100-metre swim, two-kilometre cycle and 500-metre run, each interspersed with a 10-minute break.
The two were neck-and-neck for the first two rounds before Wilkinson turned on the jets in the third starting with a strong swim and was already in the transition zone to the cycle by the time Sikich was out of the water at Nadsilnich Lake in West Lake Provincial Park.
A stronger cyclist, Sikich caught up to Wilkinson but was out of gas by the time they had reached the final run. From there, Wilkinson built had built up a 14-second lead by the time he crossed the finish line.
Despite the lengthy lead, Wilkinson looked behind him as he turned the corner and went into the final stretch.
"I didn't want him to sneak up on me," Wilkinson said of Sikich.
The duelling athletes exchanged first place finishes on Friday with Wilkinson winning the super sprint and Sikich taking the duathlon.
- On Sunday, Wilkinson cruised to a win in the aquathon made up of 300-metre swim and a two-kilometre run.
Also a member of the Prince George Barracudas swim club, he was first out of the lake and not by a little and pretty much maintained his lead for the duration of the run, finishing in a time of 12 minutes 31.4 seconds. Sikich was second, crossing the line 13.2 seconds later.
Also of note, Zoe Unger (Zone 3 - Fraser Valley) won the junior girls side of the event - and was fourth overall - with a time of 13:38.2.
