Oct 2000
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Joan and Rudy Hollywood talk about Simon Whitfield and the Sharbot Lake Triathlon:An interview with David BrisonSimon Whitfield, the Olympic Triathlon gold medal winner, hardly ever misses an opportunity to let people know that he got his start in the Sharbot Lake kid's triathlon.
Joan and Rudy Hollywood started the Sharbot Lake Triathlon in 1984, and in 1986 added an event for children, called the Sharbot Lake Mini-Tri. The Mini-Tri was one of the first triathlon events for children in eastern Canada. It predates the better-known Kids of Steel events.
Simon Whitfield first entered the Sharbot Lake Mini-Tri in 1987 and competed every year until 1992, when he left Kingston to go to school in Australia. His results were good, but by no means did he dominate the field of youthful triathletes. For example, he finished 7th in his age category in 1990 (the Hollywood's son Brandon finished 4th that year), 2nd in 1991, and finally won the 15 - 16 age group in 1992. He came back in 1996 and won the adult event in a time of 1:35.12 - a good time, but short of the 1:34.39 time run by Rob Campbell in 1992.
Rudy says, "What Simon's times demonstrate is that you actually can improve over time - it shows what training can do for you."
Joan and Rudy, and their running sons Brandon and Rustin, got to know Simon, and his Kingston parents Geoff and Linda, quite well over the years. Their sons competed in meets together and the parents shared the driving to events.
In 1992, the two families sent Brandon and Simon by themselves on a plane, out to Kelowna, B.C., to see if they could qualify for the Canadian junior team. Simon missed qualifying by one place, and Brandon was one place behind him. There was a strike in the Ottawa schools during the 1991-92 school year, and Joan and Rudy sent Brandon to Kingston to live with the Whitfields. The boys attended KCVI together.
One year, after Simon had left for Australia, the Whitfield family entered a team in the Sharbot Lake triathlon, called Simon's Team, in honour of the absent Simon. Father Geoff swam, his sister Kate biked and his mother Linda ran. Triathlons are a major part of Joan and Rudy's life. Rudy, who runs a federal nutrition research lab in Ottawa, is an accomplished triathlete. In 1997, he was 7th in the world, in the 50 - 54 age group, in the Ironman event in Hawaii. The Ironman is longer than a regular triathlon - it consists of a 3.8 K swim, a 180K bike ride, and a marathon length 42 K run.
Joan, recently retired after teaching in elementary schools for 30 years, is also active in the sport as an official. She doesn't swim, so hasn't participated in triathlons, but she has run several marathons.
They would like to see the Sharbot Lake Triathlon revived. The last event was in 1997. Both of them have strong ties to Sharbot Lake. Joan's mother was born in Mississippi Corners. "I came up here from Kingston every weekend during my youth," she says. Rudy, the son of Ken and Ada Holllywood, grew up in Sharbot Lake and graduated from Sharbot Lake High School. They presently have a cottage on Sharbot Lake, on a shoreline lot that was part of his parents' farm. Recently, they received a call from Rick Hellard of Ottawa, who has won the Sharbot Lake event several times. Rick wants to start the event again act as race director. Rudy told him that he has their support.
Rudy also has other plans: he would like to see a national triathlon
centre established in Sharbot Lake. He also would like to invite Simon
next summer for an inaugural unveiling, at the Sharbot Lake beach, of a
plaque honouring him.
The Sharbot Lake Triathlon had a modest start. In 1984, Rudy asked
Glenn Fossey if he could run it as one of the Summerfest events. It
grew from there to become one of the best-liked events on the triathlon
circuit, and subsequently became the springboard for an Olympic gold
medal winner.
