Sharbot_lake_triathlon

Jeff Green | Aug 18, 2005

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Sharbot Lake Hosts Triathlons

by Jeff Green

It was triathlon weekend again in Sharbot Lake, and both the adult triathlon on Saturday and the Kids of Steel event on Sunday went off smoothly.

It’s now been over 20 years since Joan and Rudy Hollywood started up the Sharbot Lake Triathlon in 1984 (a children’s event was added in 1986). When the Sharbot Lake Triathlon, held annually on the August Long weekend, was supplanted by the Kingston Triathlon in 1997, there was no triathlon in the village until 2002.

Rick Hellard, a former world class triathlete, and a former winner of the Sharbot Lake Triathlon, established a new Sharbot Lake Triathlon in mid-August of 2002, and the Kids of Steel organization from Ottawa have since added Sharbot Lake to their list of sponsored events.

Joan and Rudy Hollywood haven’t disappeared from the scene, however. They were both heavily involved this year as volunteers, Joan on both days. Rudy also participated in the adult triathlon. He finished fourth in the men’s 50-59 category, although he may not fit in that category anymore.

This year, the first woman to complete the Olympic Distance triathlon, (1.5 km swim, 42 km. bike ride, and 10 km run) and the fastest 20 - 29-year-old of any gender, was Suzanne Russell at 2:12.44. Russell finished over 10 minutes behind the overall male winner, Ryan Grant (in the 30-39 age group) at 2:02:19, but she was only 2 minutes behind the second place male triathlete Mike Woodford (30-39), who came in at 2:10:30.

Among 12 and 13-year-olds, Emily Alexander of Stittsville was the winner of the girls event, and her time of 48:37 for a 300 metre swim, 15 km, bike ride and 3 km. run was 51 seconds faster than that of the winning boy Tait Becke of Ottawa.

Local athletes dominated among 8-9 year old boys. Brett Myers from Harrowsmith won the race in a time of 19:46, just 12 seconds faster than second place finisher David Cox (19:58) from Clarendon, while Connor Millard from Sydenham finished fourth (23:26). And the 8 - 9-year-old girls were no slouches either. Jesse Heyman from Harrowsmith finished second (23:58), while Emily Robinson of Northbrook finished 4th (24:57) and Samantha Ferguson of Mountain Grove finished in 6th place (29:05). Bailey McGregor of Sharbot Lake (38:04) was 15th and Molly MacPherson, also of Sharbot Lake (40:22) was 17th

Among 6 and 7-year-olds, Claire Millard of Sydenham finished 4th among the girls (12:49) and Aadan Kemp of Sharbot Lake finished 14th among the boys (12:58).

For 10 – 11-year-old girls, Karley Heyman from Harrowsmith finished 3rd (36:06) and Hailey Ferguson of Mountain Grove was in 5th place (38:58), while Piper Curtis from Hartington finished in 18th place (46:08)

Ben Heyman from Harrowsmith finished 8th among 12-13-year-old boys (57:11) and Tyson Myers finished 10th (58:05).

Finally, among 12 –13-year-old girls, Carlee Ferguson from Mountain Grove was 15th (63:33), Rachel Neadow from Parham was 20th (74:29), and Surah Field-Green was 22nd (81:53).

“We would love to see more local athletes competing,” said race organizer John Balint. “Although there are athletes competing, especially in the older age groups, who are dedicated triathletes, any active child can complete the races without much difficulty.”