Highlighted by the performance of West Kelowna’s Brock Hoel, local talent shone through on opening day of the 34th annual Pushor Mitchell Kelowna Apple Triathlon.
Hoel, 15, competing in a field of 17 boys in the youth division (13-15) swam, cycled and ran to first place in 34 minutes 23 seconds over super sprint course that included a 400-metre swim (in Tugboat Bay), a 10 kilometre bike and a 3 km run.
Coming off a triathlon victory at the B.C. Summer Games in Abbotsford last month, Hoel led from start to finish in the race that doubled as the TriBC’s Youth/Junior Series championship. He was first out of Okanagan Lake in the swim and recorded the second-best times in both the bike and run.
Solen Wood of Lethbridge finished in second place among the youth triathletes in a time of 35:21 while Mathias Gelber of Pincher Creek Alta. placed third in 35:31.
Danielle Leipoldt of Victoria, also a gold medalist at the 2016 B.C. Summer Games, led the youth-division girls with a clocking of 38:26.
The junior girls race (16-19) had Hannah Mehain of Vernon finishing first among seven competitors in a time of 37:27. Annelise Lapointe of Vancouver placed second in 38:56 while Janae Hoel (Brock's older sister) of West Kelowna crossed the finish line at the Dolphins in Waterfront Park in third place (40:16).
Opening day of the Apple saw 243 athletes compete, including 140 Kids of Steel (ages 8 to 19). Adult age group sprint- and Olympic-distance races will run on Sunday.
In all, a dozen Central Okanagan triathletes made it to the podium on Saturday.
Kelty Slaney and Jasper Stone of Kelowna finished first in the girls and boys 16-19 age groups respectively while second-place finishers from the Central Okanagan included Axl De Vries (boys 8-9), Jonah Hawes (boys 10-11), Axana Merkx (girls 14-15), Micah McKerlich (boys 14-15) and Matthew Scott (men’s Try A Tri).
Third-place finishers from the Central Okanagan were Eliza Bell (girls 8-9), Eli Harris (boys 12-13) and Lauren Hughes (women’s Try A Tri).
Meanwhile, in the Corporate Challenge sprint relay, Momentum Health Kelowna claimed first place among 12 teams. The trio of Sheena Murphy (swim), Greg Dumanoir (bike) and Colin Wallace (run) combined for a time of 39:13 while BDO Canada, consisting of Jennifer Jackson, Brett Stewart and Darryl Lowewen finished second in 40:07. Third place went to the Valeo Thick Quads team of Jess Keist, Shannon Snow and Breanna Snow.
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