There was no end to the stories behind the 2600-plus competitors at yesterday's Prospera Granfondo Axel Merckx Okanagan. We thought we'd highlight two of them while you browse through the photos.
The first concerns a fellow by the name of John Winterdyk, and it's downright riveting.
In 1984, Winterdyk came to Penticton from his home in Vancouver to sign up for something called the the Canadian International Ultra Triathlon. The event, organized just one year prior and known in its first guise as the International Ironperson Triathlon, was novel and quirky and to some, just plain weird. But it would ultimately grow into the giant that today is known as Ironman Canada.
And that year, John Winterdyk from Vancouver won it. His time was nine hours and 56 minutes.
Yesterday, Winterdyk, now 66 years young, returned to the scene of his 1984 victory to try his hand at the 126-kilometer Velocefondo category at the 2019 Prospera Granfondo Axel Merckx Okanagan. And he would use the very same bike he rode in '84.
"I knew this race was on, but I'd never come out before," he said just prior to the 7 a.m. start. "And then I saw they had a classic bike division this year, and I said to my wife that it would be a wonderful memory lane kind of thing. I'm getting pretty close to hanging things up."
With Winterdyk yesterday morning was his 1983 Specialized, a bike that looked distinctly out of place amongst all the modern marvels on display at the starting line. But this was a very special Specialized. Not only did it help Winderdyk to triathlon victory 35 years ago, but it was built by the same guy who once built racing wheelchairs for Rick Hansen.
"Tony Hoar was the last official finisher in '73 or '74 at the Tour de France, " said Winterdyk. "He was from Britain, but when he moved to Vancouver, he started a bike building business. He built Rick Hansen's wheelchairs for his tour around the world. And somebody told me I had to go to this guy because he builds custom bikes. So I did."
"At some point through the years I put the bike away and more or less forgot about it. And then I saw they were having a classic, and I thought wow, what an opportunity."
Adding to this weekend's walk down memory lane, Winterdyk stayed with the very same people who hosted him in 1984 - Penticton's Randy and Katie Hicks.
Though we never did see our intrepid sexagenarian for the rest of the day - it's easy to lose touch when 2600 athletes are competing on a course that runs through much of the south Okanagan - we silently wished him the best. And last night we checked out the race results.
At age 66 and riding a relic, John Winterdyk finished 20th overall out of 656 Velocefondo competitors. He was third in his 60 to 69 age group, and he maintained a 32 km/h pace from start to finish.
Wow.
And then there's Kelowna's Craig Tostenson. We encountered the 56-year-old Kelownian on our way to the starting line. He was in the midst of pulling his bike from his car and making last-minute preparations.
"It's a bit of an addictive thing," he said when asked why he does it. "You just do it, and I do it with a group of people who've come up from Vancouver. We're all doing different distances and that's interesting because we're together but we're not together."
Yesterday was Tostenson's fourth Granfondo and third in a row. "It's usually a great day. But it depends on the heat. If it's a really hot day, it's a suffer fest."
"Last year wasn't bad. The fires hadn't started. The year before, the fires had started, but the smoke was high so we didn't actually have to go into it. But it was a little eerie when you were going down the bench there near Black Sage Road and it was above you."
Tostenson jokingly said he hoped to survive the day, then admitted the Granfondo is a great test of his training.
"I'm going to do the Ride to Conquer Cancer at the end of August, with a team from Pharmasave and Team CTV. We'll do the two-day ride from Cloverdale to Hope."
Tostenson said he did the Granfondo in a time of 7:20 in 2017, then 6:45 in 2018. "That was such a big difference, and i didn't train as much, so there's obviously a real mental component to it."
He must have been feeling good yesterday. He finished the race in 5:48:08.
Ultimately, Vancouver's Clarke Lind would edge out Decatur, Georgia's Ian Garrison to take first place honours in the 160-kilometer main event. The two broke from the pack minutes into the race, held a huge lead by Summerland, and maintained it throughout.
Other notables included Vancouver’s Angie Buonassisi, the first female to cross the finish line, in 68th overall. Axel Merckx, past Tour de France competitor and the man who founded the event, finished 33rd. Vancouver Canucks legend Trevor Linden finished 196th.
There was a crash of note on the Penticton to Summerland highway section where riders fell into the adjacent car lane. Fortunately, the cars were moving slower than the bikes, and major issues were avoided.
More than 2600 riders - enough that it took more than ten minutes for all of them to simply pass through the starting line - took up the challenge yesterday. For more individual stats, go here.
