Race Reports

We have completed the first two races of the Human Powered Racing season. The West Shore Youth Triathlon was on May 27 and the Victoria Youth Triathlon was on June 10. Both races are part of the Kersten Orthodontics Greater Victoria Youth Triathlon Series.

The West Shore Youth Triathlon at Juan de Fuca Rec is always our first race of the season and an opportunity for us to get back into race mode. This year we premiered a new bike course format. The course is much more technical than the previous course and gave us an opportunity to test the new format before using a similar course at Vic Youth and the BC Super Series race. We learned a few things and received some valuable feedback from athletes and coaches about the new course that we were able to use to make a few adjustments to the design of the Vic Youth course.

The race went very well. We had fabulous weather and everyone enjoyed themselves. As usual, our amazing volunteers did a fantastic job of keeping the participants safe and happy. There were some impressive performances from our youth athletes.

See West Shore Youth Tri race photos here.

The 2023 edition of the Victoria Youth Triathlon presented some challenges. A breakdown in communication at our venue resulted in some late scrambling and a delayed start. Fortunately the weather was good and the athletes, volunteers and spectators took it all in stride. Once we got under way it was mostly smooth sailing for the rest of the event.

The Victoria Youth Triathlon at Uvic is the longest running youth triathlon in BC and part of the Triathlon BC Super Series. The Super Series is a high performance series for U15, Junior and U23 elite athletes. This year the Super Series race was the first heat of the day. It is always inspiring to watch the future of our sport racing at such a high level at a local event. As an added bonus Josiah Ney, an athlete from our National Training Centre, came out to hand out finisher medals. I remember Josiah doing his first race at Vic Youth many years ago.

See Victoria Youth Tri race photos here.

All in all both races were a success. It is so inspiring to see all the smiling faces of the youth athletes as they challenge themselves on course. Triathlon is a unique sport in that participants are so supportive and encouraging of each other in such a competitive environment. As usual, your volunteers knocked it out of the park. Having a group of experienced and knowledgable volunteers at our races makes the job of the Race Director so much easier.

Congratulations to everyone who competed. We would like to extend our gratitude to Triathlon BC for supporting our races and special thanks to Gerald and Lisa Kersten for their support of youth triathlon on Vancouver Island.

Next up is the Triathlon of Compassion at Esquimalt Rec Centre on June 25. The Tri of Compassion is the final race in the Kersten Orthodontics Youth Tri Series and a fundraising event for the Victoria Sexual Assault Centre. You can register here. If you would like to donate to this important cause you can access the fundraising page here.