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Social media round-up: Recapping duathlon, aquathlon and cross-triathlon at Canadian Multisport Nationals

August 27, 2016
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We’re through with three of the four events here at Canadian Multisport National Championships in Penticton and so far hundreds of athletes have qualified for next year’s inaugural ITU Multisport World Championships in the duathlon, aquathlon and cross triathlon. With athletes from all over the world competing for spots at next year’s highly-anticipate Penticton 2017, this year’s five-day event has been one of the most exciting multisport festivals to take place in Canada. Here’s our recap of the last three events with a round-up of social media posts.

Duathlon

Around 200 men and women competed in the first event of the weekend, the duathlon, on a beautiful course in downtown Penticton with a 10 km run, 20 km bike and 5 km run. Athletes took on the steep grade of Vancouver Avenue for the runs and enjoyed a fast, looped bike course.

Evan Bayer clocked the fastest men’s time of the day (1:49:36) and Kim McMullen was named the women’s winner (2:12:47). The top three athletes in each category were awarded prizes and top five in each age-group qualified for worlds. Overall, duathletes were impressed with the execution of the race and while they agreed it was a challenging course, many can’t wait to do it all again and be out here representing Canada next year.

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Instagram Race Report from the Canadian AG National Duathlon Championships at #challengepen in #pentiction. Overall 6th and 1st in AG with time of 1:56:29 for the 10km run / 40km bike / 5km run Started with 10km run in 37:39 – tried to hold back on this a little bit still went out a little too hard for that plan. 4 x a 2.5km lap that included a steep hill. Onwards through T1 and the plan was to bike strong on a flat course. Happy with 58:59 split for the 40km but still would have liked to have been on top of the gears a little more. Good T2 before run 2 which was 5km on the same 2.5km loop. Came out T2 2nd in AG with 10 seconds to make up. Made the catch at 3km then able to hold a gap up and down the hill with a 18:29 split for the 5km. Happy with race and managed to book a spot to worlds in 2017 and pickup a AG Nationals win. Great to see so many familiar faces racing a supporting and looking forward to a couple more races this week. #pbcm #nuunhydration #forerunnersnorthvan #speedtheoryvan #visitpenticton

A post shared by Jeremy Hopwood (@jeremyhopwood) on

Aquathlon

For many of the pro athletes taking on Sunday’s long course race, the aquathlon (swim-run) served as the perfect warm-up race. The aquathlon drew over 100 participants including Jeff Symonds and Karen Thibodeau who won the men’s and women’s races respectively.

Athletes enjoyed a 1-km loop swim in Okanagan Lake before taking on a 5 km run along Penticton’s Lakeshore Drive. Hundreds of spectators lined the course to cheer on athletes, creating an exciting race atmosphere that set a great tone for next year’s festivities.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BJjbSGAjlhX/?tagged=aquathlon

 

Cross-triathlon

Currently Canada’s number one ranked cross-triathlete, Guelph, Ontario’s Karsten Madsen was a favourite heading into Friday’s cross-triathlon and impressed spectators with his dominant victory in the men’s race. Cross-triathlon nationals were a huge success, with over 100 athletes taking on Penticton’s beautiful geography for an authentic, off-road racing experience.

Women’s winner Katie Button took her first-ever victory and expressed her love for the course and excitement for next year, post-race.