The training for her first Xtri had her convinced she would never do another one. Then she won the race!

It’a all about the journey, right? Elyse Latimer’s experience leading up to the Canada Man/Woman Xtreme Triathlon wasn’t the “journey” she’d expected, though. Despite having done three Ironman races (Ironman Florida in 2021 and the Ironman World Championship the following year in St. George, Utah), Latimer wasn’t exactly enjoying her prep for the race renowned as Canada’s toughest triathlon.

“Leading up to this I was like ‘I’m never doing this again,'” she said. “The training is so hard. Then you get such a high doing this … I feel like I would definitely do another one.”

Canada Man/ Woman Xtri race lives up to its “toughest race in Canada” moniker … and we have photos to prove it

One would hope there are more Xtri events in Latimer’s future – the 2011 Laurentian University (Sudbury, Ontario, Canada) swimming rookie of the year won the race handily. Her 12:21:01 finish time put her 10th overall in the race and almost 90 minutes ahead of the next woman, France Lemieux.

Latimer did all that despite the swim being half the distance – due to the cold air temperature on race morning, race organizers shortened the swim to 2 km (rather than the planned 3.8 km).

“The bike was surprisingly good,” Latimer said shortly after she finished at the observatory at the top of Mont Mégantic. “There’s a few times where I was like, oh, and ANOTHER hill. Like it’s pretty rough. I think it was the nice scenery and like the amount of people cheering you on. would be hanging out at their house, cheering people. And the views are really nice.”

Latimer, who recently moved to Chelsea, Quebec, from her former home near Tobermory, Ontario, was able to train in the famous Gatineau Park near Ottawa, which helped her preparations for the tough course in Lac Mégantic.

Different type of challenge

After competing in a number of sprint triathlon races while she was still swimming (including the 2014 World Triathlon Age Group Championships Sprint event in Edmonton, where she finished 16th in the 20-24 division, Latimer stepped up to Ironman racing, taking second in her age group in Florida in 2021. She would follow that up with 12th at the worlds in Utah, where she struggled in the heat.

“I guess I just wanted a different type of challenge,” she said. “I really like trail running. And I thought it would be something new and different. Something harder.”

The 32-year-old certainly didn’t make it look too hard, keeping her partner, Alec Makulowich, busy as he tried to keep up on the bike to provide support.

“She exceeded her expectations, although they were already very high,” he said. “She passed a lot of people, especially on the hills. It was tough keeping up with her in the car – I had to rush between points to keep up.”

Graham Hawkes, a friend from Kingston, Ontario, Canada, did the first 5 km and last 18 km of the run with her. (“It makes a world of difference,” Latimer said.)

All of which led to the huge win, and the big smile as she ran up the finishing chute at the top of Mont Mégantic alongside Benny, her dog. She got her “different” challenge, and she also got what might be the biggest win of her athletic career. So much for “never doing this again.”