Canadian National Championships and CAMTRI Continental Cup in Kelowna, BC this weekend
Canadian National Championship
This weekend, the Kelowna Apple Triathlon will host the Canadian National Championships over the sprint and standard distances. This year’s edition will be the 36th anniversary of the race. For the standard distance, the top three athletes of each age group will qualify for the 2020 ITU Triathlon Grand Finale in Edmonton, Alberta. The sprint distance race also features two qualifying spots per age group.
Last year’s Apple Triathlon in August was cancelled due to numerous regional forest fires causing poor air quality. This year, the race has been moved to July in hopes of avoiding the worst of the forest fire season. It looks to be the right decision, as conditions seem favorable this weekend.
Related: Smoke causes havoc in Kelowna at National Championships
Course description
The age group Apple Triathlon course will begin with swimming in Lake Okanagan at the base of Bernard Ave in downtown Kelowna (A single 750m loop for the sprint and a 1500m double loop for the standard athletes). The bike course does feature climbing, as athletes will scale Dilworth Mountain (once for the sprint, twice for the standard distance) via Summit Road before descending Valley Road back into downtown along Bernard Ave. Athletes will then run south from transition along the lakeshore on Abbott St. The turn around is near Kelowna General Hospital with athletes returning to the finish line near the north-east corner of Kelowna City Park. The sprint distance 5km run will be a single loop and the standard 10km a double loop.
CAMTRI Sprint Triathlon American Cup
The pro race is the ITU CAMTRI Continental Cup featuring elite athletes from North, Central, and South America competing for ITU points to qualify for events like the World Championships. Elite athletes will compete first on Saturday in heats of the Super Sprint Distance and then on Sunday for the Sprint Distance Final. The elite race features a $10,000 USD prize purse.
Pro Canadian athletes
The elite field this weekend does have a number of notable Canadian athletes, including some on Canada’s National Development Team.
Male Elites
Charles Paquet, fresh off his big win last weekend at the Montreal CAMTRI Sprint Triathlon American Cup, will be looking to go two in a row in the series.
Aiden Longcroft-Harris, Jeremy Briand, and Brock Hoel were 3rd, 4th, and 5th respectively in the CAMTRI Sprint last weekend.
Female Elites
Karol-Ann Warly and Colette Reimer were 4thand 5th respectively in the Elite Women’s field in the CAMTRI Sprint last weekend.
National Development Team’s Hannah Henry will also be racing this weekend in the Women’s Elite field. She was 5th at the Clermont CAMTRI American Cup this year.
