Peach Classic Triathlon 2016

Last weekend was the Peach Classic Triathlon in Penticton. I think it might be the oldest Tri in the Okanagan.

The race started at 7am by the Peach, which meant a wake up time of 4:15am to arrive at the race site by 6am to get organized and warm up. Pretty darn early! 

The lake had a bit of chop, but not too bad. The swim start was pretty civilized without a lot of kicking and punching. I got away pretty smoothly and came out of the water in 5th place.

A quick transition and onto a hilly bike course. The bike goes up Vancouver hill and out towards Naramata and back. The Speed Concept was brilliant today!  It carries speed so well!  I passed a few people going through transition and a couple people passed me on the bike leg, so came into T2 in fourth place with 2 others nipping at my heels.

The run also goes up Vancouver hill and out along the KVR trail to the 5km mark and then back down to lake level.  It's a tough run.  I managed to pass Jen Annett, a local pro woman, to claim 3rd overall behind the always-strong Gary Wade and Jeff Symonds, another local pro, who was in a class of his own.

So, I finished 3rd overall and first in the 40-44 category. The top three in this category were all in the top 6 overall and two and a half minutes apart.
This is probably one of the harder courses, but also one of the most rewarding. 

A welcome site with the legendary Steve King commentating

Janae and myself with our hardware