his year’s triathlon will feel more like a “dry-athlon,” as the swimming portion of the popular Pow Wow Days race has been axed due to several water concerns.
“We unfortunately need to change the triathlon to a biathlon,” said organizer Lori Girard. “We just don’t have any local lifeguards that are certified in open water.”
The current quality of the water was also a big consideration to this change, as the warm temperatures have made for large amounts of algae and have made it difficult to host the swimming portion of a triathlon.
“The water quality is pretty bad,” Girard said. “And the water quality plays a major role in the success of this event. That’s not to say that we won’t try to have triathlon in the future. But this year, we just wanted to make sure that we would have an event, and one that had all the correct personnel to run it properly.”
Although there will be no swimming, the event will still run as a normal biathlon. The run-bike biathlon will take place on Saturday, Aug. 4 in the scenic Sir Winston Churchill Provincial Park, with all events starting and finishing in the day use area of the park. The transition from bike to run will also occur in this same area.
There are four race categories available: “Kids of Steel” aged three to six; juniors aged seven to 14; adults “Try-It” fifteen and over; and adults, 18-plus. Start times for the race, are as follows: kids 9 a.m.; juniors 9:15 a.m.; adults and Try-It 9:45 a.m.
Pre-registration forms are available at the front desk of the Bold Center. Registration will also be held the morning of the biathlon at 8 a.m. for the two younger categories and at 8:30 a.m. for the adult categories.
“We’re hoping that since it’s a biathlon, we’ll get more interest,” Girard said. “For some people, the swimming part is intimidating.”
