CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. — Four Islanders were the top Canadians in their age category and two more were second at the Triathlon Union (ITU) Multisport World Championships in Pontevedra, Spain.
The event attracted nearly 4,000 athletes from 52 countries around the world. Team Canada was comprised of 145 athletes, with 82 of them competing in duathlon.
“It was an incredible experience to be a member of the Canadian team representing your country and competing with people from all over the world,” said Dan McCarthy. “I am hooked and I am training very hard to qualify at Trilobster this summer for the 2020 worlds in Almere, Netherlands.”
Mitchell Stewart was top Canadian and placed 22nd overall in the 25-29 age group of the sprint duathlon. His time was 1:07:41. In the 35-39 age group, Gerald Gallant was top Canadian and 38th overall in 1:13:02 while Anthony Landry was the second Canadian and 39th overall in 1:13:39.
Doris Landry was top Canadian and placed eighth overall in the 65-69 age group in 1:40:23. McCarthy was the second Canadian and 16th overall in the 65-69 age group in 1:18:21.
In the standard duathlon, Bruno Marchand was the top Canadian and placed 19th overall in 2:17:19.
The sprint duathlon consisted of a five-kilometre run, a 20-km bike, and 2.5-km run, while the standard duathlon was comprised of a 10-km run, a 40-km bike, and five-km run.
The road to the Multisport World Championships began in Summerside in August for the six Island athletes. By finishing first in their respective age group at the TriLobster Duathlon, they qualified to compete in this year’s duathlon world championships.
Triathlon P.E.I. is seeing increasing participation in its triathlon and duathlon events across the province.
The Subaru of Charlottetown Trilobster Triathlon, Aug. 18 in Summerside, will offer a number of a world qualifying races for the 2020 World Multisport Championship Festival in Almere-Amsterdam and the 2020 ITU World Triathlon Grand Final in Edmonton.
