As we get ready to kick off another season of multisport here in BC, I thought it would be a good idea to chat with the person whose job it is to manage and promote our sport in BC. Allan Prazsky is the Executive Director for Tri-BC.
In our conversation, we Fitspeek about the state of triathlon in the province, some of our up-and-comers, and how the Olympics influences participation.
We end the conversation with my diabolical plan to steal a PTO event away from the (former) City of Champions. If you TRI in BC, this podcast is 22 minutes well-spent! Hear it now by pressing play below.
What you are looking at it is the cockpit for the new Rogue, by A2 bikes. Comfortable, adjustable, and affordable. Pick your parts and price by clicking on the bike above.
In hindsight, could the local triathlon scene for 2023 be called the Year of the Rookie?
From Victoria, Fitspeek guest and Triathlon Magazine Canada colleague Mel McQuaid has just done her first-ever Ironman World Championships (just like Fitspeek host, Kevin Heinze did).
In Victoria, Mitchell Kirby rocked + shocked his competition at the Ironman 70.3.
Just last month a triathlon newbie WON the Cultus Lake Half-Iron.
If you have never heard of Luker Tasker before, you can be forgiven. That’s because this guy, originally from England, had never done a triathlon before.
That’s changed and now Canada has a rising new star at the Half-Ironman distance. A 4:10 debut with a lot of mistakes hints at Tasker’s athletic potential. Before you hate on Luke because of, well, a 4:10, you gotta know that he paid his dues as a lad in the UK swimming 5-6 times a week and competing at a high level in modern pentathlon.
Hear Luke’s story from ski-bum to Vancouver firefighter + champion triathlete by pressing play below.
Tested in the tunnel, aero + affordable, and on-course at the world championships, the SP by A2 bikes is your ticket to a faster bike split. Check out their range of build options by clicking on the bike above.
This week on the show the tables are turned as Fitspeek alumni Leigh-Ann Parker, Kevin Watt, + Dr. E, interview host Kevin Heinze, about his experiences at the Ironman World Championships, in Nice, France.
A major part of the interview is finding out how he qualified for France because being a hydrosloth and giving up 10 minutes to his age group competition in the water, meant that time had to be made up…somewhere! Find out what sacrifices were made in the heat of the battle when he found out that he was in 3rd place in his age group.
Here’s the bike I used to get to Nice and tackle the course in France. It’s the SP by A Squared. Click on it to browse and configure your dream machine. Thanks to Mark Mattecheck at A2 for “Borris.”
In this week’s show, we ditch the goggles and aerobars and focus on running shoes, or more accurately, a guy who wears running shoes – in a very big way.
Mission’s Mark Klassen used to run cross country while in school but life changed and he stopped running. Then, about 8 years ago, he and a friend decided to take up running again. Without any “serious training,” as he puts it, he reeled off a sub-35-minute Sun Run.
Now that he knows how to train his times have been dropping, as have the jaws of his competitors. He’s gone from being a local fast guy to one of the fastest in the province at most distances of running races – that is except for the marathon!
In this week’s show, we go deep with Mark and find out why he is so fast, get his not-so-secret training secrets, and find out what is on the running horizon for this humble + inspirational athlete.
What you are looking at is the aero road bike the RP. It’s made by A Squared Bikes out of Lake Oswego, Oregon. Think of it as your Swiss Army Knife with wheels.
As is, it is ready for road races, fondos, crits, and coffee rides with your buddies. Slap a pair of aerobars on it and it becomes a speedy triathlon bike. It’s plenty adjustable for you to get your position dialed in just right to keep you comfortable and your competition behind you. Click on the bike for more details.
This week on the show, we have (almost) everything you need to maintain your motivation as we enter the dark season on the West Coast. We kick off the podcast with a short chat featuring Kiefor Ziefflie of the Mission Firefighters. Kiefor is one of the head organizers for the Movember Dodge Ball Tournament being held on Saturday November 26th in Mission.
Also on the program is Mikey Ross from the Abbotsford Triathlon Club & Tri*Joy. Our annual 50/50 Workout Challenge is back for another year & we are happy to say that it is bigger than ever! We have well over 100 folks who have committed to doing 30 minutes of exercise for 50 consecutive days. You can hear about the challenge and the prizes below.
This past Victoria Day weekend while many Canadians were camping or travelling, one of Canada’s top age group triathletes, Martin Caron, was sitting… in a ditch collecting his thoughts and brushing off the trauma of a bike crash. After a trip to the hospital, he was told he had a broken collarbone.
Not one to take setbacks lying down, Caron embarked on an ambitious recovery plan that involved rest, nutrition, and patience. The plan worked exceedingly well and in late June he placed 2nd in his age group at the 70.3 race in Couer D’ Alene, Idaho.
He followed that up this past weekend with a trouncing of his competitors at the Salem 70.3 event. His winning margin of almost 20 minutes was a solid indication that his recovery was complete. This week on Fitspeek, we chat with the champ on the ups and downs of the past 18 months leading up to his win in Salem.
This week the gloves come off as Tri-Warrior Head Coach Kevin Cutjar, representing Penticton and Pinnacle Fitness Head Coach, Paul Regensburg, representing Victoria square off to determine which is BC’s top triathlon town.
Also on the show is Mikey’s Top 5 List. The ATC coach offers advice on improving your swim stroke and efficiency for your next trip to the lake or the pool. Hear it now by pressing play below
This week on the show we keep it very local. One of the folks who has seen the Mission Bridge in various altered stages resulting from long runs is ATC Coach, Mikey Ross. He’s on the program this week with his Top Five List. As we all know Covid took a big bite out of our personal connections over the past 23 months, Mikey gives us 5 strategies on ways to emerge out of our caves and reconnect with our tribes.
In addition to the list, local F2C Ambassador Roy McBeth joins Kevin with a 15 minute chat on the local as well as international cycling and triathlon scene. We have some results and analysis from the Pacific First Half Marathon and we look forward to the return of the Fraser Valley Granfondo. And this week’s trivia gossip Fitspeeking, Roy seems to have kept the Christmas kilos off but not so much for Kevin. Hear it all right now by pressing play below.
This March hundreds of provincial multisport athletes will finally get a chance race again for real, as the long-running UBC Triathlon/Duathlon returns. Not only is it a great motivator for some early season intensity, it is also a reason to get that bike checked out and make sure that it is road-ready.
On the show this week, we Fitspeek with some seasoned veterans from the event, Burnaby’s Craig Premack and Vancouver’s Winston Guo. Between the 2 of them, they have almost 40 years of UBC experience. They will be sharing some of their experiences from the race course as well as some tips for folks doing the event for the first time.
Also on the program, ATC Head coach, Mikey Ross returns with his Top Five List . If you have ever had to deal with race anxiety, Coach Mikey has a 5-4-3-2-1 strategy that will keep you focused on the world around you and not the butterflies in your stomach.
30 minutes of family friendly Fitspeek is ready for your consumption by pressing that play button below.
So, this is how it feels to wake up without regrets about what and how much went into my body the night before. Actually, that is a bit of an exaggeration, as those years of seasonal extravagance and remorse ended well before anyone knew about the wrath of Justin Bieber on music. I now see that the Ontario lad is now shilling Timbits, so I know a duet with Ian Tyson will soon be on the way and all will be well with the music world.
That other wrath is still with us, that Covid-thing, version…whatever. That thing that has, and continues to, throw uncertainty into the lives of most of us. When I go back to work on Monday, however, it will be without students; that is certain. But is it shocking? Not so much anymore.
It’s usually on this day that I look giddily at a blank piece of paper and fill it with race dates. For the second year in a row, this may become an exercise in disappointment and flushed dreams. For two years in a row I trained for Ironman Canada. For two years in a row, I stood in a wetsuit next to a Big Peach with only a handful of other die-hards who didn’t need a medal and a tattoo and a t-shirt as evidence that we had too much spare time on our hands. Yeah, we did the whole damn thing anyway.
If you had an opportunity to do a real race in the past 20 months you were either rich or lucky or both. Anybody with the money and motivation could scoot over to Andorra or Arizona or Alberta, places where the local leaders deemed Covid “over.” Over here in BC, Bonnie’s abundance of caution cancelled most races.
Folks who managed to race the Vancouver Triathlon totally lucked out as the heat domes of summer had passed, Covid numbers temporarily abated, and the curse of the coyote was averted. Hitting the finish line must have been as much of a relief as it was an accomplishment. Being on a real race course with real salt water stinging your eyes, real gravity pulling you downhill, and having real people pass you was something most of us thought was a right…not a privilege. Truthfully, however, I’m more of a racing is a necessity kind of athlete. A greedy bastard.
And as lucky as you were in actually having a race to do, you may have been doubly lucky if you had a race ready bike to do the race on. In 2021, the worldwide conspiracy against cyclists and triathletes entered stage 2 with bikes and the things that make them move (chains, derailleurs and the like) being in short supply and the prices of used equipment rise substantially.
As you map out your athletic year you need the faith of a pilgrim and the nerve of a gambler. What happens if all the races you sign up for are cancelled? Worse yet, what happens if all the races that you signed up for this year, plus all those races that you rolled over from 2020 and 2021 actually go ahead? Physical exhaustion and financial ruin looms on the horizon. Well maybe not but you have a lot of thinking and soul searching to do before you whip out that credit card and hit register. Happy New Year!
