Tri-Smore a spectacular event once again

Justin Seward
Times Reporter

 

Eighty-year old Strathmore resident Anna Reinwald crossed the finish line – and an item off her bucket-list – with a big smile on her face after completing the fifth annual Tri-Smore triathlon on June 20.
With the help of numerous volunteers and committee members, over 400 participants took to the pool, bikes and pavement,
“We had wonderful volunteers show up yesterday and just helped with the overall organization of it and it came together beautifully without any major hiccups,” said Nicola Johnson, event organizer.
This year athletes were able to participate in the Mega Smore – an Olympic Distance upgrade – that was the new feature at this year’s event.
“I talk to some of my mega’s when they came back and they had a beautiful ride, the run was really good, they thought it was well marked,” said Johnson.
She thought it was a great thing to have a mixture of athletes in the event because it really showed their capabilities and the amount of fun they had amongst each other on the track.
It was also a pleasure for Johnson to see their efforts on the track pay off to see more kids become active in sports.
“Our quarter smore’s biked the same route as our full’s and mega’s run. It’s a little bit more organization because we have our runners go the opposite direction of our bikers and we try to time it so that there is very few runners around Grey Park when we’re out there,” said Johnson.
“But that effort to us is worth doing if we can get kids and families active. It takes a little more logistical work.”
Reinwald thoroughly enjoyed every minute in her half Tri-Smore and praised the committee for putting on such a great event.
“It was very supportive, I enjoyed myself,” said Reinwald.
“I’ve always wanted to do one of those. I’ve never had the opportunity and for me it wasn’t like a competitive thing, I was just thrilled I was able to do it.”
Other athletes included an amputee with no arms doing the swim, while families completed their portion of the race in time to watch their kids participate in the Two Bites, the youth portion of the race.
Johnson confirmed that the Mega Smore will be back next year.