There’s a certain kind of toughness that doesn’t come from palm trees, ocean breezes or year-round riding weather. It comes from farm-town mornings and long runs in –30°C.
It comes from driving into Winnipeg before sunrise for a 6 a.m. swim, heading home to make school, then doing it all over again because the work isn’t done. Manitoba may not be the first place you’d think of when it comes to developing elite triathletes, but it keeps producing them.
Blake Harris is the newest guy to make people take notice. At just 22, Blake has spent years racing short-course triathlon with what looks like a long-course engine.
He self-identifies as a diesel and his big engine helped qualify him for the World Championships on his debut at the half-ironman distance. He followed that up with podium finishes at Mont-Tremblant and Boise.
Now he’s in Park City, Utah, training at 7,000 feet and getting ready for Nice. There’s plenty of climbing, descending, TT-bike work and power on the menu, but there’s also a bigger question: just how good can this young Manitoban become?
I talked to Blake about the move from short course to long course, the work that got him here, and what comes next for one of Canada’s most interesting young triathletes. Hear our prairie boys shooting the shit style chat by pressing that play button below.
