Author: kknnheinze@yahoo.com

Fitspeek is back with a new episode that reviews the newest thing on the provincial triathlon scene – the T-100. It’s the latest idea from the Professional Triathletes Organization (PTO).

A T-100 distance race features a 2 KM swim, an 80K bike, and an 18K run. It’s longer than a standard distance triathlon but somewhat shorter than a half Iron event.

The T-100 circuit is global. This year the City of Vancouver was fortunate enough to get selected as tour city. On the podcast we have a group of 3 local triathletes who competed in the event.

The guy on the bike above is Vancouver’s Winston Guo. He’s been in the sport for about 20 years. And even though he’s mostly been doing sprint distance races lately, he thought he would give this unique race distance a try.

With a world-class bike and strong run, Victoria’s Paul Auton is almost a shoe-in for a podium spot at most of the races he enters. Even though Paul is more of a longer-course guy, Paul decided to come to the Mainland to experience his first T-100.

The final person in our roundtable is the amateur race overall winner, Luke Tasker. Luke is originally from England but now lives in Vancouver.

My interview with Winston, Paul, and Luke mainly focuses on how they prepared for the event, if they thought the T-100 was good value for the money, and how well the event was run. Hear it now by pressing play below.

Mission’s Mark Klassen is one of the Fraser Valley’s fast guys when it comes to running. I guess that picture above is proof.

Mark was on the show a year and a half ago as he was preparing for his first marathon in Sacramento, California.

Each race distance, and I mean every distance from a 100 yard dash to Barkley Ultra stuff presents its own set of challenges.

A fair chunk of those challenges are as mental as they are physical. The marathon (the 42.2 K variety) is no exception.

When it comes to Mark’s first marathon, I could tell you he did it in 2:23 (or you could just look at the picture).

I could also dazzle you with his pacing stats, doing pretty much a 17-minute 5-k pace for the whole 42.2, but that’s only a fraction of the real story. The bulk of the story can’t be expressed on a Sports Stats spreadsheet. That’s why we have podcasts like Fitspeek!

There’s a real human element to those 8,600 seconds Mark spent on the race course. In the interview you can hear about the good, bad, and ugly! We delve into those dark moments most of us athletes experience as we are competing and we also get into some advice for first time marathoners. Hear it now by pressing play!

This week on the show we celebrate our 220^th episode with a two-fer. 2 fellas from Manitoba who moved out West and are now race directors at a couple of the most bad ass multisport events on the planet.

We have originally from Gimli, Brad Sowa.

Brad originally came into triathlon as a 30-something who was looking to rise to the challenge of a dare from his friends. He did an Ironman, then an Ultraman, and then something much more difficult – he took the reigns as race director of Ultraman Canada.

From Selkirk, we have Ryan Parton.

Ryan thought he knew what mountain biking was until he crossed the Rockies, the Strait of Georgia, and ended up in Cumberland in the Comox Valley on Vancouver Island.

Although his first rides in the valley were humbling, he stuck at it long enough to be a local X-Terra hero, making the podium and going to world championships in both Penticton and Hawaii.  

That said, he admits his first crack at race directing brought him to tears more than any switchback singletrack ever did.

Our conversations are as much about their paths to being race directors as they are about the races that we wanna tell you about.

Ultraman is that 3 day affair where athletes do a 10 K swim, and a 150 k bike on day 1, a 275 k bike on day 2, and a double marathon (84K) on day 3.

The Dodge City X – is your typical no-holds-barred off-road triathlon that features the requisite 1.5 k swim in a refreshing lake, a 20-something K capital G gnarly cycling route (which we know CAN be completed without a bike seat), and an honest 9 k trail run.  

Both events attract athletes seeking more than your Strava-Centric, Instagram-Influencer type of triathlete would. Ultraman’s guiding principle is Ohana. Dodge X guiding principle is DON’T BE A DICK . With a lead in like that how can you NOT push play.

Based out of Mission, we’ve said Fitspeek is big enough to count and small enough to care. Episode 219 is proof.

The rugged looking dude you see in the picture above is Mission’s Matt Brackley. He’s starting a running club and everyone in town who owns a pair of Altras, Hokas, Nikes….whatever is saying “it’s about time.”

I was saying “the guy has gotta be on Fitspeek!”

…and he is!

We chat about his reason for starting the club and Matt explains the where and when the Mission City Running Club meets.

Beyond the dates and times and places, we have stories (!) and Matt is one heck of a story-teller.

Although he has only been running for a few years, he has gained a lot of experience… including some colossal over-training episodes. Entertaining and informative – that’s what this week’s Fitspeek is all about.

Mission and area runners, you run club has arrived! Click below to hear the stories.