Whitehorse Daily Star

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Photo by Vince Fedoroff

THE START – Swimmers head off for a one-kilometre swim Saturday morning in Long Lake to kick of the annual Long Lake Triathlon.

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Photo by Vince Fedoroff

HANDOFF – Cyclist Natalie Dugas, left, takes the tag from swimmer Tammy Kingston to begin the second leg of the triathlon.

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Photo by Vince Fedoroff

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Photo by Vince Fedoroff

Image title

Photo by Vince Fedoroff

Image title

Photo by Vince Fedoroff

Image title

Photo by Vince Fedoroff

Morton, Kerjean win solo triathlon events

Brian Morton set the pace for Saturday’s Long Lake Triathlon.

By Whitehorse Star on August 15, 2018

Brian Morton set the pace for Saturday’s Long Lake Triathlon.

Morton was first to finish the three legs in a time of one hour, 55 minutes and 10 seconds.

Anthony Bier was just shy of three minutes behind in a time of 1:57:59 and Eric Buchi was third in 2:10:58.

Some 66 athletes participated, including 11 solo men, 12 solo women, 13 teams of three and four teams of two.

The event involved a one-kilometre swim in Long Lake, a 16-kilometre bike ride through the trails in the area and a run of slightly less than six kilometres.

Charlotte Kerjean was the first solo woman to finish, with a time of 2:22:48. Vanessa Younker was second in a time of 2:33:09 and Julia Gerlad was a close third in 2:33:48.

In the team event, Team A OK – Megan Wilson, Sam Oettli and MacKenzie Downing – recorded the winning time of 1:49:11. Team Berryman – John Berryman, Curtis Cash and Brahm Hyde – was second just under three minutes back in a time of 1:51:52 while Mike Birkett and Todd Pryor were third in 2:11:22.

Rosh Govindasamy and Younker organized the event with the assistance of another eight volunteers.

Govindasamy explained Tuesday the triathlon was renamed the Ric Janowicz Long Lake Triathlon in honour of Janowicz who died suddenly earlier this year.

Janowicz founded the triathlon and organized the event on his own for the first dozen of so years, she said.

“He just did it by himself,” she said. “He organized the whole thing, flagged the whole thing and made it happen.”

Govindasamy said Ric’s wife Leslie Gomm was there to start the triathlon.

“Leslie started the race with Ric’s old starter pistol. She also did it.”

This year’s Yukon River Trail Marathon was also dedicated to Janowicz, as he also founded the marathon.

Govindasamy said the recent warm weather made for a pleasant Long Lake temperature.

“It was really nice,” she said. “It really wasn’t that cold.”

And for the co-organizer, that was just fine because she only learned to do the front crawl this summer, under the guidance of Stephanie Dixon, the much celebrated paralympic swimmer and former head coach for the Whitehorse Glacier Bears swim club.

But Govindasamy did finish fourth in a time of 2:44:00, or 11 minutes behind Younker, who she very much wanted to catch.

“She has power legs, so what could I do?”

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