Local women embark on athletic adventures in triathlon training

Throughout the winter, the newly formed Sun Peaks Triathlon Team has been training hard for its first competitive event this March.

Founded in 2024, the group is composed of seven local ladies, in their 50s and 60s, who have been re-learning and honing their swimming, biking and running skills as they get ready for the UBC Triathlon/Duathlon in Vancouver. 

The idea was sparked when five of them took part in Emma Hull’s Fall Yoga Retreat last year. Team leader Linda Strachan was already a seasoned marathon runner when she did her first triathlon for her 60th birthday. 

“During the retreat, there were lots of discussions about evaluating your life and setting goals,” she said. Her extraordinary accomplishments helped inspire the others. 

The initial team included Linda Hollyer, Sue Price, Julie Kimmel and Laura Kalina as well as Strachan. But their enthusiasm for the challenging project was contagious. Two other friends, Laura Madden and Adele Cooper, joined in. 

“They were added later when they were asked/coerced by friends,” Strachan said. “None of the athletes were swimming regularly, some not for decades, some didn’t really ever swim.” 

Among the benefits of being in a group were mutual support, confidence building and fellowship. 

“I love training and racing triathlons but it was a bit lonely the past couple of winters in Sun Peaks keeping up with my training,” Strachan recalled. “This year it has been so different – lots of enthusiasm and excitement and a genuine desire to embrace new things.”

One advantage the team has is high altitude living and training, but there are significant hurdles to prepping for triathlons in a snow-blanketed ski resort. In addition to regular Alpine and Nordic skiing, the team added bike and run workouts to its weekly regimes using the gym as well as home bike trainers with Zwift software programs. 

“We also found a swimming coach and did weekly swimming lessons throughout the last three months,” Strachan said. “Our swimming coach, Teresa Siebel, is also a triathlon coach and has had athletes in the UBC event.” 

Lessons and practice sessions were mainly at the Tournament Capital Centre pool in Kamloops. As the March 8 event date loomed, the group began rehearsing the race with various combinations of swim to bike to run, using mostly indoor tracks but also getting outdoors when weather conditions permitted. 

“Everyone was ‘Sun Peaks fit’ but it is quite a task to combine all three sports and to learn the proper pacing that allows you to quickly move to a different sport and complete the race,” Strachan pointed out. The transitions from one segment to another during tournaments are also timed, so every second counts.

It has been a highly collaborative endeavour with members of the team rotating carpooling duties down to Kamloops weekly throughout the winter. Kalina, who is a registered dietician, helped the group with dietary advice. Price and Cooper volunteered to teach yoga classes to the others, and everyone pitched in with training information and suggestions via a WhatsApp group. 

Becoming a triathlete was particularly challenging for Cooper who had to overcome a lifelong aversion to swimming with her face immersed. 

“Adele is especially inspirational as she is working so hard to overcome her fear of the water,” Strachan said.  

“I naively put aside my better judgement, my lack of swimming ability, lack of a road bike, and all my fears, and said sure… I’d like to learn to swim and love a physical challenge,” Cooper said. Over the ski season, she has had difficulty fitting in the bike and run training around her wintersports schedule. 

“I’m really struggling with the swimming, especially putting my face in the water,” she added. “I’ve had some private swim lessons in addition to our group lessons and a few sessions with a local therapist to help me understand and work through my anxiety about swimming.” 

Despite these significant hurdles, she has enjoyed the camaraderie of what she called “a wonderful group of kick-ass women” as well as the physical and mental preparation.