Peach Classic Triathlon 2024

With over 400 competitors, the Peach Classic Triathlon is one of the more popular athletic events in the south Okanagen.  A great feature of this event is that there is something for everyone (beginner, intermediate, advanced). The Peach Classic offers a variety of distances: Try-a-Tri, Sprint, and Olympic distance.

With many of our Pounders members also triathletes, we had a great participation rate in this event, including numerous volunteers! I myself enjoyed volunteering for this event and watching the race unfold from the beautiful Okanagen Lake Beach.

For some of our members, this was their first triathlon, meaning that they had to learn to swim and bike in a race format. Below are some photos and video footage featuring our members.
Pre-race
Pounders members arriving for bib pickup: (Below: Emma, Warren, Morgan, Simon)

Swim (Try-a-Tri)

Try-a-Tri Swim Start

Morgan coming out of the water in 2nd place

Hillary not too far behind

Bike (Try-a-Tri)
Morgan and Hillary are cycling close together, with Emma on the hunt.

Run (Try-a-Tri)
Pounders members leading the way in the run. A few placings were changed along the way!

Olympic Distance
Below are some photos of our members competing in the olympic distance and Pounders founder Steve King doing the announcing at the finish line. (Photos in order: David Matheson, Rhys Spencer, Steve King)

Thoughts on the Race...
We asked our members what they thought of doing their first triathlon (Try-a-tri).

What was your favourite part of the triathlon?

• Hillary: Favorite part was having my kids cheer me on! The course was well designed for spectators and I passed by my kids several times - I was in the lead at the start of the bike and even today they still say ‘mom, remember that time you were winning the race? And then your friends passed you!’
• Morgan: Aside from the contagious energy on the day of, just seeing what the hype is all about and how people's positions can juggle up/down with their strengths in each discipline. Also seeing the little tricks athletes do to speed up their transitions!
• Emma: The pre-race setup and warm up with Hillary and Morgan was pretty fun. I always like being around these events, so much energy.

What was your toughest event?

• Hillary: Definitely the swim, it felt chaotic and I could get into a rhythm.
• Morgan: Would have to say the swim, it was almost comical how sloppy my technique became in a race environment. Something to work on for sure!
• Emma: The swim! It was super chaotic and I found it hard to get my bearings in the lake. Training for the swim was really fun though so I think I'll keep practicing.

Would you do it again?

• Hillary: Yes! But I think we’re ready to graduate to the sprint distance!
• Morgan: Definitely! Would love to work up the distances each year with the long-term goal of doing a full ironman-distance event. Shame that they recently announced dropping Penticton from their circuit, grew up watching the bikers as they zipped through Oliver each year!
• Emma: Yes! Triathlons are the thing to do in Penticton. Next up I'll try a sprint.

Post Race Festivities
Congrats to everyone that competed! After the race, we had a chance to relax, enjoy the post race meal, and of course collect the medal awards.

Results
Full results can be found here: https://sportstats.one/event/peach-classic-triathlon

Pounder Member results:
Try-a-Tri Distance:

• Emma Carter  (1st overall)
  
• Morgan Galloway (2nd overall)
• Hillary Ward (4th overall)

Olympic Distance:

• David Matheson (9th overall)
• Rhys Spencer (15th overall)
• Warren Fink (59th overall)

What's next for the Pounders Interval Group?
Training has begun for the Fast Days of Summer 5k race in Kelowna held on September 1, 2024.  Come join us every Thursday for an interval workout! Check our Facebook Group for location and time.