Ultimate endurance
Summerside event tests stamina of 118 participants
Karen Farag likes putting her endurance to the test.
The 16-year-old Three Oaks Senior High School student was one of the
118 participants to take part in Monday’s sixth annual P.E.I.
School Athletic Association triathlon.
“I keep com- ing back every year because it’s like an individual competition for me and I’m trying to push myself to see what I can do,” said Farag. “You need that desire to go out to the pool, take your bike out, and go running.”
It’s not something she jumps into cold.
“I usually start training a month before and swim every few days, ride my bike, and I do track and field, so I do run with the school. But I’m in it just for the fun, although when I finish the triathlon my legs are dead and I’m probably going to sleep for the next 12 hours,” she said.
“But I also have that satisfaction I don’t have with any other thing because when I look back I see how far I pushed myself and I completed it.” Students from 13 high schools and many teachers engaged in the triathlon course at and near Credit Union Place in Summerside.
C.J. Studer, the athletic director at Athena Consolidated School and event organizer, noted there are no medals or trophies, just personal satisfaction.
“There’s no first, second or third place. It’s all for the fun of trying something new. . . Some kids work really hard and others just do it for fun, but either way we accept them,” he said. “But we do try to follow the rules of Triathlon P.E.I. to make
it as real as possible.” Students from Grade 7 to 12 started at 10 a.m. and finished at 1 p.m.
Ross Power, a 17-year-old student from Montague Regional High School, participated in the triathlon for the first time.
“It was fun and a good way to test my fitness for other sports, but swimming was definitely the hardest part because I didn’t have much practice,” he said. “But once it got to the run I felt like a million bucks and I just pushed through and felt good.”
Athena Consolidated School and Montague Regional High School received the Triathlon Excellence Award for having the highest participation by school population. More than 60 volunteers – teachers and students – spent the day helping out.