No records fall this year
MacKinnon, Pridham race winners
Mike MacKinnon made it three-for-three in winning the eighth annual Mill River Sprint Triathlon Saturday. “I didn’t beat my record, but I felt good,” he described his result.
The Miscouche resident, who set a new course record the first time he entered in 2015, fell a minute and 26 seconds short of the standard this year. His 2017 time of one hour eight minutes and 45 seconds gave him first place over-all and with a cushion of almost eight minutes.
He won all three disciplines, the 750-meter swim, 20-km bike ride and five-kilometer run. “My swim felt okay. My bike felt strong and my run felt better than it has here, ever, so I thought, I’m going to be close,” he said of challenging for his own record. He suggested a headwind on the away halves of the bike loops might have helped to keep both men’s and women’s records from falling. Lori Pridham, from Summerside won the women’s race. Her overall time of 1:22.49 was a minute and 23 seconds off the new standard Jen Hawrylak set last year. Hawrylak did not compete this year.
It was Pridham’s second time competing in the Mill River race, having made her triathlon debut there last year. She improved her time by almost eight minutes over last year’s fourth place finish. Pridham fell as she was dismounting from the bike leg of the race on Saturday or else her finish time might have been even faster. It was her fourth and last triathlon of the year and she said it was nice to finish off with a win after thirdand fourth-place finishes. MacKinnon said he really likes the Mill River event and especially the finish to the bike and run legs through the trees along the entrance to Mill River Experience.
The Mill River Sprint Triathlon, organized by participants Paul Dalton and Jacquie Lidstone, is normally held in June, but renovations at the host Mill River Experience, pushed it to September this year. Dalton estimated eight regular participants were unable to attend the late summer event. Five women and nine men competed in the eighth annual event.
The event will revert back to June next year.
Mary Hart who finished second in the women’s race for a second consecutive year, placed second to Pridham in the swim and bike legs and finished ahead of Pridham in the run. Patty Dexter had third place finishes in the bike and the run events to take third overall, and Janice Skeffington had a third place finish in the swim.
Cory Birch, second overall in the men’s race, was second in the swim and the run and third in the bike race. Scott Clark, third overall, was second in the bike and third in the swim and Dalton, fourth overall, had a third place finish in the run. MacKinnon was on the receiving and giving ends of some good-natured ribbing following
his fast times in the third heat of the day. After finishing the race he discovered fellow competitors had flatten one of his bike tires. That was a reminder, he said, to the flat tire he discovered during his transition in a
race in Maine He noted fellow competitor Arnie Johnston encountered five flats during an Ironman event in Mont Tremblant. “Now, I think we’re all a little bit more nervous about flat tires,” he commented.