Ultra520K Canada founder, Brown, announces retirement

Penticton’s Ultra520K Canada triathlon will only run for the next two years, founder and race director Steve Brown announced Monday.

“This has not been an easy decision, but I finally came to the conclusion the time had come to move onto retirement,” stated Brown, also the former owner of Peach City Runners and Adventure Sports in downtown Penticton. “I have been presented with the opportunity to spend more time travelling and enjoying time with my family.

“I also wanted to be fair to the athletes and give those people that have said ‘I will do this one day’ that final opportunity to do just that. It is kind of a now-or-never situation.”

Brown said places are available for 2017 and for those that feel they need another year to get ready in 2018.

“We also recognize our qualifications have often delayed people in taking that leap of faith in terms of signing up,” said Brown. “We are announcing that we will waive the need for the qualifying race and time, however we still need to see a racing resume in order to make sure that someone doesn’t jump in that is clearly under-qualified. The event is still by “Invitation Only”, and we are just relaxing the entry qualifications for these last two events.”

The challenging three-day event will this year be held Aug. 5-7.

For more information contact Brown at 250-809-1798.