Sisters are world beaters in duathlon
BERND FRANKE
As a sister act Sharryn Oleskiw and Diane Eller were tough to beat at this year’s Multisport World Championships.
In fact, no one’s time in the women’s 70-74 division was faster than Oleskiw, 70, in the standard-distance dualthlon.
“This was my best race in several years; especially, the bike portion,” Oleskiw, a St. Catharines native now living in Wainfleet, said.
“Training went well, and I beat my goal time by 10 minutes.”
Eller, 72 of Thorold, returned home from the competition in Penticton, B.C., with the silver medal in the women’s 70-74 sprint-distance duathlon.
“Unfortunately, training didn’t go well this summer,” she said. “A couple of major setbacks caused a lot of down time.
“This year’s race was definitely not my best effort, so I’m very pleased with the result.”
In dualthlon, standard, or international, distance begins with a 10-kilometre run, followed by bicycling 40 kilometre and wrapping with a 5 K run. Sprint distances are half that.
Drafting is allowed in the cycling segment of the sprint but prohibited in the longer duathlon.
“For sprint distance, a traditional road bike is used whereas for standard, a time-trial bike, with aero bars, is the norm,” Oleskiw, 70, said.
Eller was one of six competitors in her event, with the winner coming from Brazil and the rest of the field from the United States.
Oleskiw, a retired, was disappointed that a duathlete from New Zealand was her only competition entered in the standard distance in her age group.
“She was ahead after the first run but ended up almost 15 minutes behind,” said Oleskiw, who taught mathematics and physical education at Welland High and Welland Centennial Secondary School.
At Penticton, duathletes in both distance categories completed 2.5 K laps on the same running course.
The bike courses were different, however. See DUATHLON