C3 Triathlon Series
When it was clear that Ironman races, the world championships and virtually every other triathlon in the world was cancelled in 2020, former Olympic coach Barrie Shepley and C3 Canadian Cross Training Club decided to be creative and create the Old School Triathlon Series. Because C3 has a swim area in its own private 4 km retired sand quarry, the club was able to do many events all summer long with smaller numbers for safety and COVID social distancing. Every Wednesday, Friday and Sunday morning, C3 hosted 15 to 50 people for a triathlon or duathlon event. Distances varied from sprint (550 m/18 km/4 km) to long course (2 km/55 km/15 km), with 10- to 75-year-olds racing on the same course.
Many people raced every week, while Orangeville, Ont.’s Jason Dunkerly raced three times a week for eight weeks.
“People loved getting to race on an actual course, against their pals and getting splits and finishing times,” said Shepley.
The series had a bit of everything, with families and couples racing together and, at times, elite athletes including Tamara Jewett, Kira Gupta-Baltazar, Tristen Jones, Taylor Reid, Jessey the Elf, Jackson Laundry, Cody Beals, Bob Knuckey and Hans Porten hitting the starting line.
The series cost was minimal and everyone got a starter goody bag at their first event. The series was totally grass roots until the gun went off, then the competitive spirit of athletes who hadn’t had a live race for nearly a year kicked in. C3 organizers had three draft-legal prize money races through the summer, won by Dominika Jamnicky, Taylor Reid, Jackson Laundry and Tristen Jones.
“From June to Sept we held 34 triathlons, seven criterium bike races, the Canadian Professional Triathlon Championship and a half-distance event” said Shepley. “When May rolled around, we thought we wouldn’t see a race. Many things fell in line for C3 to be able to successfully manage so many events in one very odd COVID summer. The series was really a mixture of awesome age-group athletes, a handful of spectacular volunteers, a great venue we could use to race on, great sponsors who came to the table at the last minute to help and a near perfect summer of sun.”