Sunday marks the 24th consecutive year Richard Roberts will complete the St. Albert Triathlon.
“It has been one of the better triathlons in Alberta and I’m glad to be a part of it,” said the athletic 70-year-old from St. Albert. “It’s always such a fun thing. You never know what’s going to happen, but the main thing about it are the memories of the races themselves and the people I’ve met along the way through the good races and the bad races.”
Roberts’ goal is to finish ahead of his wife, Catherine, an accomplished 66-year-old multi-sport competitor like her husband.
“The last six years we’re even. She’s beaten me three times and I’ve beaten her three times,” he said.
Last year the retired school principal and realtor went the distance in one hour, 40 minutes and seven seconds for fourth place in the 60-plus men’s age group for 152nd overall.
Catherine was the 60-plus female winner at 1:30:23 for 103rd overall.
“She is the better triathlete, I’ve just been doing it longer,” said Roberts, who introduced the sport to his wife. “Eighty per cent of the time now she beats me in triathlons.”
The newly-minted grandfather has another modest objective for the 750-metre swim, 20-kilometre bike and five-km run.
“I’m hoping that my bike is a little bit better because I’ve been working on it,” Roberts said. “When I first did (the St. Albert Triathlon) my swim was my best, my run was my next best and my bike was my worst but over the years my running has deteriorated the most through age and the pounding on the feet. My biking, being more of a technical sport than running, hasn't deteriorated as much. My swim hasn't deteriorated all that much either. It’s within a minute of the time I did in my first one.”
Robert’s personal best finish is 1:12:58 in 1990 and his slowest time is 1:48 in 2007 when he needed oxygen and litres of water after the race.
“As you get older you change your goals. In my age group I’ve won the category a few times but some of those years the competition was really tough and some years it’s not.”
Roberts was living in Wabasca when he decided to enter the inaugural St. Albert Triathlon in preparing for his first Ironman.
“I had only been in the sport for a couple of years at the time. When I first got into the triathlons my goal was to do it long enough so I can work my way into doing an Ironman. I did my Ironman and I realized I didn’t want to do Ironman, it just takes too much out of your life to train for them. It was about three or four years of doing the St. Albert Triathlon that I decided I would rather stick with the sprint ones and I kept doing it and doing it,” said Roberts, who moved to St. Albert after his second triathlon in the city. “I think it was after six years I could say I was the only one that had done all of them and I thought I might as well keep the streak going. All of my family (two boys and a girl) has done it too.”
There have been subtle changes to the course over the years, starting with the swim distance that was originally 800m.
“Before the addition to Fountain Park pool, there was a different entrance to the transition area,” Roberts recalled. “The bike course has almost always been the same and the run has changed only a few times. This year we’re having the run through Braeside ravine but that's not the first time we’ve been on it. I like the idea that the run is down there because that means it’s not a flat course and it gives more of a challenge.”
Sunday’s triathlon at Fountain Park Recreation Centre starts at 7 a.m. and the awards ceremony is approximately 11 a.m.
As of Wednesday, 271 individual registrations were processed for the sprint distance and try-a-tri (250m swim, 10-km bike and 2.5-km run).
Twelve sprint relay teams (not all three person teams) are also entered.
Last year 182 competitors finished the sprint race and 42 completed the try-a-tri. Eight teams also participated in the sprint relay.
The 2012 champion was Kris Loshack of the Edmonton Triathlon Academy in 56 minutes and 13 seconds.
Chantell Widney, a high-performance athlete from Edmonton, was the fastest female at 1:00:28 for sixth place overall.
The St. Albert Road Runners and Triathlon Club hosts the Triathlon Alberta-sanctioned race.
Visit www.starrt.com for more information.
Results will be posted on www.resultscanada.com.
