North Bay's Joshua Witt crosses the finish line in first place. PHOTO BY LINDSAY SARAZIN.
This past weekend the Kiwanis Club of Nipissing sponsored the 15th Annual North Bay Triathlon. The event saw over 345 participating athletes of all ages. Kicking off the weekend on June 27th was the kids Triathlon where 6-15 year old children and youth participated in a non-competitive event that led them through the streets of Birchaven. This was followed by the "Try a Tri" event, where over 80 less experienced triathletes gave their best shot at a Triathlon, without having to be competitive.
Sunday saw the beginning of the competitive Triathlon athletes race for 1st in the adult category. There were two different races, the Individual and the Relay races, in which the relay had a different team member representing each of the sections of the triathlon. The race began with a cold 1000 meter swim, followed by a rigorous 31 km bike course that took athletes through the steep and windy hills of Four Mile Lake Road. The race ends with an 8.4km run that leads the athletes through some of the cottage area down on Anita Avenue.
The top finisher was 25-year-old Joshua Witt competed for the 3rd time here in the North Bay Triathlon, making his own personal best with a total time of 01:48:00. This resulted in his first ever 1st place win. The journey to to the top was not all that easy as he made it seem however, as he was worried about a torn muscle in his shoulder from an injury in December. Despite the injury, he continued to train.
"I was just looking back on all the hard training sessions and seeing that its all worth it." Josh explained, "Pushing through and being persistent, you can achieve what you want if you have your mind set on it."
