Self-Transcendence Triathlon & Duathlon

August 1, 2010                                 Elk Lake, Victoria, BC, Canada

On that long ago Sunday in 1980, when a mere 40 participants hit the waters of Elk Lake in one single wave, they didn't realize that they were making history in one of first triathlons ever to be held in Canada. The year 2010 marks our 31st Annual Triathlon! We are looking forward to the participation of athletes from all over the province and beyond to help us maintain our reputation not only as the longest running triathlon in Canada, but also as the friendliest.

The motivation behind our race has always been to encourage each individual to compete against herself or himself and to provide the best possible conditions and support for them to go beyond what they have previously accomplished. In line with that philosophy the name of the race changed along the way from the Sri Chinmoy Triathlon/Duathlon to the Self-Transcendence Triathlon/Duathlon.

The organizers, too, right from year one, have always tried to provide better to provide better support for the athletes. First it was in the desire to offer sumptuous post-race food. Then we wanted to put complete results in the hands of participants before they left the race site (remember, that was in the days before we had race chips and computerized systems!). Next we introduced a free action photo mailed to each athlete, eventually refining the process to offer a free action photo available before leaving the site (when we were still dealing with photo processing!). And now, of course, all the results and all the photos are digitized and quickly posted on the website for free download of the athlete's individual photo and thumbnails of action shots to order online. One thing however, will remain unchanged - the pancakes hot off the griddle! From the moment they were introduced they became so popular we wouldn't dare delete them from our menu.

To accommodate and inspire non-swimmers we included a simultaneous Duathlon event. In recent years, with a desire to improve, we changed from an out/back swim route to a triangular course at the request of the competitors. In 2006 and 2007 we introduced a number of improvements, again in response to feed-back we received from the athletes. These included:

• Addition of Athena and Clydesdale age classes.
• Change to 5 year age categories.
• Relay team categories for both Triathlon and Duathlon.
• Presentation of a perpetual annual Challenge Cup to the first place Rec and Fitness Center Triathlon relay team.
• Triathlon relay category for police/fire/medics to compete for a perpetual annual Challenge Cup.
• Addition of SuperMasters Relay Teams (combined age of 160+).

And last year in celebration of our 30th anniversary:

• Addition of Youth category for athletes aged 14-19 years.

What we like best about the Self-Transcendence Triathlon/Duathlon is that it is a community event. Every year we have over 100 faithful volunteers who transcend themselves in the quality of the expertise they offer and the enthusiasm of their support for the competitors. And every year local businesses very generously contribute draw prizes for the athletes and volunteers.

Not only is this a friendly, welcoming race offering great encouragement and support for first-time triathletes and duathletes, but the interesting and beautiful course also offer continuing challenges for repeat competitors including elite athletes.

Do join us on Sunday, August 1, 2010 as a competitor or a volunteer. And if you have any ideas about how to make our 31st year even better, feel free to contact us!

Photo Credit: Mark Creery and Moni