Well, the first week of the 2009 Canada Summer Games is in the history books and the Saskatchewan Triathlon Team did us proud. Tired and still enduring hot, humid weather we climbed aboard our Westjet charter and returned to Regina Saturday evening.

The day before departure the team competed in the team relay event. The women were in the water at 10:00 am and the men got the starting horn at 12:00. This was the first time that many of the athletes have been in a team event. The pace is intense and certainly more anaerobic. In the women's race Abby Miller headed out first for her swim, bike run. Alecia Lukash was tagged and she was off for her mini-tri. Nadine Brenaut anchored the team and brought the team in ahead of Newfoundland/Labrador and New Brunswick at 1:18:51 for a 7th place finish. These girls took 8 or 9 minutes off their previous training time. Great effort by all three.

Most of the men's teams put their strong swimmers in the starting spot. Joel was first in the rotation and had a bit of a rough swim with one of the maritime swimmers combining a bit of UFC with his swim. Joel completed the bike and run portion and handed off to Sash Broda. Sash had a solid bike and ran in to tag Jeramie. Unfazed by his bike crash 3 days earlier in the individual event Jeramie kept the pace and had an awesome run to the finish line. Our guys finished in 6th place, 12 seconds behind Alberta.

As our week at the games comes to an end hurricane Bill is looming and we are happy to be moving on. Unfortunately many are now stranded in the maritimes as most airlines have cancelled flights for the next 24-48 hours.

This will be my last entry  in this space. I think the Sask kids did us all proud. Other provinces have seen what we are doing here and I think we made a good impression. Sask Sport officials were at both of our events and I believe they came away with a better understanding of triathlon and realize that this is an area that is deserving of their support.

Thanks to Rossann for her coaching and a big thank you to Ted Schaeffer, our triathlon representative to the Team Sask Mission. Ted was very supportive whether it was driving to get ice for the kids or keeping us informed of schedule changes. Of course, thanks to the parents who made the trek to the island to support the team and provide  transportation when needed.

Cheers.