The spirit of community, charity and fitness were in high gear this weekend at the first ever Natural High Charity Triathlon in Okotoks.
A total of 127 people took part in the race to raise money for Okotoks KidSport, Okotoks Healthy Family Resource Centre and Canadian Humanitarian.
The triathlon was held on Saturday with gorgeous weather and many Okotoks residents and sponsors participating and donating to raise over $15,000 for the worthy causes.
Andrew Gustafson, owner of Natural High Fitness in Okotoks, took over the race from Garth and Maureen Misura who started the event in 2005 and called it the Foothills Charity Triathlon.
“We have been a part of the Foothills Charity Triathlon since is started as organizers and directors on the committee, so we were thrilled to take it over,” said Gustafson. “The numbers were a bit down from previous years, but we’re still very happy with how it went.”
Gustafson added that his prior involvement with the event and the help of countless volunteers helped make the organization much easier.
Okotoks resident Shannon Winflade finished first for the women in the triathlon and was very pleased with her performance.
“I’m not always expecting to finish first because it all depends on who shows up that day,” said Winflade. “There’s a lot of people out there faster than me, but they didn’t show up so I ended up in first.”
She also said that she likes to take part in the event because it supports local causes.
“I really like it because it’s local and the Gustafsons and everyone involved did an excellent job organizing it,” she said. “It’s nice that they help support local families.”
One of the charities Gustafson added to their list was KidSport, which is an organization that Gustafson feels is very important for families in the community.
“Kidsport is such a great charity. There are so many kids in this town that need support to get involved with sports and activities in general and it does a great job of helping with that.”
Gustafson said he feels proud when the community comes together for an event like this and helps out such worthy causes.
“We’re very thrilled. It makes you proud to be a member of this community when so many people step up and make a difference,” said Gustafson. “We are very happy with the great efforts from our volunteers because without them it wouldn’t have happened.”
Gustafson said he looks forward to organizing the triathlon every year with hopes for it to grow in the future.
“We plan to make this an annual event and we hope to add a kid’s triathlon because there seems to be a lot of interest in that,” said Gustafson. “It was a lot fun to do and serves a pretty great purpose.”
He also added that he thanks his sponsors, which are too many to list, for all of their amazing support and help to make the triathlon a success.
On the men’s side of the race the top three finishers were John White, Alec Gill and Scott Mercer.
Shannon Winflade led the women finishing in first place with Meg Sloan in second and Toni Pilling in third place.
