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Penticton  

Challenge Penticton results

It was not a gold-medal finish, but Penticton triathlete Jeff Symonds said he is happy with his fourth-place finish at the Valley First Challenge Penticton.

Brent McMahon of Victoria came in first for men's professional category of the half triathlon with a time of 3:50:38.

Kelowna's own Trevor Wurtele placed second with a time of 3:53:52 while David Giardini of Boulder, Colo., took third place.

Symonds, the two-time challenge winner and 2015 Ironman Asia Pacific Champion, finished the race with a time of 3:58:50.

“Today was about mental toughness more than anything. Happy w/ 4th and fastest run split,” tweeted Symonds after the grueling competition was over.

In the women's professional competition, Malindi Elmore of Kelowna was the fifth professional female to cross the line with a time of 4:30:36 for 28th place overall.

Nathan Champness of Kamloops came in 13th overall in the men's pro division with a time of 4:11:09.

In 17th place was Justin Birks of Penticton with a time of 4:21:38, while Jenn Annett of Penticton came in 28th overall with a time of 4:34:41.

This was the first year the annual Penticton event included a half as well as full triathlon. A half tri consists of a 1.9-km swim, 90-km bike ride and a 21.1-km run.

“There are more long-distance races on the professional circuit now, making it increasingly harder to attract top professionals to race here” says Challenge Penticton co-race director Kevin Cutjar. “We used to see some of the best athletes in the sport go head-to-head in Penticton. This has changed over the past five to 10 years and in the last two years, both men and women champions have posted world class performances, winning by 15 to 20 minutes, yet these efforts go largely unnoticed due to lack of competition.”

According to their website, Challenge Penticton office received inquiries from several top Canadian, U.S. and other international professionals looking to compete at the half distance race, which falls six weeks before the Hawaii Ironman.

Check out complete race results here.



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