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Sudbury
high-schoolers add Beaton to their bucket
lists
That Sudbury Sports Guy: This
year's event featured a wonderfully healthy
influx of race newcomers that created a buzz
on the beach
Author
of the article:Randy Pascal For The Sudbury
Star
Published Aug 12, 2024
Romana
Benoit (left), Danika Potvin, John Kosar and
Eric Kim are Quad Goal who participated in
the Beaton Classic on Sunday. Supplied photo
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No change
at the top of the leaderboard of the Beaton
Classic. Contested this past Sunday at Moonlight
Beach, the 2024 edition of the summer quadrathlon
would see Sara McIlraith – (are we safe
to now crown her the Queen of the Beaton?)
– walk away with the female solo victory
for the 10th time while Dan Whalen made it
three straight wins in the men’s race.
Even the overall fastest finishers
– the Nickel Nuts men’s foursome
– bore exactly the same roster (Jeffrey
Paul, Geoffrey Helluin, Rob Gregoris and Aurel
Fox) as the quartet that held honours in 2023.
But just below the highly
recognizable names of those climbing to the
highest step on the podium was a wonderfully
healthy influx of race newcomers that created
a buzz on the beach on an overcast day that
was near perfect from an athlete’s perspective.
In fact, such was the surge of new talent
that the 2024 Beaton boasted gender-equal
representation for the first time in forever
in the solo brackets as nine women and nine
men participated.
The fact that this mix of
rookies featured both those who have yet to
start their post-secondary studies, as well
as others who travelled some ways to compete
surely has Beaton organizers giddy in the
aftermath.
“Last year, Gracie (Dale)
and I did it as a team,” noted second-place
women’s solo finisher Maija Nener, one
of five seniors at Lo-Ellen Park Secondary
(Finlay Cuza, Owen Dobson and Corey Lacroix
rounded out the crew) who tackled all four
components on their own, with Dobson making
a repeat visit after breaking the ice last
summer.
“We all kind of decided that we would
do it solo,” Nener continued. “Owen
did it last year and we were kind of inspired
by his soloing. And coach Neil (Neil Phipps
– long-time Beaton race organizer and
coach of the Knights’ track and field,
cross-country and Nordic ski teams) was posting
stuff with the classroom. “He helped
us get into it.”
No stranger to athletes a
decade or more her elder who are Beaton solo
mainstays, Nener lamented not tapping into
that obvious source of knowledge. “I
probably should have prepared in the mindset
way with a bit better strategy,” she
said. “I kind of just treated each leg
as a new race.
“I thought I would test
how I feel in the first half of the swim and
then push it in the second half – and
it kind of was the same-ish for the bike and
the paddle. At the end of the run, I definitely
pushed it.”
While Fraser Thomson (4th
– men’s solo – 2:09.32)
made the jaunt from Toronto to Sudbury to
participate, this is hardly a trip that requires
much use of the GPS for the athlete who wandered
into triathlons a few years ago.
“Home is Toronto but
my dad is from Sudbury,” he said. “A
lot of family is up here; I spent a lot of
summers up here.”
A runner for some time now,
Thomson, 41, was aware of the Beaton via close
friend Brian O’Neill (5th – 2:09.40)
– and when the latter decided to jump
back aboard after an absence of well over
a decade, the groundswell was set for an experience
that our southern neighbour would like to
see grow.
“It’s so unique,”
beamed Thomson. “It’s different
with the paddle – a lot sportier than
a triathlon – but it was fun. And it’s
such a cool community of people. I’ve
told a bunch of my triathlon friends about
it; they had never heard of it. I think I
will try and sell a few on them on the idea
of competing.”
With three of the four members
of Quad Goal cutting their teeth at the 2024
Beaton and paddler John Kosar dating his previous
racing back to his elementary school days
in 2007-08 or so, the team that also featured
Romana Benoit (swimmer), Eric Kim (cyclist)
and last-minute replacement Danika Potvin
(runner) have every reason to return next
year.
“We really wanted to
place top three,” said Benoit, a 34-year-old
native of the Czech Republic who moved to
Canada in her youth, swam competitively at
Laurentian University and was kind of the
connecting rod for the entry that finished
fourth in Co-Ed Fours – but lost some
six minutes or so when the chain snapped off
from Kim’s bike.
As for the woman who led the
charge by entering the waters of Lake Ramsey
at roughly 9 a.m., the excitement in her voice
suggested a possible second crack at the Beaton
somewhere down the road. “This is the
first time I have ever done an open water
race,” said Benoit. “It was beautiful.
“The water was, if
anything, too hot,” she laughed. “I
was worried about getting banged up at the
beginning (of the race, when kicks to the
head or body are common in triathlons), but
it wasn’t like that. My only goal was
to go sub-20 – and I got 18:50.”
Though Guelph is home and
she has only recently completed her varsity
career (x-country and track) with the University
of Waterloo Warriors while pursuing her studies
in bio-medical engineering, Megan Richer was
eventually going to make her way to the Beaton.
Or, more accurately, this
was an eventuality when she and fellow triathlete
and Sudbury native Kelly Thompson connected
as partners, the tandem joined by Sean Thompson
(Kelly’s father) to form Sunday Dinner,
the third-place finishers in the men’s
four division.
Having ventured off to compete
in a Half Ironman in North Carolina this summer,
Richer has become an increasingly more familiar
face at events in Sudbury, capturing the women’s
half-marathon during the Rocks Marathon weekend
in May after becoming acquainted with the
XTerra Conquer the Crater before that.
“I just started swimming
seriously about a year and a half ago,”
said the 24-year-old Beaton first-timer. “Other
than doing swimming lessons as a kid, it was
brand new to me – so lots to learn there.”
Still, it is more than her
affection for her Sunday Dinner teammate that
had Richer smiling following her run on the
hillier-than-expected trails in Sudbury. “I
love local events like this where the whole
community comes out,” she said. “I
definitely get that vibe here – and
it’s really cool to add another leg
to the classic triathlon.”
Circling back to the beginning
of our story, Dan Whelan was equally as pleased
with his performance over the weekend. One
of the many in this field who can jump seamlessly
from one athletic challenge to the next, Whelan
suggested there is a level of continued improvement
as his journey continues.
“I just try and survive
the swim,” he said. “I’m
happy once I get out of the water because
now I can have fun. I’ve been trying
to get better at the swim, but I do make-up
time on the bike – and my running has
gotten a lot better.”
Yes, indeed – to the
point where he did the Boston Marathon for
the first time this past April, though one
should not expect this to remain his primary
focus. “I like the multi-sport events,
for sure,” said Whelan. “I didn’t
like how many miles I was running to get where
I needed to get to for Boston.
“I would rather do bike
one day, run the next.”
This game plan should allow
Whelan to become more of a Beaton Classic
staple. Combined with the enthusiasm that
continues to grow with those joining him at
the sports extravaganza for the first time,
this bodes well for the future of the Sudbury
Fitness Challenge fixture.
That Sudbury Sports Guy appears
regularly in The Star.
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