Sam Lazar was at the head of the class for the second consecutive year.
The schoolteacher from Salmon Arm defended his Prince George Triathlon and Duathlon title Sunday at West Lake Provincial Park crossing the finish line 11 seconds ahead of the nearest competitor in the men's Olympic race.
"It was a lot easier this year actually," said Lazar. "Last year we had some really windy choppy conditions for the swim and look at the lake now, it's like glass, just perfect today."
Lazar finished the 1.5 kilometre swim, 40 km bike ride and 10 km run in two hours, 20 minutes and 22 seconds (2:20:22). The 'Go Daddy Go' chants from his young daughter Grace gave him the extra push at the end to hold of the challenge of Prince George's Mike Smith, who finished second in 2:20:33. Lazar finished the course in 2011 with a time of 2:24:19.
In addition to the calm conditions for the swim other differences on the course this year included the exclusion of one of the big hills during the bike portion of the event. Race organizers made changes to the course to make it more spectator friendly where participants would run along the beach so people could cheer them on.
Lazar said the Prince George race was his ninth or 10th triathlon of the season.
"I don't come to the race to try and win," said Lazar. "I come with a time in mind and I thought I could get close to 2:20 today and I did just that."
In the future, Lazar said he'd like to compete in a world championship for the Olympic age group but the British (England) citizen needs to wait until his Canadian citizenship comes through.
"I did nationals last year and qualified for the team but since I don't have citizenship I couldn't take it," said Lazar.
The second-place result was good enough for Smith, who hadn't competed in the triathlon as an individual since 2003 - he did the run portion of the competition as part of a team in 2011.
"I didn't really know what to expect coming into it because I haven't really done these races much," said Smith. "There were lots of areas that could've gone a bit smoother with the transitions and so forth but I guess I'll be happy with it.
"I surprised myself with a faster swim than I thought I would do," added the 35 year old, posting a swim time of 0:24:55. "The bike was OK. I'm not normally a real strong biker."
The third and fourth place finishers for men were Rod Lecher (2:24:44) and Michael Buchanan (2:24:51) from the 40-49 age category.
In the men's 20-29 category for the Olympic distance, Bryce Gladdish (2:29:47) finished first and the men's 50-plus winner was Scott Forrest (2:36:10).
The winning team for the Olympic distance was Rapid Thigh Movement. Terry Ramin of Prince Rupert staked the team out with a swim of 0:24:22 before Ron Lowe of Smithers produced a time of 1:13:57 on the bike and Nick Bartell of Prince George wrapped up the event with a run of 0:40:27. Overall the group finished the course in 2:19:32.
In the sprint triathlon, which consists of a 0.75 km swim, 20 km bike and five km run, Malcolm Stinson of Edmonton was the overall winner with a time of 1:14:22. Stinson competed in the men's 50-plus division. In the men's 16-29 division, Jonathan Stewart placed first in 1:30:13. Other division winners were: Cortney Shier (1:22:58, men's 30-39); Craig Somerville (1:21:21, men's 40-49); Leanne Garrison (1:30:24, women's 16-29); Ali Cadell (1:36:46, women's 30-39); Nicole Callaway (1:24:12, women's 40-49) and Cheryl Moors (1:28:53, women's 50-plus).
The sprint team winner was Allnorth Consultants Limited with Gordon Cross doing the swim and run and George Tuchlinski on the bike. They finished with a time of 1:27:12.
The duathlon only had four individual competitors and one team sign up for the 40 km bike ride that's sandwiched between a pair of five km runs.
Dan Bedard finished in 1:58:01 and the team U Got Served - Mike Elk, Amar Samra and Harvey Padda - posted a time of 2:36:50. The women's duathlon was more competitive with three racers. Annie Horning (2:24:03) was first with Tanya Milner (3:03:53) placing second and Carol Fedyk (3:05:38) third.
Dean Lowry of Fort St. John crossed the finish line to a smattering of applause from his fellow competitors to wrap up the 2012 race. The 54 year old was the final competitor to finish in a time of 3:31:17.
He said his right knee passed the test after MCL surgery on April 19 and now he'll prepare for his third Penticton Ironman on Aug. 26. Lowry did the 2004 and 2006 Ironman races.
