Regarding Kamloops’s recent bid for Ironman Canada.

It is not often that the sport of triathlon captures the imagination of the public.

Local media are very good about printing results from a variety of events in B.C., Canada, and to the far reaches of the globe when submitted, but it tends to be a back-page sport when compared to the major sports.

Occasionally, the sport hooks someone and they remain involved for great lengths of time, as it becomes a lifestyle of sorts.

This has been an interesting season for triathlon in Canada with the recent change in Penticton from a sanctioned Ironman event to a new managing group called Family Challenge, which has had great success in Europe.

For some of us who have competed in Penticton, it is an emotional end to a fantastic era that saw the numbers of entries grow from a couple of dozen 30 years ago to nearly 3,000 in recent memory.

Kamloops recently stepped up and submitted a bid to host the Ironman Canada event for next year. At first, this seemed a daunting task, but a few with some vision quickly put together what I have heard was a very complete and professional presentation showing why our city could do the event justice if selected as the new location.

As a triathlete, and as a Kamloops citizen, I was proud of the way this was handled by all concerned, and appreciated the way City of Kamloops officials threw their support behind the idea with some giving up much of their time to put together the proposal.

If I may, on behalf of the triathlon community, I would like to thank those from the City and from the cycling and triathlon community for giving it their best shot on a very short timeline.

It was gratifying to see so much support for our sport on such a major level, and I hope that the effort put in will generate more opportunities for similar events in the future.

Again, thanks to those who stepped up and worked to have Kamloops considered for such a huge event.

PATRICK C. McDONALD

Kamloops