A milestone of Jasper’s cycling season took place last Sunday. Freewheel Cycle’s annual Dual-a-thalon saw a group of Jasper mainstays strap on their gear and battle it out in the shadow of the mountains.
The race started on wheels at the Miette River bridge just outside of town. The cyclists burned it up a 30-kilometre climb to the Athabasca Falls, before handing things over to the runners, who took off on a 10 kilometre loop.
Most of the 38 participants competed in teams, with one person taking on the ride and the other tackling the run. A few brave souls, however, soloed the race, doing both the ride and the run.
“This really is a local event,” explained Wendy Hall, owner of Freewheel Cycle and one of the race’s organizers. She noted that, with a few exceptions, all the participants were Jasper residents.
Freewheel has been putting on the biathlon for almost 30 years, and it’s become a great wrap-up of the cycling season, she said.
Hall explained that, as has become the tradition at the event, every loser is entered into a draw for prizes at the end of the night.
“Prizes for the losers, that’s our motto here,” she said with a laugh.
The fastest time this year went to Ryan “Corporal Punishment” Gardiner and Fraser Bjornson of the RCMP, whose combined time was 1:33:37.
Trevor Nichols
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