Ironman 70.3 Muskoka returns July 9

Despite the heavy air last Sunday, organizers say things went off without a hitch at the TriMuskokan triathlon held on June 25.

“It was a very busy day,” said Rich Trenholm, even co-director. “The atmosphere was incredible, full of energy and enthusiasm.”

Trenholm said while there were approximately 10 people who decided not to participate in the triathlon due to the poor air quality, there were 390 participants and about 100 volunteers who supported the not-for-profit event.

The top local winners for the men’s and women’s categories were Brian Gray and Jennifer McMillan, both from Huntsville.

In terms of the air quality, Trenholm said organizers kept a close eye on the air quality index and communicated with their governing body to determine the safety of the event. “And it was deemed to be safe to continue so we ended up deciding to continue on with the race. We didn’t have anyone needing medical attention during the race, which is great,” he added.

The IRONMAN 70.3 Muskoka triathlon takes place on Sunday, July 9. Trenholm, who is the medical director for the event, said the race is sold-out with 1,700 athletes having signed up. He said people will be coming to Huntsville from all over the world including one athlete who is coming from the United Arab Emirates for the event.

Trenholm noted that the TriMuskokan event, which took place last Sunday, is a not-for-profit event that is raising money for publicly accessible fitness parks which will benefit the entire community. He said the parks would be designed for everyone, including those with physical disabilities. “And because it’s completely free, the socioeconomic barrier of owning a gym membership will be gone. We will be designing these parks with all ages and fitness levels in mind and our intent is to create online, interactive fitness programming for individuals to get into exercising and progress through exercising,” said Trenholm who is a physician and co-owner of Reactivate, a sports medicine clinic.

He said the fitness parks, referred to as the MSCLE project, will create an opportunity for local fitness instructors and gyms to engage the community by holding open-air fitness class opportunities and fun competitions and team building developed through the availability of the fitness parks.

“We’ve been working on this probably for about five years and we had a bit of an interruption with COVID, but we just got approval through the community services waterfront committee and they’re going to present that to Town council to start the project up, so we’re excited that we can actually start moving forward with it,” he said.

While The IRONMAN 70.3 Muskoka Triathlon is owned by Trisport Canada, a for-profit company, “they do make sizable donations back to many not-for-profit and volunteer entities in our communities,” explained Trenholm. “While it’s not like ours where the proceeds directly from the registrations come back, they do make donations directly back to all the groups that donate their time.”

Trentholm also noted that they put heads in beds in the community by seeking local accommodations and using local businesses during their stay. Leading up to the event some of the athletes will also visit the community to train and check out the course.”There’s a considerable amount of trickle-down effect and this has been demonstrated not only in our community but in multiple Ironman communities around the world, that the financial impacts of the event do trickle through to the communities.” He said it’s been shown that athletes don’t usually come alone either. They’re usually accompanied by two or three spectators.

“Yes, while we recognize that it’s a challenge and it’s a strain on our community, you have to recognize that there are benefits,” he added.

You can check the TriMuskokan website, HERE.