They approached the podium two by two late Tuesday afternoon as a crowd of about 150 spectators applauded tremendous efforts put into the team-played triathlons for two age groupings in the Saskatchewan Summer Games.
For some team mates, it was a first-time experience operating as a duet as a few zones mingled their athletic resources to accommodate all those who wished to compete.
As the results from the individual competitions on Monday might suggest, the potent twosome of Molly Lakustiuk and Ella Perras of Regina who finished one, two on Monday, combined their talents to run away with the team gold medal on Tuesday for girls aged 12 and 13. Their time of 39:18 was more than three and a half minutes ahead of the second place finishers, Elizabeth Markatos and Sydney Gdanski, also from Regina for carded a time of 42:46. The bronze was claimed by Isobel McKague and Hunter Schroeder who clocked in just under a minute later at 43:42.
Curtis McGriskin and Nickolas Yuzdepski claimed the gold for boys aged 12 and 13 with a time of 41:57 while Gaberik Dorion and River Custer won silver with a time of 43:01 while Zach Makari and Preston Fehr representing Saskatoon took bronze with a time of 43:10.
In the 14 and 15-year-old girls run, Parkland’s Jill Gulka and Sadie McGriskin persevered in a time of 55:21 as this age grouping took on a slightly longer course that included the traditional swimming, biking and running. The mixed team of Ryann Handley from Moose Jaw and Roberta Ballantyne from from the North, claimed second with a time of 1.01:2.
For the 14 and 15-year-old boys, Kaitao Han and Reece Gilbert from Saskatoon who had found themselves on the podium as runners-up in the individual race on Monday, claimed the gold over the Regina and North Saskatchewan mixed team of Cosmas Markatos and Moses Cook-Ballantyne. Han and Gilbert recorded a time of 47:34 while Markatos and Cook-Ballantyne were clocked at 48:45.
The track was then cleared and cleaned in preparation for the third and final day of triathlon on Wednesday which would be devoted to mixed-team competition.
