Our first (near) post-COVID Athletic Endeavours Penticton Multi-sport Endurance Camp, July 14-17, has been successfully completed! Participants returned home tired and with a big push towards what they can do with the momentum gained. I’ll admit that with the smoke and fires, I was worried yet another camp would have to be cancelled. But, for a few great days, we were able to do what we do best: move our bodies in the water, torque on our cranks and bars, and meet the hot asphalt head-on with our high-tech running shoes.

The weather was perfect for acclimatizing to IronMan-type conditions: sunny, hot and dry with temperatures exceeding 35ºC. The group managed to avoid the real heat through scheduling most of our heavy training before noon. Apart from smoke along a 20km stretch of road just past the town of Okanagan Falls during the camp’s long Saturday bike ride, the skies were remarkably clear, and sunsets from the deck of Kelly’s abode, our daily evening meeting place, were breathtaking. Ultimately, we were fortunate and dodged the near fatal bullet of polluted air!

Meanwhile, running in the quiet peaceful early hours along the fragrant upper bench roads above Penticton was a near Zen experience. And down in the valley later in the day, the cool waters of both Skaha lake and Okanagan lakes were clear and warm with near perfect conditions.

A heartfelt deep thank-you to everyone attending this year’s camp for making July 14-17 yet another amazing multi-sport endurance camp in beautiful Penticton, the home to Canada’s original IronMan competitions. Many of you went from complete strangers to one another to bonded-for-life buddies. It was wonderful to see. I witnessed each individual, putting max effort and faith into this camp; each of you expressed your hopes and dreams daily in what you could accomplish, on the roads and in the water. Witnessing each of you surpassing limitations and achieving goals is what makes this truly an annual awesome experience for me! It keeps me coming back year after year. Thank you all so much.

And many many thanks are due to Kelly, our gracious host who opened her doors for the group when we needed to cool off, have a group meeting, or enjoy camaraderie, a beverage or two and some tasty treats at our evening BBQs on her panoramic veranda. Thank you big time to T’ai Erasmus, our Nutrition specialist for his always-current nutritional insights and game-changing information.

Thank you to Rob Herron, our stalwart Support Vehicle Person (SVP) on the Friday long ride. He not only provided excellent support for the riders, but also offered casual but poignant insights based on his experiences as a long time endurance athlete. I will definitely include him in a greater capacity at future camps!

And lastly, thanks to all our sponsors: Canadian Tire, The Run-Inn, Route Arrows, Extreme Organics and Nitrolube.

To your best efforts,