It was a busy Saturday at the Stettler Recreation Centre as a group of people took part in the first-ever indoor triathlon on April 16.
The three-part athletic event includes running, biking and swimming, and saw 29 people take part.
"Our youngest (was) seven-years-old — Hayden Wiebe — and our oldest (was) 70-years-old — Kathy Nyuli," organizer Charlene Baharally said. "We had families doing it together, swim club members all on a team, a morning fitness class doing it, and even grandparents with their grandkids."
The event — the first in what is hoped to be an annual tradition — had differences between it and the traditional outdoor triathlon. The indoor triathlon was a "timed" event, meaning each heat competed for a specific amount of time before moving on to the next station.
"Each group was only in the pool for 10 minutes and then that heat got out of the pool and then they all biked for 20 minutes on the spin bikes," Baharally explained. "Then that same group moved into the blue arena and walked or ran for 20 minutes."
Laps in the pool and miles on the bikes and in the arena were tracked. Points were awarded for the distances covered on each portion of the triathlon, with the winners having the most points, Baharally explained.
"The idea was for a heat of 10 participants to start and finish at the same time, so no one was left behind," she said.
In the 11-and-under category, winners were Charlene Resche, Kate Bradford, Maddie Norman and Colby Wiebe. Jaden Norman, Natasha Smith and Laura Smith won in the 12-18 category, while Joel Norman, Kevin Burkard, Loretta Lavallee and Rena Mantie topped other competitors in the 30-40 year-old category. In the 41-54 age group, winners were Raquel Hicks and Barb Gano, while Kathy Nyuli and Ann Zieglgansberger tied for first in the 55+ group.