We are closing in on one of the more busy weekends in the summer, the first one in June where we see the annual Rotary WineArt event, the second annual Just Tri It Triathlon, Relay for Life, the Deep Water Martial Arts Convention, and a couple large multi-day private rentals. We had some really nice comments on the facility from the election day, May 14, as a good number of people that normally don’t see the community complex actually did and were suitably impressed.
It just seems like a short while ago we were in the midst of the triathlon and bang! here we are again. Last year provided some great experience as to what worked and what didn’t and we have tweaked a few areas to hopefully make things run smoother. The community showed great participation — both in actual registrations as well as volunteers required to make the event a success. For those of you new to the event or looking for a defined, short-term volunteer experience (no AGMs to avoid attending) there is still a bit of time to contact us to either test your mettle as an athlete or hone your skills as a traffic control person or a swimmer counter amongst other jobs.
The triathlon combines three areas of expertise — first you swim 500 metres, which is 20 lengths in the pool or until you hit 20 minutes of flailing about, then you head outside to where you have parked your bike in the transition area, probably throw on some biking apparel over the swimsuit and start pedaling. The route is about 13 kilometres in total, with the halfway point being the lookout point on the highway to Wynndel where you do a U-turn and head it back from whence you came. Back into the transition area, ditch the bike and now you run a loop through the neighbourhood, similar to the Terry Fox Run course, except you run it twice to equate five kilometres and finish up on the north end of the Alex Nilsson Field to the sound of cheering throngs of supporters.
Last year was quite a natural transition from the swimming event to the biking and running portions because it rained the whole time (or at least seemed that way) so wearing a swimsuit for the whole event seemed normal. It was still fairly mild so it was advantageous for the runners and bikers as compared to being in blazing sun as they traversed our streets and highways. Don’t forget that you can also enter as a team, so one could just swim or bike and have someone else do a different leg of the event. If you are a volunteer attendant, water station operator, lap counter or the like, there may be opportunities to bring a friend and spend the Saturday morning helping at a community event.
Speaking of community, perhaps you read the article in the May 16 Creston Valley Advance about the Association of Kootenay Boundary Local Governments conference coming to Creston April 9-11, 2014, which brings in several hundred local government officials and staff. This is pretty exciting for us at the community complex, as currently all our meeting spaces have been put on hold for the event and, having hosted a few conferences and tournaments in our time, we certainly see the benefit to the entire community. Another example of a similar size event is the Columbia Basin Trust symposium this October which takes over the place for a few days, as well, and of course, these rental revenues go towards our bottom line as part of cost recoveries. My inner me also thrives on the oohs and aahs we invariably get from these visitors as they see our spectacular valley, facilities and people and know that, hey, we live here!
Neil Ostafichuk is the recreation supervisor at the Creston and District Community Complex.