Calgary’s Jordan Bryden smashed the swim course record on the first day of Ultraman Canada on the weekend.
“Pretty awesome weekend in Penticton. Met some amazing people, covered a lot of miles and I am happy to walk away with a big smile on my face,” said Bryden on social media following the race. “Back in April we put this event on the schedule to help overcome the concussion issues and it really turned out to be an amazing experience that left my heart full.”
Bryden, who held the previous record, beat his old time by finishing the swim (10 kilometres) with a 2:19.40, just over an hour faster than his next nearest competitor Howie Nordstrom (3:08:10).
Bryden, 33, continued the race, spread across three days, in the lead as he got off the 420.6 km bike ride (split into 144.8 km on Day 1 and 275.8 km on Day 2) with a time of 13:01:52. On Day 3 competitors hit the road for an 84.33 km run, which Bryden finished with the top time in the field of 8:08:52 for a total event time of 23:29:50.
Nordstrom, 53 (from the U.S.), finished in second place with a total event time of 27:41:30 followed by Ryan Goodman, 43, with a time of 28:09:06. The top female, Katherine Zeiler, 50, finished fourth overall with a time of 28:56:12. That is a new women’s 50-59 record for Ultraman Canada, beating the previous record by 2:21:48. She was followed by Fiona Siemelink (33:44:50).
Eight competitors out of the field of 20 did not finish the race.
In 2014, organizers of Ultraman Canada transferred to a different brand, so Michael Brown and Brad Sawa (now the race directors) stepped in and approached the official Ultraman Hawaii board and received a license. This year is the first year for the brand new owner of the race. They are now part of four official and licensed events worldwide (Ultraman Florida, Ultraman Arizona and the Ultraman World Championship in Hawaii).