Taylor Reid adds another Guelph Lake win to his resume
GUELPH – Taylor Reid of Guelph can be considered the unofficial prince of the Guelph Lake triathlons.
However, the Guelph resident has a long way to go to wrestle the unofficial title of king of the Guelph Lake triathlons from Len Gushe of Mattawa.
The lone pro in Saturday’s the Subaru Triathlon Series season-closing Guelph Lake II sprint triathlon, Reid did the expected as he delivered the victory. It was a dominating win, so far ahead his closest pursuers would only have seen him when he was coming in when they were heading out on the out-and-back cycling and running portions.
“I’m very pleased,” he said. “I executed exactly what I wanted to. I came out of the water first and basically rode hard to sort of establish my lead and then ran basically my 70.3 pace which is a lot longer distance, for about half the run and I was able to shut it down so I could save my legs for next week.”
Reid recorded the fastest time on each of the three segments of the triathlon to win in one hour, 20 minutes and 55 seconds. Runner-up Bryan Little of Puslinch, the former NHL star who scored 217 regular-season goals all with the Atlanta Thrashers/Winnipeg Jets, finished in 1:26:09 and third-placed Nelson Alexander of Oakville was clocked at 1:28:54.
The victory completes a Guelph Lake triple crown of sorts for Reid as his third overall victory in a Guelph Lake triathlon came in the third different event. He won the Guelph Lake I Olympic triathlon in June, but didn’t participate in the following day’s sprint triathlon. However, he had won the June sprint triathlon in 2010.
“It’s very awesome. It’s nice to sort of have the local title,” Reid said.
Gushe wasn’t there Saturday to defend his victory from 2022 when he took the overall Guelph Lake II sprint triathlon race win and the men’s 50-59 class title. Reid has a long way to go to match Gushe’s Guelph Lake win total as last year’s triumph was his 12th, but Reid’s winning time this year was about four and a half minutes quicker than Gushe’s winning time last year and the events were run over the same course.
Gushe’s fastest time on the sprint triathlon at Guelph Lake was the 1:20:15 he registered in winning in 2003. The bike course has changed since then as the twisty bit out of the Guelph Lake Conservation Area through the park’s main entrance and onto Conservation Road before turning on Watson Road, complete with several speed bumps, is gone. Once Watson Road was put straight through the park, it’s been used and the halfway turnaround moved further out to keep the 30-kilometre distance. Losing the twisty bit should make times faster.
Beating Gushe’s time wasn’t Reid’s goal Saturday. It was a pretty simple one as he was out for what amounted to solid training for a stretch of events he has on his calendar as he’s to compete in South Dakota and New York City in the upcoming weeks.
“I’m racing next weekend and the weekend after, so it slowly builds up,” Reid said. “Each race gets more important and bigger. This one I went in and I was basically not tapered at all. It’s always fun. I’m five minutes away from the house and it’s a great training day. Having the ability to have closed roads, I don’t have to worry too much about traffic. Having support from the community and the race itself is awesome.”
But it was a competition so that always gets the competitive juices flowing.
“I’m taking a little bit more caffeine and I’ve got the adrenalin and just the crowds make it so much fun,” Reid said. “Basically, I haven’t done that big a start, that many people on the start line in a very long time. There were like 200 people in our wave and I’m used to 20. I was ‘Oh man, I gotta actually work for this one.’”
Rounding out the top 10 were Edwin Vane of Waterloo fourth in 1:30:08, Peter Ligori of Paris fifth in 1:30:10, Sean Delanghe of Waterloo sixth in 1:31:02, James Sunners of St. Catharines seventh in 1:32:43, Michael Lawrie of Waterdown eighth in 1:32:49, Jacob Bray of Welland ninth in 1:33:35 and Paulo Lima of Whitby 10th in 1:33:39. Top female finisher was Carol Swift of London, 46th overall in 1:43:02.
Jason Columbus of Victoria Harbour won the swim/bike event in 1:12:50 while Noe Vagner-Clevenot of Toronto was second in 1:17:23 and top female finisher Marcia Mitchell of Guelph was third in 1:19:43.
Chris Howe of Toronto won the duathlon in 1:22:04 and was followed across the line by Jared Wright of Toronto in second at 1:24:25 and Spencer Leckie of Bright’s Grove in third at 1:26:33. Top female was Jessie Nusselder of Toronto in 13th at 1:38:01.
David Parsons of Vineland won the try-a-tri in 35:04 while Adam Johnston was second in 36:58 and Michael Chester was third in 39:20. Grace Chai was top female finisher, fourth in 39:37.
- Guelph Sports Journal