The ZéroXQZ Winter Triathlon by Stages Integrates the Demi-marathon de l’Acadie
February 16th, 2023

By Donald Wade

For the 2nd consecutive year, the ZéroXQZ Winter Triathlon by stages of Tracadie attracts triathletes from across the province. The event which was scheduled for the 1st weekend of February had to be postponed to February 10, 11 and 12 due to the extreme cold temperatures.

The first stage of the triathlon consisted of 21.1 km of skating held on Friday at the Tracadie outdoor ice ring; participants had to skate 82 loops to reach the target distance. The second part in cross country skiing held on Saturday on the trails of the cross-country skiing Club Le Sureau Blanc of Tracadie for 6 loops of designated trails for a total of 21.1 km. Finally, on Sunday, athletes met in St-Isidore for the start of the Demi-marathon de l’Acadie. The triathlon totaled 63 km full speed in three sports in three days.

In order to put the athletes on an equal footing, the ranking was established by using a point system based on the time proximity of athletes with the estimated world record for the age and gender. Complicated, you say, but the organizers and triathletes had no problem understanding how it worked and the predictions concerning the winners did not take long to make their appearance on social medias. The winner of the competition was Silvia Antuna of Tracadie who accumulated 1402 points in the three races, followed by Lawson Lebouthillier of Losier Settlement with 1380 points and Louise Thibodeau of Beresford with 1378 points. For the men, considering the time to complete the three races, the victory went to Sébastien Poirier of Tracadie with a total time of 4:20:30, followed by Lawson Lebouthilier with a time of 4:22:57 and Guillaume Blanchard of Caraquet in 4:44:19. For the women, the fastest was Silvia Antuna, followed by Gina McGraw of Moncton and Louise Thibodeau.

Twenty-seven triathletes registered for the event. The Demi-marathon de l’Acadie was proud to welcome the event to its calendar. The next ZéroXQZ activity will be an Aquathlon. Two distances will be offered: The Long Aquathlon (3000 m swim in the pool followed by a 15 km run), and the Sprint Aquathlon (1000 m swim in the pool followed by a 5 km run). It will be held on April 22 in Tracadie.

We congratulate the ZéroXQZ organizers for offering these innovative sports activities.

Photo below are the female and male winners from left to right:Gina McGraw, Silvia Antuna and Louise Thibodeau /
Sébastien Poirier, Guillaume Blanchard and Lawson Lebouthilier