Hanna Burton has been a spectator and volunteer for Subaru Ironman Canada.
On Aug. 26, the 18-year-old will have the eyes of those people on her as she experiences it as an athlete. She will be among the youngest in the field along with another Penticton athlete, Tyler Berthelsen.
While Burton faces the 3.8 kilometre swim, 180-km bike and 42.2 km run, she will have her stepfather Brian Edge at her side.
?Hope to be side-by-side the whole time,? said Edge. ?Support her out there and give her encouragement. Just want to finish, no time we want to do. It will be pretty special for Hanna if she can pull it off.?
Edge said Burton gives him heck sometimes because he bugged her for so many years to sign up.
?Then last year, this was her grad year so she talked to her mom and myself and said she wanted to have a big year,? explained Edge. ?Do some special things. It?s a big challenge.?
She?s excited to have Edge at her side because, ?he is quite an inspiration? for her.
?He has been my coach and go-to-guy,? she said. ?I?m pretty nervous because it?s my first one. I don?t really have much pressure on myself.?
The two have trained together and have shared a few laughs. One incident two weeks ago took place as they were biking on Green Mountain Road and they spotted a baby bear.
?Hanna was feeling kind of tired at this point as we had just ridden over the Richter Pass and were heading home past the Apex Ranch on Green Mountain Road,? said Edge. ?All of a sudden she put the pedal to the metal as she figured out we were now in bear territory and she did not want to get left behind.?
Another person who has inspired Burton is Jeff Symonds, who has won the Peach Classic Triathlon the last two years, and placed third in the 2011 Ironman 70.3 world championship.
?He has been really good this year,? said Burton. ?He has been quite a big help with nutrition. He knows his stuff about the bike.?
Burton has also received support from health specialists to help recover from injuries, including back problems. If it weren?t for them, Burton said she ?probably couldn?t do it.?
To prepare herself for Aug. 26, Burton completed the Oliver Half Iron, the Valley First Axel Merckx Granfondo Okanagan and the Peach Classic Triathlon.
Burton hasn?t competed in a lot of sports aside from swimming, when she was a member of the KISU swim club, and she played rugby for three years. Rugby, however, began to take a toll on her body. Because of her experience in swimming, that is the leg of the course she most looks forward to.
?I?m pretty confident about the swim,? she said. ?I have already done it quite a few times.?
Her only concern is with the bike section.
?I think she will do okay but it will be tough,? said Edge. ?The bike cutoff is a bit of a concern. The main focus is racing smart and pushing for that bike cutoff.?
Burton joked that doing the Subaru Ironman Canada is something she wanted to get off her bucket list.
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Source: http://www.pentictonwesternnews.com/sports/166481246.html
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