Photo provided by Kathy Zapata
Lonely 140.6 miles
Trained and ready to race, Canyon Lake Fitness and Triathlon Club members were ready to compete in the inaugural Ironman California race last week, however, due to bad weather, the race was canceled.
Disappointed, club members took matters into their own hands. The sun was shining in Canyon Lake. They decided to put on their own version of Ironman in Canyon Lake: The CanyonMan Race.
Maria Kivrizis, Wendy Gallager and Eric Zapata were prepared to race in the grueling 140.6 mile Ironman California race. The group spent countless hours running, biking and swimming in preparation of the race.
Photo provided by Kathy Zapata
Due to a fast-moving severe weather front known as a “bomb cyclone” that hit Sacramento just an hour before the scheduled start time of California Ironman, organizers had to cancel the event due to the severe rain, flooding and high winds.
Maria and Eric decided to not let their countless hours of training be for nothing, so they created their own 140.6-mile CanyonMan event in and around Canyon Lake.
On Saturday, the duo swam 2.4 miles in the lake, rode bicycles 112 miles completing a course of 56 miles through Canyon Lake, Lake Elsinore and Menifee two times, and then finished off with a 26.2 mile run through the hills of Canyon Lake and Menifee.
The duo began at 6:40 a.m. in the dark and finished at 9:28 p.m. in the dark.
Photo provided by Kathy Zapata
“It was determination and desire to push our bodies to new limits that got us to not only sign up for Ironman, but got us to create our own version of the canceled event,” Maria said. “This determination and desire is what pushed us to complete the event.”
While CanyonMan featured the same distances as the planned California Ironman race, the local race turned out to be more challenging, the pair said.
“It lacked the spectators, the cheering and the excitement that the large event brings,” Maria said. “It was much more challenging. We were thankful for the beauty of Canyon Lake and the support of family and friends along the way.”
The duo received CanyonMan medals after reaching the finish line.
“After many, many months of training and the disappointment of a canceled race,” Eric’s wife Kathy Zapata said, “these two went on their own to complete something that most of us will never do.”
Photo provided by Kathy Zapata
Photo provided by Kathy Zapata