President of MultiSport Canada, John Salt, talks to TJ Flynn about the Sketchers Performance Barrelman, presented by Recharge With Milk, and tells the story of turning a vision for an epic race into reality.
There’s a perch, an observation point with a sweeping view across the water, attached to one of the buildings at the Welland Flatwater Centre. Early on a fine Sunday morning last September, John Salt took a moment to climb the stairs to this private oratory.
His eyes stretched across the area below and were met with postcard images: transition filling with athletes; a knot of eager swimmers already wet and finding a feel for the clear water; spectators beginning to mill about the grandstand. There were familiar names and new faces scattered about and as a morning crested with excitement, beneath John Salt a vision was coming to life.
In what would be a busy, hectic-day for the MultiSport President, it was a standalone, personal moment and one that has remained with him in the year that has passed.
“That morning I just had this great feeling,” he says. “And on top of that little observation deck as I looked out, I actually teared up. It was a great moment for the series. I was realizing that this was a special race, a very unique race that we’d worked so hard to make happen.”
It was the second running of Sketchers Performance Barrelman, presented by Recharge With Milk, and even though the race was in it’s infancy, it was already becoming a mainstay on the multisport calendar for athletes across Ontario, and even for those further off towards neighbouring Canadian provinces and south to those States that straddle the border.
MultiSport Canada has carved out a reputation for creating well-run, friendly races with a family atmosphere and true to their word, even for a larger race such as Barrelman, they’ve remained loyal to this ethos.
From an athlete’s perspective, Barrelman is a highly-accessible half-distance race. Read more →
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