The annual County Kids of Steel youth triathlon was still a rainmaker for the area in 2018 but thankfully mother nature held off the deluge this past weekend and allowed the little competitors to complete the run and the cycling portions of the 12^th edition of the popular youth sporting event.

In all, just shy of 220 competitors took part in the triathlon which features swimming at the Prince Edward Fitness and Aquatic Centre, cycling on Main St., Lake St and Sandy Hook road and running on the Millennium Trail.

RUNNING TO THE LINE- Competitors in the Under 5 age bracket finish their heat on Sunday. (Jason Parks/Gazette Staff)

Race director Jay Middleton said the 2018 edition was a little unique this year as the rains held of until after the last participant came through.

“It’s been so wet so many years now, we just expect to get rained on so it was nice we were able to complete it before the skies really opened up,” Middleton told the Gazette Monday.

Race officials received raved reviews from parents and competitors alike and Middleton said the County version seems to be hit amongst those families that undertake triathlons as summer sports like baseball or soccer.

“Families come to our event specifically because of the small community feel and they like that.” Middleton explained. “In the city many of these events are backed by big corporations but here we have breweries and chiropractors and real estate agents and contractors. There’s community sponsorship so there’s more community buy-in and the participants can feel that.”

Despite the lack of large sponsorship dollars, the event committee has been able to keep costs low and the price to participate has held steady in the last five years.

Age bracket winners are as follows:

U7- Blake Hinze (M) 9:47, Lizette Jarbeau (F) 12:15

U9- Beatrice Jarbeau (F) 18:16, Euan Davidson (M) 19:02

U11- Lyndon Jarbeau (M) 21:50, Makalya Tucker (F) 22:39

U13- Andrew Richards (M) 31:13 Taylor Tompkins (F) 31:54

U15- Simon Scholey (M) 34:12, Hilary Johnson (F) 35:44

U17- Hunter Scholey (M) 34:52, Leah Oster (F) 39:14