Ryz pushes herself to a gold medal
Local triathlete looking for further success this summer
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This article was published 28/06/2016 (3421 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
A golden attitude has earned Payton Ryz some serious hardware.
The 16-year-old elite triathlete and Vincent Massey Collegiate student recently placed first at the Triple Threat Junior Elite Triathlon held at Birds Hill Park earlier this month.
The event was a qualifier for the 2017 Canadian Age-Group World Championship and even though it had a smaller competition pool, it was still significant race for Ryz who has her sights set on the Canada Summer Games in Winnipeg next year.
“It was kind of a bigger race to me because it’s a Canada Games test event. So that’s the race that I’ll be racing, hopefully, next year when I qualify for the team,” she explained.
During the race, which included a 750-metre swim, 20-kilometre bike, and five-kilometre run, Ryz was second out of the water, and closed in on the leader during the bike.
“I really like pushing myself to do my best and setting goals and seeing myself achieve them,” Ryz said. “It hurts to push yourself to the max but it’s well worth it in the end.”
Ryz has been participating in triathlons for the past four years and recently worked her way up to elite competition. On July 9, she’ll be going to Iowa to represent Team Canada with seven other young women at the CAMTRI Continental Championships. This event brings in competitors from North, South and Central America and is a selection race for the 2016 ITU Junior World Championships in Cozumel, Mexico in September.
Ryz is expecting some tough competition in her first year of the junior level (16 to 19-year-olds) and has been preparing rigorously over the winter to get in racing shape.
According to coach Gary Pallett, Ryz has the right attitude to be successful at triathlons.
“I think she’s really goal-oriented and she’s a really hard worker,” Pallett said. “She comes focused to every workout and she’s prepared to give her maximum effort.”
Ryz excels on the bike and during the run, Pallett said, and together they’ve been fine tuning her race. However Ryz doesn’t necessarily need guidance to push her training forward. The Grade 10 student is very self-motivated, Pallett said, and continues her training with or without her team.
“She’s very disciplined in terms of doing the training,” he said. “She’s able to work hard by herself or with the group.”
Ryz hopes to come in the top 15 at the CAMTRI championship and be in the top five among Canadian triathletes at the conclusion of the junior series.
“I’ve got to put in some good training right now and I’ve got to be confident in myself in those races, and I think if I set my mind to it I can do whatever I want to do,” she said. “I’m excited to be able to wear my Team Canada suit and put it all out there and perform my best and see what all this work from the winter has done.”