Beaconsfielder keeps triathlon running

Published on September 16th, 2009

Published on Febuary 6th, 2010

Times-Herald

Beaconsfield entrepreneur Danny McCann was a busy man this weekend, organizing the latest edition of the Montreal Triathlon he helped set afoot 25 years ago.

The Montreal Triathlon has grown from one race, one event, one mass start with 150 athletes, to five races with over 1,500 athletes, stated McCann, who came up with the idea in 1984 while standing on the edge of the rowing basin on Ile Notre Dame near the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve and thought it would be a great place to hold a triathlon. From there, a not-for-profit organization was set up to run the event which would become one of the biggest triathlons on the east coast and the biggest in Quebec. “We did one year at a time and never thought it would become an annual event,” recalled McCann, 59. “It was tough the first few years because we (biked) through the city and had to change the course last minute depending on road construction.”

A turning point for the race was moving off Montreal streets to the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve. “It worked and people loved it,” McCann said.

McCann said while he receives help from sports organizations, from soccer to dragon boat teams, who bring in about 150 volunteers, he has to be hands on to make sure the triathlon runs smoothly. He added sunny and dry weather conditions also helped make this Saturday’s event a success. “The weather was perfect so people stayed around after their events,” he said. “It’s not as much fun if it rains.”

A number of West Islanders took part in Saturday’s event. Some of these included Per Ekegard of Pierrefonds who finished sixth out of 50 competitors in the Esprit Triathlon, Virgil Popesco of Pointe Claire who participated in the Olympic Triathlon, Steve Buckland who took part in the Demi Esprit as well as Pointe Claire’s Sebastien Vittecoq and Thomas Pagel of Pierrefonds who competed in the Duathlon.

McCann, co-owner of the Pierrefonds Sportplexe 4 Glaces and part of family-run McCann Equipment in Dorval, kept promoting the race “for the love of the sport.” He is proud to have hosted three national championships (1989, 1992 and 2004), two long distance championships (2000 and 2001), three university championships (2001, 2002 and 2003) and one world triathlon championship (1999).