Winnipegger takes home Manitoba's 1st Canada Summer Games medal
Kyla Roy took bronze in the triathlon on Monday
An 18-year-old Winnipegger is taking home Manitoba's first medal at the 2017 Canada Summer Games.
Kyla Roy won bronze in the triathlon during a gruelling race in the heat, clocking a time of 1:05:22.
"I just felt happy to be done. I was hurting out there," Roy said. "It felt great to finish and just cross the finish line."
She came just behind British Columbia's Hannah Henry, who finished at 1:05:02, and Desirae Ridenour, who took the gold at 1:04:39.
Triathlon is a three-part event, with swimming, biking and running.
The race started with what felt like a long, silent wait on the starting line, Roy said.
"They call us all up individually, and then we're all lined up at the start line. They held us there for probably a minute. I got really nervous, because they play this, like, heartbeat music. It just makes everyone super nervous," she said. "I was ready to go. I just wanted to start swimming."
Then an air horn fired and the competitors took off into the water, where Roy took the lead.
"I thought people were, like, right behind me, because I was just going as hard as I could. I wanted to be first out of the water, I thought that would be pretty cool," she said.
After finishing the swim with a 10-second lead, she took her time getting onto her bike so she could draft off the group, she said.
But Roy said the heat took a toll on all the competitors during the cycling.
"No one was really wanting to go to the front and do any work, so we were all kind of sitting back and not going very hard," she said.
Manitoba 4th in medal standings
Roy started competing in triathlons in children's events called Kids of Steel when she was seven. She was inspired by her father, a former triathlete who competes in Ironman races.
She competed in her first Canada Summer Games in 2013, won gold at the Western Canada Summer Games in 2015 and has twice represented Canada in world events.
Her sister, Caitlyn Roy, placed seventh in the race. At 15, Caitlyn Roy is among the youngest competitors, who had to be 16 or older by the end of this year to compete.
Roy said she's proud of her younger sister.
"We motivate each other a lot. Sometimes I'm a little more motivated than her so I push her to, like, go do her long runs. Sometimes she's more motivated than me, so we push each other and it's great," she said.
Roy's finish puts Manitoba in fourth for medal standings on Monday. Quebec is in the top spot with two gold and one bronze, Ontario is second with two silver and a bronze and British Columbia has a gold and a silver.
She'll compete again in the relay on Thursday. Until then, Roy plans to do some light training and recovery.
The Canada Summer Games started on July 28 and end on Aug. 13.
Bronze for <a href="https://twitter.com/TeamToba">@TeamToba</a>'s <a href="https://twitter.com/kylaroytri">@kylaroytri</a>! <a href="https://t.co/9RJ1XYHNfV">pic.twitter.com/9RJ1XYHNfV</a>
—@cscmanitobaMore Manitoba news