By Derek Cornet

La Ronge featured in NBC video highlighting athlete’s dream of Kona

Jan 2, 2019 | 10:29 AM

With nearly 120,000 views, a Quest for Kona online video featuring La Ronge’s James Irvine is being watched by people around the world.

The 10-minute video was released Christmas Day and documents Irvine’s journey during his attempt last year to qualify for the IRONMAN World Championship in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. Scenes of northern Saskatchewan near La Ronge and Pinehouse Lake are included in the video, along with segments of Irvine training for and racing at Subaru IRONMAN Canada event last July in British Columbia.

“I thought they did a good job of capturing a lot of hours of video footage within a short time frame,” Irvine said. “It really shows the positive nature of the North in general and La Ronge specifically.”

The northern Saskatchewan portion of the video was filmed in August and also included interviews by Lac La Ronge Indian Band Chief Tammy Cook-Searson, Pinehouse Lake Mayor Mike Natomagan, Community Health Manager Phyllis Smith and disability advocate Gary Tinker. Cook-Searson spoke about how Irvine continues to be a role model and how he ensures the band has the health information they need.

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“He loves us,” she said in the video. “We know he loves us and respects us, and he respects our way of life.”

Irvine also noted the online video is different than another segment, which aired exclusively in the United States last month on NBC Sports featuring all Quest for Kona hopefuls. He believes viewers will be left with a positive impression of the region if they watch either of them, adding people are leaving comments online in Chinese, Russian and Spanish.

Although Irvine finished in fourth place and ultimately didn’t make it to Kona, the video shows his endurance as he completed the triathlon in just over 15 hours. He still hopes to make it to Kona as he already signed up for a race to qualify this August in Quebec with plans to compete in more events.

“I’m hoping to do another one or two this summer and fall as well,” Irvine said. “It’s all in the hopes of someday making it to Kona yet.”

derek.cornet@jpbg.ca

Twitter: @saskjourno