Just under a decade since he first ventured his way into a Try a Tri in Bracebridge and roughly two years removed from ratcheting up his training to a whole other level, Jason Chenard has been rewarded, selected to represent Canada as an Age Group participant at the 2024 Standard, Sprint and Relay World Championship in Malaga (Spain) next October.

But that’s not the takeaway that has the 39 year old pharmacist and father of two particularly amped. The more personal growth, on so many levels, has come in leaps and bounds – and quite unexpectedly.

“The amount of resiliency, both mentally and physically, that I have gained has made me a better dad, a better husband, a better pharmacist,” Chenard stated recently. “It’s pushed me to a new level of mental durability and really changed my threshold for stress. I am far more balanced in work-life – and that’s something I just didn’t see coming.”

Returning to Sudbury following his graduation from the University of Toronto several years back, the former competitive hockey player in his youth could likely say the same for much of this journey, if looked at through the lens of the original starting point of it all.

“When I came home (from university), I was looking for something to shed some study fat and maintain some fitness – so I started running,” Chenard recalled. The 5km and 10km races would give way to the half-marathon distance and the need to find training options that would limit to day to day mileage pounding on the joints.

“As I was building up the cardio to the half-marathon, I started to go in the pool, not really knowing what I was doing,” he said. “So you start looking stuff up on You Tube and when you look up swimming, you get a whole bunch of triathlon videos. I was immediately hooked on what the sport could give me for so many decades to come.”

“I saw the potential for progress, but also the balance it could give me with lifelong learning of three sports,” Chenard continued. “I wouldn’t be bored because there is so much of a learning curve in each of the sports.”

Drawn to that sense of discovery, the excitement of all that could be absorbed as a triathlete appealed to the very core of the local man who has now completed 13 sprint triathlons, in addition to the Try a Tri. “I like planning; I like being structured and organized,” he stated. “I like picking a system apart and fine-tuning it all.”

Make no mistake: fine-tuning would definitely be required.

“When I look back at the time and the pacing on that swim (in his first race), I laugh at myself,” said Chenard. “The swim is by far the most challenging for me. At the five year mark, I am just getting comfortable calling myself a swimmer now. That sport is highly technical – and it’s a balance between being strong and being relaxed at the same time, which is very difficult.”

His has been a journey made much easier through a partnership with a friend just down the road.

“Two years ago, I met a neighbour, Rob Paquin – I went to pharmacy college with his wife,” said Chenard. “Having a training partner who is in your age category is the ultimate weapon. Two years ago, things got real. The first few years, I was perfectly happy training in the summers but not really training seriously in the winters.”

“Training with Rob, it makes me accountable,” Chenard added. “I can’t just sleep in at 6:00 a.m. if it’s a bike day or swim day because he’s waiting for me. We’re naturally pushing each other and supporting each other.”

The other part of Team Chenard (well, beyond his very understanding wife Lauren and their two children) comes in the form of his brother, Kevin, a personal trainer with the military working out of North Bay – and the man responsible for much of the planning in the workout schedule that will lead to Worlds in Spain.

“I have to make sure training and recovery is set up perfectly for an October timeline,” said Jason.

Despite having a few race victories to his credit in Ontario, this northern Ontario triathlete is nothing if not realistic regarding the next step he is about to make. “I would expect a very steep standard at that race,” Chenard acknowledged. “I suspect there will be some incredibly fast athletes that I probably don’t stand a chance against, people that are probably ten minutes faster than me.”

“My goal over the next year is to close as much of that gap as possible” – or simply become a better triathlete – and father, spouse and pharmacist.