One of Maia Watson’s earliest baby pictures is of her giving a slobbery chew on the 2000 Sydney Olympic gold medal won in triathlon by Simon Whitfield, who was coached by her dad, Lance Watson.
She has had no shortage of expert advice since then, as she has launched her own emerging triathlon career. It has included a victory in the women’s race of the recent hometown Victoria Ironman 70.3 in and around Elk Lake to follow up wins over the Olympic triathlon distance in the Toronto Tri Fest and Montreal Esprit races.
Watson’s next race is the Oregon Ironman 70.3 today in Salem, where she hopes to build on her victory in the Victoria Ironman 70.3 and later seventh place in the North Carolina Ironman 70.3. (Because the Ironman headquarters are in Florida, all Ironman events are calculated in imperial distances. The 70.3 designation, formerly known as Half-Iron, consists of a 1.2-mile swim, 56-mile bicycle race and 13.1-mile run, totalling 70.3 miles).
Surrounded by the sport and coached by her dad, she counts Olympians Brent McMahon and Matt Sharpe of Victoria and Paula Findlay of Edmonton as among her mentors. As influential has been her mother, noted local runner and 19-time national champion Lucy Smith, who has won the Times Colonist 10K six times. Smith was also a triathlete and is the former CEO of Victoria-based Triathlon Canada. Top-level support has always been just a sneaker stride away as Maia had both nature and nurture in her sporting background.
“High-performance sport became normalized for me,” she said.
Maia Watson was literally immersed in it. But always with a sense of perspective.
“My parents taught me that hard work is more important than outcome and that there is always value in exercise,” said Watson, 24.
“And to find joy in sport and have fun doing it.”
Also not to limit yourself, which Watson didn’t in playing soccer and taking part in fine arts and musical theatre at St. Michaels University School.
Her mom’s genes were no doubt evident in a U Sports track and cross-country running career at McGill University in Montreal, where Maia earned a bachelors degree in environmental studies. Adding swimming and cycling elements to her running after McGill seemed only natural, considering her dad’s profession as a triathlon coach, and that her mom was a triathlete as well as a runner.
“Winning the Victoria 70.3 was more emotional than I expected it to be. I want to race professionally and, so far, have been checking all the boxes to get there,” said Watson, who also plans to run the half-marathon race in the Royal Victoria Marathon weekend in October.
Both in nature and nurture, she certainly has had the springboard to get there. Watson has been given all the tools and her growing results list shows she is using them wisely in her budding career.
