Corey Bellemore: track athlete, to beer miler, to triathlete

Is Bellemore looking to become a triathlete? Yes, eventually.

Madeleine Kelly September 21, 2018

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Corey Bellemore is the beer mile world record holder, a national 1,500m medallist, and now, budding triathlete. Anyone who follows Bellemore’s social media presence knows he’s been spending a lot of time with long-course triathlete Lionel Sanders. Sanders was second at the 2017 Ironman World Championships and the winner of the 2017 ITU Long Distance Triathlon World Championships.

The pair are currently in Hawaii together, Bellemore training for cross-country, and Sanders for the 2018 Ironman World Championships. Bellemore and Sanders are both Windsor, Ont. natives, that’s where the pair connected. Bellemore describes Sanders as someone he’s always looked up to.

Bellemore says he’s helping Sanders with the run portion of his event, but he’s also jumping into the bikes and swims. Most people know Bellemore for his track accomplishments or beer mile world record.

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But, what many people don’t know about Bellemore is that he was a swimmer in high school, and has used cycling as a cross-training method for years during his running career. Combine those two things with an elite running resume, and you’ve got a talented triathlete.

Bellemore would swim in high school from November through the second week of March. He would train four times in the morning and three to four times at the end of the day. The 1,500m runner says, “I did that from grade nine to grade 12, and didn’t run at all through the winter. I strictly swam. I’ve kept it as a cross-training tool for running. If I can’t run, I can still get quality work done in the pool or on the bike.”

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Bellemore is currently living the triathlon lifestyle. “We sleep, eat, and train hard. Today I went out for an hour long bike, then I’ll go and do three to four kilometres in the pool, and follow that up with a 25-30 kilometre run. We’ll do that at about 4:10/km pace.”

Is Bellemore looking to give triathlon a try? Turns out yes – eventually. “This is a good opportunity to have fun and live the triathlon lifestyle because I’ve considered possibly doing this one day. My loose plan is to give triathlon a run two years from now. I want to give the 2020 Olympics a shot on the track and then decide.”

Bellemore will get his fall running season underway when he returns home with a 10K relay leg in the Detroit Marathon. The runner also plans to race the Athletics Canada national cross-country championships in Kingston this November.

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