Less than two months after making history at Ottawa’s inaugural Ironman, Aliisa Heiskanen is facing an unexpected setback after the theft of her triathlon bike. She was the first woman to cross the finish line at the Ironman Canada-Ottawa race this summer, but on Sunday, the bike that carried her across that line and the one she’s been using to train for the upcoming Ironman World Championships was stolen. “At first, I didn’t believe it. I thought, it must be inside, it must be somewhere else. There’s no way it’s gone,” said Heiskanen. She says the theft happened while she was out for a run in Gatineau Park where she trains. She says she left her bike locked in the trunk of her car and when she returned a couple of hours later, her bike was gone. “Someone had gone through my stuff. There was stuff everywhere, like all my training gear in the car, and my wetsuit was on the ground beside the car,” she said. “It has quite a bit of sentimental value. I bought it from someone that was a Canadian Paralympian, so he used that bike to get to a point where he was able to pursue the next level and that’s kind of why I bought the bike as well.” Replacing it won’t be easy. According to Patrick Lacroix, co-owner of Centre du vélo La Shop in Gatineau, high-end triathlon bikes like Heiskanen’s are often targeted by thieves. “We hear high-end bikes being stolen each and every week,” said Lacroix. “This time of year, inventory is kind of low so they can be attractive to thieves, and they don’t manufacture that much volume of those categories of bikes, so they are very attractive on their reselling platforms on the marketplace online.” Heiskanen says it’s a black sparkly Trinity Advanced Pro with some noticeable features, including damage by the chain ring, a custom font end and a black flow disk, which she uses for training. She is offering a $500 reward for the return of her bike. “I bought this bike with my own money, so I will probably have to do that again for a new bike. So, it’s a huge setback for somebody like me.”
