World Triathlon

The ITU Kelowna Pan American Cup was also the site of this year’s Canadian National Triathlon Championships.

The triathlon weekend continued on Sunday with over 1,000 Age Groupers who were attempting to qualify for the 2005 ITU World Championships in Hawaii.  In the ITU Kelowna Pan American Cup was a field of 34 women and 34 men, including the strongest contingent of Canadian women ever assembled for an ITU event.

The men and women were not concerned about the intense heat on Sunday (peaking at 35C), while on the course the men were on course. 

Simon Whitfield who found himself behind Athens Olympic teammate Brent McMahon for the entire swim and bike portion of the race put together an incredible run performance to claim the 2005 Canadian National title and another victory on the ITU circuit in a time of 1:51:19.

Although Brent McMahon is the current number one ranked Canadian triathlete, he found the pace Whitfield set on the run to be too much.  Whitfield passed him part way through the 2nd lap of four and McMahon was able to maintain a 6 second gap for about 2km before it widened and McMahon had to reserve him to a silver medal.  Placing third was Paul Tichelaar who just came off a victory two weeks ago at the ITU Caledon Pan American Cup.  Tichelaar kept the pace up for the duration of the race and finished with a time of 1:52:21.  All three athletes live and train out of Victoria, BC at the Canadian National Training Centre.  McMahon and Whitfield will represent Canada at the 2005 ITU Elite World Championships in Gamagori, Japan.

Samantha McGlone, who trains also trains out of Victoria, BC with coach Cliff English,  has shown why she is ranked number one in Canada by placing first, 1:22 ahead of Lauren Groves of Victoria. McGlone finished at 2:02:46 and Groves at 2:04:08.  Rounding out the podium was Kathy Tremblay from Montreal, QC at 2:04:34.  Up until today’s race, Groves’ Canadian ranking was number two and Tremblay number 14.  Each will have gained valuable ITU points as they try to battle for 3 spots on the Canadian Commonwealth Games team and collect points during this Olympic cycle.

The 2006 Canadian National Championships will be held in Caledon, Ontario in conjunction with an ITU Pan American Cup event.

For more information please go to: www.appletriathlon.com or www.triathloncanada.com.