NTC Development Squad. Victoria B.C.

Bronze Medal - Paula Findlay - 2009 U23 World Triathlon Championships, Australia

2009-09-11T03:53:00.000-07:00

The 2009 World Triathlon Championships got off to a great start today with Paula racing to a bronze medal in the U23 race. The race was held in beautiful conditions on the Gold Coast of Australia. The two U23 men also put in very good performances with Andrew McCartney finishing with a strong 15th place finish and Andrew Yorke in 36th.

Congratulations to all the coaching, medical and support staff in Australia and at home that have contributed to the development of the athletes.

Pic's to follow:

training pics, Gold Coast, Australia

2009-09-08T18:58:00.001-07:00

a few more pics. wow.. two posts in one day.. I must have a bit of free time.

a few pics from Surfer's Paradise, Gold Coast, Australia

2009-09-08T18:21:00.000-07:00

Hi All. Pre race prep has been going very well here at Surfer's Paradise. The weather is good (other than the big rain storm we had a few nights ago). The sharks have stayed away so far but today Gabor (team bike mechanic) and Rob Hasegawa (team chiropractor) are just heading out with a young female surf instructor. I'm sure they'll be back in a few hours with smiles on their faces.

A few pics for your viewing pleasure.

Team Relay news article - courtesy of TriCan.

2009-09-01T22:04:00.001-07:00

British Columbia Sweeps Gold in Triathlon Team Competition at Canada Summer Games
August 21, 2009

SUMMERSIDE, P.E.I.—British Columbia owned the podium by winning gold in both the men’s and women’s triathlon team competitions at the 2009 Canada Summer Games in Summerside, P.E.I. on Friday.
British Columbia’s Alison Hooper, Christine Ridenhour and Kyla Coates teamed up to clock a winning time of one hour nine minutes 35 seconds in the relay where each athlete completes a 300-metre swim, seven-kilometre bike course, and two-kilometre run. Athletes tag off to their teammate at the completion of all three disciplines.
Alison Hooper, who is completing her first season in triathlon, set the tone early for the powerful B.C. trio. But while the 17-year-old opened a gap on the field with Manitoba’s Sarah-Anne Brault, it was Christine Ridenhour who took control of the race for the B.C. women, and handed off to Kyla Coates to complete the anchor leg and secure the gold.
“That was a tough race today. We all brought different tactics to the race and they came together perfectly,” said 19-year-old Kyla Coates. “We all pulled our weight today and did a great job together.”
Alison Hooper made history earlier in the weak by winning the first-ever triathlon gold medal at the Canada Summer Games.
“Of course it was amazing to win the individual race, but it is so much better to be able to share a victory with your teammates,” said Hooper. “These are the guys I train with each day and they are the one’s that pushed me to win earlier this week so I’m very happy to win this with them today.”
Manitoba’s Sarah-Anne Brault, Rachael Edwards and Stevie Moore celebrated the silver medal with a time of 1:10:12. Ontario’s Joanna Brown, Dorelle Hinton and Dominika Jamnicky locked up the bronze medal at 1:11:00.
After a short break, the top women’s triathletes under 20 years old took to the sidelines to cheer on the men’s teams competing in the relay on Summerside’s picturesque waterfront.
British Columbia wasted little time asserting their authority in the men’s competition also as Matt Sharpe climbed out of the water first after a dominant swim. While Sharpe continued to set the pace in the bike, Nova Scotia and Ontario closed the gap in the two-kilometre run. B.C. regained the lead after Sharpe handed off to Cole Stewart who opened a commanding gap on the field, setting up the anchor leg for Jeff Phillips. The B.C. trio clocked a golden time of 1:04:09.
“This was an absolutely great race today,” said the 20-year-old Phillips, who also won the gold medal in the individual event on Tuesday. “The guys set me up perfectly today. We put it all on the line and left nothing out there.”
Ontario’s Ian Donald, Connor Hammond and Tristan Woodfine combined to post a silver-medal winning time of 1:05:20. Manitoba’s Josh Drad, Riley MacCharles and Mark Okany rounded out the men’s podium in third at 1:06:25.
The team competition is a new, exciting format that is being introduced by the International Triathlon Union at the elite level in hopes of it being selected into the lineup of competitions at the 2012 Olympic Summer Games. The new format is aimed at introducing a new generation of participants to the sport with shorter, more spectator friendly courses and intense action.
“I think the team competition is so fun and adds a whole new dimension to our sport,” said Phillips at the finish line. “We train as a team everyday and to be able to come out and race together makes it very exciting.”
The team competition also wrapped up a successful debut for the sport of triathlon at the Canada Summer Games. Hundreds of spectators lined Summerside’s waterfront and downtown streets to catch the high-paced action, and one of the nation’s fastest growing sports.
Led by coach Pat Kelly, British Columbia athletes dominated the inaugural triathlon events winning all four gold medals on the table.
“Our goal this week was to sweep and we did that,” said Jeff Phillips. “I said earlier this week British Columbia is the triathlon capital of Canada and I think we did a good job in proving that.”
Triathlon Canada is the governing body for triathlon in the country. Recognized as an Olympic medal sport since 2000, Triathlon Canada’s mandate is to promote, foster, organize and develop the sport of triathlon, and its related disciplines, in Canada. For more information on Triathlon Canada, please visit us at www.triathloncanada.com on the Internet.
Complete Canada Summer Games Triathlon Results : www.2009canadagames.ca
(3 x 300-metre swim, 7-kilometre bike, 2-kilometre run)

Top-Five Junior Women’s Results:
1. British Columbia, 1:09:35; 2. Manitoba, 1:10:12; 3. Ontario, 1:11:00; 4. Quebec, 1:13:42; 5. Alberta, 1:14:09.
Top-Five Junior Men’s Results
1. British Columbia, 1:04:09; 2. Ontario, 1:05:20; 3. Manitoba, 1:06:25; 4. Nova Scotia, 1:07:08; 5. Alberta, 1:08:23

Team Event Pictures

2009-08-23T05:24:00.000-07:00

Team pics at this link.
http://picasaweb.google.com/barbsha/TeamEventCanadaSummerGames#

Canada Games Media Video

2009-08-19T11:08:00.000-07:00

Find here a video from CSG. Well spoken, Barb did you give the them media relations training as well? Great job to the BC athletes, coaches, TriBC, and Manager!

2009-08-18T19:33:00.000-07:00

CSG Pics!!

2009-08-18T19:27:00.001-07:00

Double Gold - Double Bronze!!! :) Globe and Mail article.

2009-08-18T19:19:00.000-07:00

Well it's 11:15 p.m. in PEI and I need to go to bed.. so I'm just going to post this Globe and Mail report instead of writing up something myself. I'll try to come up with something tomorrow. Thanks everyone for your great support and cheering. We could feel the energy!!

Lori Ewing
SUMMERSIDE, P.E.I. — The Canadian Press
Last updated on Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2009 04:58PM EDT
When Victoria's Alison Hooper broke through the finish-line banner of Tuesday's triathlon at the Canada Games, she grabbed it and took it with her.

Hooper and Jeff Phillips, also of Victoria, penned their names in the Canada Games history books by capturing gold in triathlon's debut on a dominant day for the B.C. team.

“It's pretty exciting, I made history, which is kind of cool,” Hooper said.

Hooper, 16, a former swimmer competing in her first season of triathlon, finished in 58 minutes 15 seconds to lead a trio of B.C. women that finished in the top four. Sarah-Anne Brault of Winnipeg won silver in 58:34, while Kyla Coates of Victoria took the bronze in 58:57. Christine Ridenour of Cowichan Bay, B.C., finished fourth in 59:12.

“I didn't know quite how it was going to go, especially with the 20-year-olds in this race, but I stuck with Sarah-Anne on the run and I felt really good and went for it,” Hooper said. “It was pretty exciting.”

Phillips, 20, won in 53:59, holding off Connor Hammond of London, Ont., who took the silver in 54:44. Cole Stewart of Langley, B.C., captured bronze in 54:52.

“I'm pretty happy, our B.C. team was really strong this year, all three of us were really strong swimmers,” Phillips said. “We were going for gold plus another podium spot and we got that, I'm feeling really happy about this.

“This was exactly what we wanted and I could be any more happy.”

Hooper was second out of the water behind Alberta's Ellen Pennock after a 750-metre swim in the Summerside Harbour, and then was among a pack of six through the 20-kilometre bike that snaked around the downtown area. She and Brault battled it out through much of the five-kilometre run before Hooper took the lead for good.

Inspired by Simon Whitfield's silver-medal performance at the Beijing Olympics, Hooper started training for triathlon less than a year ago, switching to the sport from swimming because her small stature.

“My size was starting to catch up with me,” said the five-foot-two Hooper. “My coach said you should try running, see how you feel, try this sport.

“I kind of took baby steps in October, starting training then, and really picked it up.”

Her goal was simply to make the Canada Games team. She did that, and went on to win the Canadian junior championships last month earning a berth for the world junior event next month in Australia.

“I love the sport,” Hooper said.

B.C. was the class of the field — no surprise considering most of the country's top triathletes, including Olympians Whitfield and Lauren Groves, make Victoria their training base.

“I'm surrounded by amazing athletes to train with, you can pursue a really good triathlon career from that centre in Victoria,” Hooper said.

“We just have a really good program in B.C.,” Phillips added. “You have all the top athletes there. We have year-round weather which is fantastic, we can ride year-round, there's tons of trails to run on, bike routes, it's just a great place to train.”

A group of eight athletes, including all three of B.C.'s athletes, quickly separated themselves from the field after the swim and hammered the pace on the 20-kilometre bike. Knowing that Hammond was a decent runner, Phillips and his teammates tried to work together through the bike to lose the Ontario athlete.

“We were trying all bike long to get a gap on him, every single one of us was trying to attack repeatedly, and I kind of decided at the end to just go for it and hammer my way in,” Phillips said. “I got a bit of a gap and then ran as fast as I could, just tried to stay away, I didn't want him to catch me.

“I didn't want to get into a running battle because I worked a lot on that bike.”

The triathlon event at the Canada Games includes athletes 16-to-20 years of age.

B.C. will be the obvious favourites in Friday's men's and women's team triathlon events.

Podium Day for Team BC

2009-08-18T16:44:00.000-07:00

Pics here... http://picasaweb.google.com/barbsha/SummerGamesPodiumForTEAMBC#

Story to follow...

2009-08-17T17:05:00.000-07:00

Pre Race training in PEI.

2009-08-17T16:57:00.000-07:00

Hi Ya'll. The day before the sprint race in Summerside, PEI. Team BC rode down to the course at 10 a.m for pre race training. The squad is feeling fast, motivated and ready. The weather has been the opposite of last year when it was cold and raining. The past few days it's been sunny and HOT.

Athlete meetings are finished. Athletes are feeling confident and ready to race FAST and represent BC well.

If you want to read more about TEAM BC go to http://teambc.org/games

Wish us luck! PK

Summer Games - Day 1

2009-08-16T16:21:00.001-07:00

Today (Sunday) was the first day of competition for many sports and the day after the Opening Ceremony. Apparently some of the triathletes from Team BC were on TSN!!

After the ceremony (long but entertaining) the team walked to a local restaurant in anticipation that going back to the athletes village to try to eat would take too long. Good idea!! After an early dinner we went back to the village, (thanks to Team BC mission staff for picking us up) then rode the bikes down to the race site for a quick swim. The ocean water is very warm, 24 degrees so it is unlikely to be a wet suit swim on race day. Pics are from travel, opening ceremonies and dinner out.

Race prep is going well.. weather is cooperating so far and tomm is the “day before. ” More pics to come in future posts.

Here is the link to pics from the last 2 days. I'm not able to post pics directly to the blog right now.
http://picasaweb.google.com/barbsha/CanadaSummerGamesDay1#

Countdown is on to Canada Summer Games

2009-08-13T10:20:00.000-07:00

Team BC heads to Summerside PEI today via a short stop overnight in Vancouver. Thankfully our group is well travelled and the 7 hour flight to Summerside will not be too difficult. Thanks to Coach PK for preparing our team so well and to Triathlon BC for their financial support for the trip.

Team BC - Alison Hooper, Christine Ridenour, Kyla Coates (alternate: Alex Coates) Jeff Phillips, Matt Sharpe, Cole Stewart (alternate: Aaron Thomas)

missing - Cole Stewart

Missing - Cole Stewart.

Ride up Hurricane Ridge

2009-07-25T21:08:00.000-07:00

Hurricane Ridge climb - 18 Miles (30km), 5200 feet elevation gain from PA. Sixteen riders began the climb Friday, July 24th from the peaceful town of Port Angeles and sixteen riders finished. Some faster and more easily than others!! :) King of the Mountains - Andrew McCartney - 53:37 runner up Austin Horn- 58:48. Queen of the Mountains - Kyla Coates, Alison Hooper, Hilary Wille (same time, time to the top ??). The stunning views of the Olympic mountains and some fast, fast descending made it all worthwhile. I'm sure we'll do it again!!

Race Day - Gatineau

2009-07-22T21:55:00.000-07:00

Here is the link for more pics from race day in Gatineau

http://picasaweb.google.com/barbsha/RaceDayGatineau#

Female National Junior Champion - Alison Hooper

2009-07-11T14:20:00.000-07:00

Quick Update from National Junior Champs in Gatineau, Quebec. Female National Junior Champion - Alison Hooper. NTC girls took five of the top ten spots - Alex Coates 4th, Kyla Coates 5th, Christine Ridenour 6th, Hilary Wille 8th. Male National Junior Champion - Connor Hammond, Ontario. Ontario boys raced very strongly with five in the top 10. NTC boys - Matt Sharpe 7th, Cole Stewart 8th, RTC lower mainland, Aaron Thomas 13th.

A very wet day with athletes racing under thunder showers right through to the end of racing made for some challenging conditions. Full results can be seen at www.sportstats.ca Very strong racing by the NTC juniors. Congratulations to everyone from all the provinces for working their butts off today. Alison Hooper surprised many with her win today but we all know she's got talent!! See you all next week. PK

Gatineau - Wednesday

2009-07-08T19:44:00.000-07:00

Wednesday in Gatineau and link to more pictures.

http://picasaweb.google.ca/barbsha/GatineauDay1#

pics from Des Moines.

2009-06-27T19:44:00.000-07:00

As you all know, a very big day for the big kids - Simon and Lauren both climbed onto the podium today.. Simon with the big win and Lauren with a really strong run to take thrid. Other notable results was Brent with a very gutsy run to 7th spot, just seconds away from the leading pack on the run. All three of then just fattened their wallets a bit more after this race. Andrew McCartney put in a big swim to take the swim prime - $5000 US - much to the chagrin of Hunter Kemper who was apparently there to really go after the prize for the fastest swimmer. Way to go Andrew. Important World Cup race experience was had by the young guns Paula, Sarah Anne, Jeff and Andrew. Very proud of you guys! The objective was to get in some of the race then retire before the run in order to save the legs for the Team Championships on Sunday.

Here are some pics of the race.

Volunteers at the Victoria Youth Triathlon

2009-06-21T21:25:00.000-07:00

Thanks to all the NTC group for volunteering and handing out awards at the Victoria youth Triathlon. Brings back memories for some of you racing there some years ago?? The kids really appreciated it and you all looked like you were having fun as well... THANKS !! and thanks to coach PK for being there as well.

here is a link to more pics from that day.

http://picasaweb.google.com/barbsha/VictoriaYouthTriathlon#

Coteau du Lac race update!

2009-06-20T20:41:00.000-07:00

National Junior Series Race #2 - Coteau du Lac, Quebec

A quick update on racing by NTC athletes this past weekend in Quebec.

1. Junior boys race: great start to the race with Matt Sharpe exiting first out of the water closely followed by Cole Stewart and Aaron Thomas. The BC boys quickly established a front pack on the bike with four others from Quebec and Ontario. Unfortunately this wasn't Matt's day as he was taken out on the bike with a flat tire midway through the bike. The Ontario boys showed up to race today and with some fine running took the first and second spots (Connor Hammond and Tristan Woodfine) followed by Marc Antoine Christin (Que). Cole finished up in fourth and Aaron in tenth. Well done Ontario and Quebec.

2. Junior girls race: again BC athletes dominated the 750m swim. Hilary Wille, in her first year of triathlon racing, exited the water in first with Alison Hooper right on her feet. Christine Ridenour was next out followed a few seconds later by Kyla Coates. The front four BC girls lead the bike segment along with Stevie Moore. For much of the bike leg the five junior women worked well together. However with over a lap to go Hilary and Alison found the pace a bit tough and dropped off the front. Onto the run, Kyla quickly established herself as the front runner and continued on for the win followed in by Joanna Brown of Ontario (fastest run split) with Christine rounding out the podium. Alison raced through for fourth, followed by a fast running Super Alex Coates and Hilary. Great day for the BC girls express!! Yeah!!

Senior women's race: Paula Findlay, in her first triathlon for 2009 and coming off an extended foot injury showed Canadians why she is a talent to be watched, finished with an almost one minute lead over Victorian Kerry Spearing.

Senior men's race: AP .. who is soon to return to Victoria after a month away in Ontario, put in a great showing with a strong 2nd place race, followed in by 5th place the dark knight himself, Andrew Russell, A-Mac in 10th and a fast closing JP in 12th. Austin raced his way up to 25th after some challenges during the race.

Next up is Des Moines World Cup for JP and Paula followed the next day the the ITU Team World Championships. Kyla has been selected as part of the relay team and will also be travelling do Iowa for some race international racing.

Juniors next stop will be the National Junior Championships in Gatineau, Quebec on July 11th.

Great racing NTC and BC athletes!! Let's keep it rolling.

just needed a boogie board!

2009-06-11T20:00:00.000-07:00

Awesome Kyla and Super Alex!!!!!

2009-06-11T19:52:00.000-07:00

a few pics from Birds Hill, Manitoba

2009-06-09T05:21:00.001-07:00

National Junior Series, Race #1, Birds Hill, Winnipeg

2009-06-07T12:08:00.001-07:00

A quick race report of Triathlon Canada National Junior Series Race #1, Birds Hill, Manitoba. June 07,09

Athletes arrived at race site to a very cool morning with water temp recorded at 13.2c. The juniors boys went off first at 8 a.m. followed by the junior women at 8:05 a.m. First out of the water was big Matt Sharpe followed by Aaron Thomas and Cole Stewart. Jeff Phillips bridged up on the bike along with a few others to form the lead pack. Out of transition 2, Jeff quickly took the lead followed by Matt and Aaron. Aaron unfortunately pulled a muscle in his calf and limped back on the first lap and retired from the race. He's hopefully going to recover and rehab in time for the Coteau du Lac race in two weeks. Junior boys finish was Jeff Phillips (JP is 20 yrs so he was racing for his Canada Summer Games spot and didn't count in the junior race). Matt first junior overall, followed by Mark Okany (Manitoba) and Cole Stewart (Vancouver RTC) in third.

Junior girls were lead out of the water by Christine Ridenour (with 15 second lead) shortly followed by a group of six or seven women. They formed a lead pack on the first lap which included Kyla Coates, Alison Hooper, Hilary Willie and Gabriella Bolanos (all from the Victoria NTC). Out onto the 5 km run, Kyla quickly assumed the lead followed by Sarah-Anne Brault (also a 20 year old so didn't figure in the junior finish) and the rest of the Victoria girls. Kyla continued to build on her lead over Sarah to take first while Alison raced into second spot on the back half of the run followed in by Christine and Hilary. So it was a BC podium with Kyla taking gold, Alison silver (great job by Alison in her first ever sprint distance race w/open water swim) and Christine bronze. Honorable mention to Hilary for her 4th place finish also in her first ever full sprint distance race.

Pictures to be posted later.

Coach PK