Weekend Triathlon Results & Writeups
Results from yesterday’s Victoria Half Ironman are now posted:
- June 21 – Iron Mountain Triathlon, Maple Ridge, BC
- June 21 – New Balance Victoria International Half Iron Triathlon, Victoria, BC
Writeups will be added here as they become available:
- Vincent’s Ramblings – Victoria International New Balance Half Iron Race Report – Wow what a lengthy title. Hopefully the report isn’t the same. My lead up to the race was a little different than normal…
- Heather Hollman – Birthdays and Triathlons – What a great weekend!! I haven’t in raced in nearly a month and it felt soo good finally getting to pin a number on my shirt again!! This weekend was extra special because I not only was given the chance to race a beautiful course, but I also got to celebrate my 22nd Bday
- FCH Life and Triathlon – Iron Mountain Triathlon Race Report - First of all I would like to say: This race was fun fun fun! Lots of friends racing made it very cool, it was great to see everyone before the race setting up transition…
- Woman in the Run – It take guts – The New Balance Half Ironman – As I write this early Sunday morning, sitting in my cushy chair with a coffee at my elbow, hundreds of intense athletes are already in Elk Lake, thrashing their way through a 1.2 mile swim…
- Alive with Sport – Victoria - I caught the 7am ferry over today and rode my bike over to Victoria to cheer for my friends in the Half Iron race…
Also, here’s a writeup from today’s Times Colonist newspaper:
Victorians Jasper Blake, Cheryl Murphy victorious in New Balance Half Iron triathlon at Elk Lake
Teacher and student matched each other swim stroke for swim stroke in Elk Lake and pedal for pedal on the roads of the Saanich Peninsula on Sunday. They were also step for step along the Elk Lake park trail before the mentor, 2006 Ironman Canada champion Jasper Blake, pulled ahead to win the 2009 New Balance Half Iron in three hours, 54 minutes, 39 seconds to fellow Victorian Stephen Kilshaw’s 3:55:51.
Maybe next time, grasshopper.
The 35-year-old Blake, who coaches 24-year-old Kilshaw, was instrumental in convincing the rising younger star his future path may not be through the Olympics over the shorter distance but instead through Kona in the longer Ironman.
“I said I’m not trying to steer you either way but your strengths may be in longer distances,” said Blake.
The wizened veteran may be correct.
“I am delighted to coach Stephen . . . he’s like a sponge,” said Blake.
“Basically, we were head to head the whole way out there today. Stephen went from 4:05 last year to 3:55 this year. He is going to be really, really good. We’ll be racing together again in Penticton [Ironman Canada] and hopefully Kona [Ironman Hawaii].”
Seven hundred racers contested the 14th annual New Balance Half Iron over a course consisting of a 1.9-K swim, 88-K bike race and 21.1-K run. Another 150 sprint competitors swam 500 metres, biked 22-K and ran 5-K.
Third overall was Kelly Guest in 4:04:45 as the Victoria battler continues to put his wrenching ejection from the 2002 Manchester Commonwealth Games, and subsequent two-year suspension, in the career rear-view mirror.
The 2009 women’s New Balance Half Iron champion, Cheryl Murphy of Victoria, was across in 4:36:18 and only need look to last year’s winner for inspiration. Lindsay Corbin went from her win at Elk Lake to fifth place in the 2008 Ironman Hawaii world championships in Kona.
Murphy, who qualified for the 2009 world track and field championships in the marathon, was shocked when informed that it had been decided not to send any Canadian female marathoners to Berlin in August. She took her frustrations out on the Elk Lake/Saanich Peninsula course on Sunday.
“I was very disappointed about the decision because it’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to compete at the world championships,” said the mother of two, who turns 40 in September.
“My back-up plan now is to compete in Ironman Canada [in August at Penticton] and then see about Hawaii,” added Murphy, who was well ahead of runner-up Lucy Smith’s 4:42:14.
© Copyright (c) The Victoria Times Colonist
