The Canadian Press, June 9th 2008

Colin Jenkins is on the Olympic men’s triathlon team because he’s willing to sacrifice his dreams of a medal to get teammate Simon Whitfield on the podium in Beijing.

Whitfield, the Olympic gold medallist in 2000, Edmonton’s Paul Tichelaar and Jenkins, from Hamilton, Ont., were named to the men’s team Monday by Triathlon Canada.

Jenkins was appointed to the team ahead of Victoria’s Brent McMahon, who is ranked higher than Jenkins internationally, because Triathlon Canada says Whitfield’s chances of winning a medal improve with a teammate whose sole purpose is to draft for Whitfield on the 40-kilometre bike leg of the race.

"We’re putting a team together that’s about medal contention and at the end of the day, that pressure falls on me," Whitfield said Monday from Vancouver in a conference call.

"We set this team up and I have to go perform."

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By The Canadian Press

TORONTO - Simon Whitfield of Kingston, Ont., Paul Tichelaar of Edmonton and Colin Jenkins of Hamilton, Ont., have been named to the Canadian men’s triathlon team for the Olympic Games.

Triathlon Canada made the announcement this morning following the 2008 world championship in Vancouver on Sunday.

Whitfield, an Olympic gold medallist in 2000, will compete in his third Olympics, while Tichelaar and Jenkins will make their Games debut in Beijing.

Whitfield, 33, qualified by finishing in the top eight at both a World Cup and a world championship. Tichelaar and Jenkins were nominated to the team by Triathlon Canada’s high performance committee.

The women’s triathlon team will be named within the next two weeks.

The Olympic triathlons will be held Aug. 18 and 19.

Globeandmail.com introduces Olympic triathlon champion Simon Whitfield as a regular Right to Play blogger leading up to the Olympic Games in Beijing this summer. In addition to being one of the top triathletes in the world, the Victoria native is also an Athlete Ambassador for the international humanitarian organization Right To Play. Headquartered in Toronto, Right To Play uses sport and play programs to improve health, build life skills and foster peace for children and communities in the most disadvantaged areas of the world. In their roles as Right To Play Athlete Ambassadors, Simon and dozens of other top Canadian athletes inspire children, are role models for healthy lifestyle choices and help raise awareness and funding for Right To Play projects

Here’s his first entry:

A blog for globeandmail.com by a guy who runs around in his swimsuit for a living . . .

Gina Kolata , a fitness and lifestyle writer for the New York Times , has just posted her latest article under her Personal Best column. Its called "For Peak Performance, 3 Is Not Better Than 1".

When Jenny Higgins started doing triathlons, she discovered something peculiar. She had been on her high school cross country and swim teams and her college swim team. But in 2003 she started running, swimming and cycling, and tried to excel in all three at once.

“I noticed that in the pool, my legs felt very heavy,” she said. “I was dragging my legs more than I used to and it hurt my swimming.”

Other times, she would swim fluidly but feel lifeless when she ran or cycled. After five years as a multisport athlete, Ms. Higgins, now a 32-year-old postdoctoral research fellow at Princeton University, said the push-me-pull-you feeling has not gone away. It made Ms. Higgins wonder something that may be on the minds of the nation’s more than 100,000 triathletes, too: Is it even possible to peak in more than one sport at once?

Click here to continue reading this article .

National Triathlon Team member Colin Jenkins has just posted the second installment of his Road to Beijing series on the Slowtwitch website. Click here to read it.

Canwest News Service
Published: Friday, April 11, 2008

TRIATHLON — The longest-running World Cup in International Triathlon Union history will be staged Sunday in Ishigaki, Japan.

A tough course in hot humid conditions will offer athletes a similar setting to the Olympic venue in Beijing. Olympic gold medallist Simon Whitfield of Victoria kicks off his 2008 season at the event.

© Times Colonist (Victoria) 2008 

Colin Jenkins, a Canadian Triathlete who trains with the National Team in Victoria has recently written an article for Slowtwitch. In it he talks about his training and preparations in the months leading to the Beijing Olympic Games this August. Colin also has his own training blog - colinjenkins.blogspot.com. Click here to read his article.

From the Bermuda Sun Online Edition, published February 27, 2008

Red Bull. That stuff really gives you wings, man. It’s not the nugget of nutritional advice you might have expected from an Ironman World Champion. But Chris McCormack insists it’s what finally pushed him over the finish line to win the Hawaii event - the most gruelling athletic test in the world of sport. McCormack was on the island this week along with Xterra off-road triathlon ace Melanie McQuaid to give a series of clinics and talks to local athletes and youngsters.

Aussie McCormack finally achieved his dream of winning the 2.4mile swim, 112 mile bike and marathon at Kona last year, after six years of trying, completing the course in eight hours, 15 minutes and 34 seconds. If it’s possible to imagine anything more extreme than that. Then Xterra triathlon is it. It’s not as far. A breezy Olympic distance (1.5k/40k/10k) triathlon. The catch is it’s all off-road - ocean swimming, mountain biking and trail running.

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