A number of triathlon and cycling clinics geared towards youth are being offered in Victoria by the Pacific Institute of Sport Excellence. The clinics focus on skill and technique development and are being taught by experienced coaches Kelly Guest and Houshang Amiri. For more information and to register visit PISE at www.piseworld.com.

Clinic details included below:

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Youth Triathlon Camp Ages 12 – 15—training to train

Our spring break triathlon training camp will work on skill and technique development for all three sports. Under the direction of a Kids of Steel coach, the PISE Youth Triathlon Camp will help kids get a grasp on how to prepare for races, be confident in their skills, and lay the foundations for a great triathlon season! This program will include strength & conditioning; testing; educational talks; guest coaches; technical skill development; and lots of fun! Cycling and running gear is mandatory.

Instructor: Kelly Guest

Monday – Friday 8:30am – 4:00pm

March 8 – 12 250 ($265)/5 sessions

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From Get Out There Magazine – The Subaru West Coast Triathlon Series has announced a new race to next year’s lineup, in Banff National Park.

The swim will take place in Two Jack Lake, the cycle will take place around the Minnewanka Loop, and the run will trek around the town of Banff and finish down famous Banff avenue.

The event will take place on September 11th and include an Olympic and Sprint distance event. Registration will be capped at 500 spots and will open on December 1, 2009. For more information go to http://triseries.ca/banff/.

• Loreen Pindera – Conquering the Ironman: Never so tired, never felt so good – “Loreen Pindera, you are an Ironman.” As I was struggling to find it in me to make it up one more hill in the back half of the 42.2-kilometre marathon, I imagined that to be the sweetest line in the world…
• Triathlete Tim – IMC – It wasn’t pretty but I got to the finish line and I got a medal…
• Rachel Kiers – 2009 Race #5: Ironman Canada – Last year at this race, I was 4 minutes over the 10 hour mark. This year, I felt a 9 something was in the bag–and more…
• Studio YVR – 2009 Ironman Canada Race Report – The swim was right on target for me. There were 2600 swimmers in the water so it was super crowded which meant that a lot of effort was spent just staying alive rather than focussing on swimming efficiently…
• Calvin’s Absurd World – Ironman Canada – For those wondering how Ironman Canada went for me, here is my non-report…
• PT Performance Training – IMC 09 – Ironman Canada was a tough day this year. The heat and the smoke made things a bit tough… Most of my athletes achieved their goals, 10 out of 11 finished, all within 15 hours. Well done guys!
• And so the story goes… – IMC Weekend – Ironman Canada 2009 was a total blast. My mom, Steve and I headed up on Friday and stayed the weekend at the Miller’s…
• Andrew Russell – No title for this one, bits and bites (that wonderful WestJet snack) of the last few weeks…

Lifesport Westcoast Vancouver Sprint Triathlon

• Heather Hollman – The First Half Ironman Experience – Well, here I am, sitting on my couch and sipping on my hot almond milk, recovering from one of the most intense weekends of my life…
• Runninggunner – Lifesport Westcoast Vancouver Sprint Triathlon – Sunday was my first race of the season and after 4.5 months of rehabbing my shoulder and recovering I was ready to go…
• Studio YVR – Cash and Win – Not a personal best for me as I was 7 minutes slower than at the Shawnigan Lake Half Iron however this bike course was 4 km longer.
• Stephen Kilshaw – next g0 – “Make yourself comfortable.” I heard this from the sidelines last year while in transition at the 1st 1/2 and thought, “Are you kidding me? This is a race! There’s no time to be comfortable!” Ahhh . . . yet still a young grasshopper.

Osooyoos Desert Half Iron

• Calvin’s Absurd World – Race Report – Desert Half Iron – For this race, I was fortunate enough to have my wife, Leanne, join me for the trip…

Squamish Triathlon (Olympic distance triathlon held on July 5th in Squamish)

• FCH Life & Triathlon – SQUAMISH TRIATHLON Race Report – Olympic Distance – 05.07.09
• Tri’n Fool – Squamish Tri (Relay)
• Whistler Running – Squamish Tri 2009

Triathlon of Compassion (Sprint Triathlon held on July 5th in Esquimalt)

• Mj’s Tri Blog – Tri of Compassion – Race Report
• Road to Worlds 2009 – Race Report: Tri of Compassion
• Heather Hollman – Triathlon of Compassion

Yaletown Grand Prix (5K running race held on July 1st in Vancouver)

• Pistol Runs – Money for Nothing

Sidney Days 5K (5K running race held on July 1st in Sidney)

• A Runner’s Tale – Sidney Days 5K

ScotiaBank Half Marathon (held on June 28th in Vancouver)

• Running Bebe – Race Report: Scotiabank Half-Marathon

Victoria International Half (held on June 21 in Victoria)

• Vincent’s Ramblings – Erich’s Odyssey Part 5/5

Following up from last weekend’s Hy-Vee ITU Triathlon Elite Cup, here are links to write-ups from Canada’s athletes which have been published so far:

• Simon Whitfield (winner of the men’s race) – and then that happened – well I’m home. and seeing Pippa launch herself at me for a hug when I arrived with “daddy daddy” was priceless. I wished I could just hit rewind over and over again, to see her reaction and to hear Jennie say “ahhhhhhh, Pippa misses daddy”. Life rolls on…
• Lauren Groves – Hy-vee Recap – So, I can’t lie, that was a pretty cool weekend. After three sleepless nights, I still feel as though I’m on a bit of a high from all the racing. We’re on the plane now and everyone around seems to be sleeping….except me!
• Kyle Jones – This is a tough one to write – I didn’t get much sleep last night and woke up this morning feeling like someone used my stomach as a punching bag. I’m very disappointed. I felt so rested coming into this race and after what happened last weekend I was motivated and confident that I could put together a great race…
• NTC Development Squad – pics from Des Moines – As you all know, a very big day for the big kids – Simon and Lauren both climbed onto the podium today..

From www.triathlon.org – Canadian Simon Whitfield’s renown sprint finish did not let him down today at the Hy-Vee ITU Triathlon Elite Cup. In what seemed like a replay from the Beijing Olympic Games, four men came into the finish straight together side by side: Whitfield, Germany’s Jan Frodeno, who was the man to pip Whitfield in Beijing, Australia’s Brad Kahlefeldt and New Zealand’s Kris Gemmell. Unlike Beijing however, Whitfield would cross the line first with an elated roar one second ahead of his chasers in a time of 1 hour 49 minutes and 43 seconds, claiming triathlon’s top payday. After a photo finish review, the third of the season, it was determined Australia’s Brad Kahlefeldt just nipped the tall German at the line for second with Frodeno in third. Gemmell finished fourth.

Continue reading…

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From CBC News - Victoria’s Simon Whitfield outran five other competitors in a sprint to the finish to win the US$200,000 first prize Saturday at an Elite Cup Triathlon in West Des Moines, Iowa.

Whitfield, the silver medallist at the Beijing Olympics, leaned at the tape to edge Australian Brad Kahlefeldt, who’s ranked second in the world.

“First thing I’m doing is buying this amazing toy house for my daughter Pippa,” Whitfield said after claiming the largest single-race prize of his 14-year career. “She’s been running around the front yard at home and really inspired me.”

In the women’s race, Vancouver’s Lauren Groves finished third.

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Volunteers are needed for the 30th Annual Self-Transcendence Triathlon/Duathlon that will take place Sunday, August 2, 2009 in Victoria, BC.

As appreciation, all volunteers will recieve a technical shirt, water bottle and post race meal. Volunteers will also be eligible for draw prizes.

If interested contact Patricia at 250-592-5355 or email info@scmt.ca.

The Kusam Klimb trail running race took place this past weekend at Sayward, located on the north end of Vancouver Island. The Kusam Klimb is an epic endurance event and includes over 1500 meters of elevation gain over very challenging terrain. This year saw Shane Ruljancich, men’s winner from the past two years, head up again to Sayward to race the event and attempt a 3-peat. The first part of his report is below. For complete results click here.

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With a catch phase of “Are you Tough Enough?” Kusam Klimb markets itself as an epic endurance event. With 1500 meters of elevation gain in 5.5km and some very challenging terrain, it lives up to its billing. It has even been listed by elite trail runner Dale Reicheneder (scroll down about half way) as the toughest race he has ever done. While I don’t consider it to be quite as insane as Dale describes, if you have never done it yourself, mere descriptions don’t convey the length and grade of the ascent. You can also read a longer article by Sarah Seads here.

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Results from yesterday’s Victoria Half Ironman are now posted:

• June 21 – Iron Mountain Triathlon, Maple Ridge, BC

  Olympic	Overall | Relay
  Sprint	Overall | Relay

• June 21 – New Balance Victoria International Half Iron Triathlon, Victoria, BC

  Half Iron	Overall | Men | Women | Relay
  Sprint	Overall | Men | Women | Relay

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.

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Results from the event can be viewed here.

• NEW! Heather Hollman - North Shore Triathlon - Thankfully, lack of sleep and leg stiffness (from the 10 x 1km Run WO on Saturday morning and Crazy Doctor Dancing), didn’t seem to affect my race too much…  
• NTC Development Squad - 2009 North Shore Triathlon Results – Congratulations to our North Shore racers….
• Meyrick Jones - North Shore Triathlon 2009 – Mattias and his buddy Carter rocked this thing. SWIM: Mattias was first out of the water – he took a few wallops on the head and got run into the side of the pool a couple of times but he distanced himself in the last 25m to emerge first out of the water…
• Nicola Gildersleeve - North Shore Spring Triathlon – Today was the 20th anniversary of the North Shore Spring Triathlon. I don’t normally participate in this event, to be honest, I haven’t even gone out to watch before…

Any others? Please let us know!

OKLAHOMA CITY, U.S.A—Canada’s next generation of Olympic triathlon heroes stormed the podium by winning four medals in men’s and women’s races at the PATCO Triathlon Pan American Championships in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma on Saturday.

Victoria’s Kyla Coates set the pace early in the junior race consisting of the 750-metre swim, 20-kilometre bike and five-kilometre run, to post one of Canada’s best-ever overall showings at the PATCO Championships by winning the women’s race under cool and very difficult morning conditions with a time of one hour six minutes and 30 seconds (1:06:30).

Continue reading….

The 20th Anniversary North Shore Spring Triathlon is coming up on Victoria Day Monday May 18th in and around Ron Andrews RecCentre in North Vancouver. Volunteers are needed in all areas of the race from package pick-up to lap counting on the pool deck. If you think you could spare a few hours, we’d really appreciate your support. If you have any FRIENDS or FAMILY who are able to volunteer, please ask them to contact me by phone (604-313-8192) or e-mail (back@telus.net).

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In case you missed it, the opening race of the ITU World Championship Series is this weekend in Tongyeong, Korea. The women have already raced, with Canada’s Kirsten Sweetland and Laren Groves both posting top ten finished. Both have already posted reports from the race on their respective blogs:

• Kirsten Sweetland - WCS #1 done and done! - The first race of te series is now over! (well..for the girls at least!) I didn’t have a stellar day but there were some highlights in there!
• Lauren Groves - Top-10! – I finished 10th today and honestly, I am thrilled with this result. I didn’t exactly have an ideal pre-race week with the yucky cold, and just yesterday, I was sitting in the hospital with high performance director, Kurt, both of us wondering if I was even going to be able to race.

The men’s race is Sunday, and can be watched live free of charge on the ITU World Championship website at www.triathlon.org/tv.

A number of Canadian men will be competing, including Simon Whitfield and Brent McMahon. We will post results from the event when available.

Results from the Delta Triathlon (April 25th) are now posted online and separted into the following three categories:

• Adults (Overall, Relay Teams)
• Youth (Overall, Relay Teams)
• Kids (Overall, Relay Teams)

Congratulations to everybody who competed!

From SQWRACING.com:

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Bertrand to implement intensive four-year plan focused on winning Olympic medals—

TORONTO—Canada’s high-performance triathletes received a boost of support in their quest for the international podium. Philippe Bertrand has been promoted to head coach of the Senior National Team, Triathlon Canada announced on Thursday.

Bertrand, who helped lead Simon Whitfield to his electrifying silver medal at the 2008 Olympic Summer Games in Beijing as an assistant coach, brings a wealth of international experience and knowledge to his new role. The 35-year-old Bertrand has worked his way through the Canadian triathlon system over the last 15 years as a national-team athlete, and has coached actively at the provincial, national and international levels since 1998.

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Canadian Kirsten Sweetland reports on her win last weekend in the opening leg of the 2009 ITU Triathlon World Cup Series. Here’s an excerpt from her most recent blog posting:

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What a way to come back! Like I mentioned before, my favorite sport, my favorite course, my favorite place…and to feel like i did and come a way with a win was just the cherry on top! I’ll give you a brief run through of the race..

It was not typical Queensland weather…big gusts of chilly wind, rain and overcast were the cards dealt for the morning. It was strange to see everyone shivering in their trackies thinking back to 2 years ago when we were pouring ice water down our suits to keep cool! 

I’ve been struggling with getting cold lately and unfortunately in the time between being lined up in my trackies until the start my body temp dropped enough to affect my swimming again! As I’ve learned in many swim sessions over the past week..it doesn’t take long for that to happen! I struggled through the entire swim…never getting clear water and boxed in…pushed/pulled around the whole time…it was a good welcome back to World Cup swimming!

Continue reading on Kirsten’s blog…

International Triathlon Union Press Release ===

Mooloolaba, Australia (March 29, 2009) – The opening leg of the 2009 ITU Triathlon World Cup Series was won by 20 year old Kirsten Sweetland from Canada as she started 2009 with a bang, beating Olympic Games bronze medallist and local favourite Emma Moffatt to the gold in a time of 2:02:00. In third was under23 World Champion, Switzerland’s Daniela Ryf.

Having taken most of 2008 off due to injury, and failing to qualify for the Olympic Games, Sweetland raced ten World Cup events in 2007, and registered her first win with victory at Richards Bay in South Africa. Today’s result marks her third appearance on the podium.

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From Runner’s Web – Athletes from across Canada and around the world will join local triathletes this weekend to take part in the Subaru Sooke International Half Iron & Sprint Triathlon. The event marks the fourth and final stop on the 2008 Subaru West Coast Triathlon Series in the beautiful ocean-side community of Sooke just outside Victoria, BC. The beauty and challenge of this event has made it very popular, doubling in size to 300 participants in just its second year.

The howitzer cannon will blast once again to start the race that includes many amateur athletes racing side by side with the professionals. The race serves as the Age Group Championships for the Subaru West Coast Triathlon Series with participants representing 5 Canadian provinces, 4 American States, the United Kingdom, and New Zealand.

Continue reading on the Runner’s Web website …

Whitfield is back in Canada and offers his take of Beijing and winning his  second Olympic medal. The following excerpt is courtesy of the Globe and Mail .

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Well that chapter is over, what a journey.

Four years ago Coach Joel and I set the goal to get back on the podium at the Olympic Games after what can only be described as a what-doesn’t-break-you-only- makes-you-stronger experience in Athens.

In 2005 Coach Joel assembled a squad that initially spent a year with 6 athletes jammed in one lane at Crystal Pool. We had very little funding, and of the original squad I think only Colin and I are left. The following year we were given another lane at Crystal. Kyle Jones, Dano Wells and Jordan Rapp joined us soon after and when Kirsten Sweetland came along our squad was rolling. We’ve had some other athletes come and go, all on good terms, it just didn’t always work out for one reason or another. At the start of 2008 Brent McMahon was training part time with us and found a way to contribute with his great work ethic and experience. Paul Tichelaar was commuting from Edmonton to train with us and Andrew Mac was crushing us in the pool much to his delight.  Eventually Olympian Lauren Groves also joined us.  It was with a mission statement built around "people will rise to the level of expectations" that Joel’s squad was (and will continue to be) world class.

Continue reading on globeandmail.com …