TRAINING DAYS....THEY'RE BACK

Tell your friends. That's right, we're going to resurrect the training days. A few of the local Guelph parents corralled coach Lorri Zagar and yours truly just before xmas to get some training days organized in Guelph for 2011. Details are being worked out, but we wanted to post the tentative dates to put the word out. All training days will be in Guelph, most likely at the UofGuelph, but we're also looking at the Marden Field House. Lorri's Fun2Tri Club will the official host club.

If coaches are interested in coaching, send me an e-mail.


Here are the tentative dates, and themes/additional features for each day:

Sun Jan 30th: Likely a Bike & Run Theme

Sun Mar 6th: Gear Swap

Sun Apr 17th: Transitions and Bike Skills

Sun May 15th: Pre-Race Prep


Mark your calendars. More details soon.

JENS VOIGT...

A little something to keep you entertained and motivated:

"Jens Voigt has never been in a breakaway. But he has successfully dropped the peloton on a number of occasions."

Additional Jen-isms here, just keep clicking on Jens for more.

NATIONAL DEV TEAM NAMED

Congrats to all athletes named to the 2011 National Development Team. Well earned. Looking forward to some great racing from this group in 2011.

Triathlon Canada Names 2011 Development Squad

December 20, 2010 

VICTORIA—Eight triathletes laden with promise will make up Canada’s 2011 Development Team, Triathlon Canada announced on Monday.

Selected on merit from a successful 2010 season, the young squad will consist of the following athletes: Kyla Coates (Victoria); Joanna Brown (Carp, Ont.); Christine Ridenour (Cowichan Bay, B.C.); Andrew McCartney (Victoria); Jeff Phillips (Victoria); Matt Sharpe (Victoria); Alexander Hinton (Kingston, Ont.); and Andrew Yorke (Caledon, Ont.).

Full article here.

EXERCISIN'

A short by idon productions, from November. We'd talked about doing a video a month to journal the year, but don't hold your breath. Unless we get some solid content, it's going to be 5 months of trainers and swimming.

PARALYMPICS CAMPAIGN

Triathlon Canada Backs International Triathlon Union’s “Para-Triathlon for Paralympics Campaign”

December 9, 2010 

TORONTO—Triathlon Canada and its team of athletes offered official support to the International Triathlon Union’s bid for inclusion of Para-Triathlon into the Paralympic Summer Games lineup in Rio De Janeiro 2016, the governing body for the sport in Canada announced on Thursday.

Triathlon Canada has joined a star-studded lineup of athletes and organizations backing the bid to encourage the International Paralympic Committee to make a favourable decision for inclusion of Para-Triathlon into the 2016 Games.

“Since making its debut in the Olympic Games in 2000, triathlon has emerged as one of the fastest growing sports at all levels in Canada, and around the world, and there is no question in our mind, the sport should now also be showcased on the world’s biggest stage for Para-sports where it belongs,” said Alan Trivett, executive director, Triathlon Canada. “On behalf of Canada’s entire team of para- and able-bodied athletes, we give the International Triathlon Union our full support.”

Full article.

DELLY'S PICK

From www.triathon.org (full article here):

Now we’ve had the reader’s choice its back to our camera artist Delly Carr for his choice and why:

At the time I didn’t think much of this image. But Paula Findlay surprised everyone that day and beat all the fancied favourites. So this picture now takes on a different meaning.

Her eyes tell you so much. You can see power, nobility, and ambition in her stare. And then look at all the blues in the image ..... her eyes, her swim goggles, her uniform, and the background. The colour blue is linked to consciousness, intellect, power and seriousness. Add a splash of the energy of the colour red, the colour of fire and blood, and she had the colour balance working perfectly that day to take on the world. And she did. - Delly Carr

Camera: D3S
Exposure: f2.8, 1/1000
ASA: 200
Lens: 300mm

XC NATS

Exciting racing yesterday at XC Nats in Guelph. It was great to see so many triathletes mixing it up on the course, in all of the divisions.

Runnerspace.com was on site to capture all of the races and interviews (available here) and Dorelle took a few pics (album on the right hand side menu).

Congrats to all athletes & coaches on their efforts.

Results linked here.

GETTING BETTER

"Ten years from now, you'll be the same person except for the people you meet and the books you read."  ~ Charlie "Tremendous" Jones

Both perspectives below are from the field of marketing, but absolutely applicable to our community:


From Seth Godin's Blog:

Where do ideas come from?

1. Ideas don't come from watching television
2. Ideas sometimes come from listening to a lecture
3. Ideas often come while reading a book
4. Good ideas come from bad ideas, but only if there are enough of them
5. Ideas hate conference rooms, particularly conference rooms where there is a history of criticism, personal attacks or boredom
6. Ideas occur when dissimilar universes collide
7. Ideas often strive to meet expectations. If people expect them to appear, they do
8. Ideas fear experts, but they adore beginner's mind. A little awareness is a good thing
9. Ideas come in spurts, until you get frightened. Willie Nelson wrote three of his biggest hits in one week
10. Ideas come from trouble
11. Ideas come from our ego, and they do their best when they're generous and selfless
12. Ideas come from nature
13. Sometimes ideas come from fear (usually in movies) but often they come from confidence
14. Useful ideas come from being awake, alert enough to actually notice
15. Though sometimes ideas sneak in when we're asleep and too numb to be afraid
16. Ideas come out of the corner of the eye, or in the shower, when we're not trying
17. Mediocre ideas enjoy copying what happens to be working right this minute
18. Bigger ideas leapfrog the mediocre ones
19. Ideas don't need a passport, and often cross borders (of all kinds) with impunity
20. An idea must come from somewhere, because if it merely stays where it is and doesn't join us here, it's hidden. And hidden ideas don't ship, have no influence, no intersection with the market. They die, alone.

And from Six Pixels of Separation" (thanks Steve Fleck):

The Most Important Thing You Can Do...

It happened twice yesterday. In the span of fours hours, two people I deeply respect said the exact same thing.

Yesterday morning, I went to see Jeffrey Gitomer (best-selling author of The Sales Bible, The Little Red Book of Selling and every other Little Book of... business and management book) speak. Gitomer is pretty clear about what it takes to be successful. He believes that the greatest sales people and marketing professionals are the ones who read and write... a lot. While many people who see Gitomer can easily walk away with the message that the secret of success is in the writing, after spending some time with him, it's obvious that the real secret (for him) is in the reading. Gitomer reads a ton. He not only collects the books that inspire him, but he devours them and surrounds himself with them. He loves words. He's constantly learning and educating himself, and - from there - the ideas for his writing (whether it's a book, article, presentation or tweet) flow from an overflowing brain of ideas and inspiration.

Then, it happened again.

Full post here.

SHORTCOMINGS & CONSEQUENCES

Last weekend I attended the PetroCan Sport Leadership conference in Ottawa, an annual conference for coaches, administrators, leaders and officials. Lots of great discussions and learning all around. One offline discussion I had with a few coaches had to do with LTAD (the Long Term Athlete Development model). More specifically, the discussion was about what I perceived to be the problems with the LTAD.

As I've said before, there are are lot of great ideas in the LTAD, many of them are backed by solid empirical research. There are however a few glaring problems, presented as fact, which to the best of my knowledge are not supported. The top three are:

1) Windows of Trainability
2) The 10,000 Hour Rule
3) Gender bias in training application

The problems don't stop there, but these are the three things that came up in the discussion on the weekend. I've previously written about the first issue here. The 10,000 Hour Rule requires more time than I have right now, but it's something I plan on returning to.

So I'll tackle the easy one in this post....gender.

The LTAD identifies "Shortcomings" in the Canadian Sport System, and the ensuing consequences. One of the shortcomings is that "training methods and competition programs designed for male athletes are imposed on female athletes", and consequently "female athlete potential (is) not reached due to inappropriate programs."

On the face of it, it certainly seems possible; sport is still largely a male domain when you look at the demographics of coaches, administrators, athletes, etc.  Maybe we're not training and racing our female athletes appropriately.  Maybe we can realize better performances by changing what we do.

Surprisingly, there is no further discussion of this issue in the LTAD, no supporting data is cited, and no solutions are provided. This seems strange, given that 50% of the Canadian population is female, and Canada's Olympic Teams are 38-44% female. It would seem like we're leaving a big stone unturned, and lots of medals on the table.

But before we go revamping our programs for female athletes, we should again ask a very simple question: is it true that our female athletes aren't reaching their potential due to inappropriate programs?

Anecdotally, in the sport of triathlon, it would seem that the reverse is true: that the Canadian women are doing quite well. The majority of Canada's medals in international triathlon this year came from female athletes (ie. Paula, Kirsten, Joanna).

But one year does not constitute proof, and triathlon is just one sport. What happens if we look at the performance of Canadian women at the highest level of competition, the Olympic Games, over the last 22 years?

* denotes a medal won in paired figure skating

As it turns out, the women seem to be doing just fine, or maybe better than fine.

At the Winter Olympics, women have constituted only 36% of the Canadian team over the last 7 Games (increased to 44% for the last two Olympics), but won 56% of Canada's medals.  Rather than "not reaching their potential", it would seem that the ladies in red & white are exceeding expectations, or at least beating the odds.

The Summer Olympic Games provide a somewhat different picture, but it's far from dire. Over the last 6 Olympic Summer Games, the Canadian women have on average constituted 45% of the Canadian Team, and won 45% of the medals.

This post is just a quick snapshot of what could be a much larger conversation, but at least it's based on actual data, rather than conjecture. And from the data summarized above, it's not clear to me that our female athletes are not reaching their potential.  


But the bigger issue is not about how we train and race female athletes, it's about where we get our info, how we verify it, and how we use it.  If I could leave the reader with one piece of advice, it would be to be critical of the information you receive, and to do the homework for yourself.  If a statement seems odd, simply ask: "Is that true?", and do some digging.  We live in a time of unparalleled access to information.  If we want to be world-class, we can't be blindly following advice when the readily available data points us in the other direction.

Taking that approach, maybe the mens' teams in winter sport should reconsider their approach to training, not the other way around.    Food for thought, anyways.


Sources:

http://www.olympic.ca/en/games/winter-olympics/

http://www.wikipedia.org/

A-Town

"Alpha Male".....who knew?

Full explanation here. Should be a fun weekend here at XC Nats.

THE BASICS: A REVIEW

I originally wrote this post in April, 2008, but given that A) I haven't updated the blog in a while; B) this approach is still one of our fundamental principles; and C) this message is timely as athletes return to training, I thought I'd resurrect the post.


HEALTH - CONSISTENCY - PERFORMANCE
April 24, 2008

Most of the concepts and ideas I use in coaching are adapted (or just plain stolen) from other coaches, sports experts, athletes, and non-sport sources. Even the things that I've 'discovered' myself are not novel - someone else has figured it out before me, I just didn't read their book/article/website or attend their seminar before I worked it out myself. Most coaches will tell you the same thing, and there's no shame in it - we should be in the business of making people faster, not inventing new gizmos, or protocols, or trademarking common training terms - a pet peeve of mine.

Training can be, and should be, fairly simple - or 'clean' - that's the new word around here lately. If our approach to training is based on clean and simple principles, it's easier to adhere to those principles and stay focused on the task at hand.

One very simple philosophy we follow here was hashed out with NTC coaches Neil Harvey and Patrick Kelly during a swim practice a while back. It's so simple, it's self evident, but that doesn't stop the majority of athletes from ignoring it. Make sure you have a pencil and paper handy, you don't want to miss this one. Here it is:

Health --->  Consistency --->  Performance

(Cue the "How many coaches does it take to screw in a light bulb?" jokes.)

As I wrote earlier, it's self-evident, and it's a very clean and simple concept: Health must precede Consistency, which must precede Performance. Put another way, you can't have achieve Performance without Consistency, and you can't achieve Consistency without being Healthy.

The trick for coaches and athletes is not to simply understand the concept, but to employ it. When I talk to athletes, the conversation centers around health if they are injured or sick, with little emphasis on consistency or performance. If an athlete is healthy, the discussion moves to consistency. Consistent training should be measured in months, not days or weeks. Only when an athlete is training consistently, and maintaining good health (ie. properly managed recovery habits) can we begin to discuss performance.

How many athletes out there are focussed on a specific race performance or a 'breakthrough workout' when they aren't healthy, or haven't been consistent? More than most in my experience, and they're setting themselves up for disappointment. Keep it simple - stay healthy, train consistently, and the performances will follow.

Please note that I've trademarked this concept. Just send your annual licensing fee of $79.99 c/o Provincial Triathlon Centre if you want to use it.

I'm off to find some new coaching ideas to steal.

EDMONTON WC DATE CHANGE

Date Change: 2011 Edmonton ITU Triathlon World Cup

    

29/10/10 at 8:24 pm - Texto en español

The date of the 2011 Edmonton ITU Triathlon World Cup and PATCO Junior Championship has been changed. New date is now set for 10th July 2011.

For further inquiries please contact Sheila OKelly, Managing Director of ITU World Cups.

Find more details about this event - 2011 Edmonton ITU Triathlon World Cup

TRI-NORTH

A quick plug for Tri-North.ca, the newest addition to the Canadian Triathlon scene. The site is the brainchild of the one and only Jairus Streight, and it's off to a good start. Check out the forum, and look for other features coming soon, like classifieds, WEBereviews, and video coverage of the 2011 Season(!).

I recently did a short interview (aka WEBereview) with Tri-North, and there are great interviews with Lauren Campbell and Noa Deutsch to check out. You'll have to log-in for access to the WEBereviews (using your facebook, twitter, blogger, etc. account) - it only takes a minute, and this format should cut down on the anonymous (unaccountable) forum messages which tends to kill some forums.

Looking forward to great things from Tri-North. Check it out, start a thread in the forum or post something for sale in the classifieds.

8 LANES!

Time to give Guelph runners a home
www.guelphmercury.com
October 18, 2010


JOHN MARSDEN
GOING THE DISTANCE

The Guelph Track Project wants to build a new eight-lane track in Guelph. The time has come.

The track is home for runners. While the majority of our time is spent running roads and trails, the track is where we come to measure our progress, to intensify our training, to compete at the higher levels. Even those who start with the walk/run clinics eventually end up developing a relationship with the track.

There are many good reasons to build a good track facility, both economic and social. Here, I will only deal with the impact on our local elite athletes.

Read the rest of the article here.

NOTE: If you want to provide community feedback on this project, go to this survey.

Additional Links: Guelph Victors, Guelph Track Project

EDMONTON 2011

July 2/3, 2011: ITU Edmonton World Cup and PATCO Junior Champs. See below:

WORLD CUP TRIATHLONS RETURN TO EDMONTON
FIVE-YEAR CONTRACT WITH ITU

EDMONTON, October 20: Following a break of three years, World Cup triathlons will again be staged to thrill Edmontonians in and around Hawrelak Park.

The announcement was made today at City Hall by Sheila O’Kelly, the Executive Director of the decade of Edmonton’s triathlon events and now the Managing Director of the International Triathlon Union (ITU) World Cup series, as well as being a member of the Board of the fledgling Edmonton Triathlon Academy.

Edmonton is one of 8 host cities of the 2011series announced today by the ITU. “After a decade of staging successful events, the board of World Cup Triathlon Edmonton decided in 2007 that it was time to let other Canadian communities organize international triathlon events, while we wanted to focus on retaining Edmonton’s legacy of providing world-class triathletes,” said O’Kelly.

She pointed out that two of the six members of the Canadian triathlon team competing at the Olympic Games in Beijing were Edmontonians who were introduced to international competition on their home course. They were Paul Tichelaar and Carolyn Murray, who is now a coach at the Triathlon Canada training centre in Victoria.

“With this in mind, we created the Edmonton Triathlon Academy, to provide top-quality training for young triathletes from northern Alberta. We have succeeded in this venture, by finding and hiring one of the best triathlon coaches – Kevin Clark - who in only three months has 15 members in the Academy,” added O’Kelly.

She went on to explain that these young triathletes need to have the best-quality competitions in which to test themselves and gauge their progress. Next year, there was not a single World Cup event planned for Canada.

So, at the ITU annual meeting in Budapest in September, she made a pitch for Edmonton to again host a series of World Cup events. There was unanimous support, as many people remembered the success of the 2001 World Championships and the following six World Cup races.

The event, to be held on the weekend of July 2nd and 3rd, will now have an added international appeal. O’Kelly returned two days ago from Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, where she was attending the congress of the Pan American Triathlon Confederation (PATCO) and the Pan American Triathlon Championships.

This was a test event for the 2011 Pan Am Games. The annual congress of the PATCO nations agreed that next year’s Junior Championships will be held in Edmonton on the World Cup weekend. Commenting on the news, Stephen Holmes, President of Triathlon Canada, said: “I am delighted that Edmonton has again taken up the challenge of staging a World Cup in Canada, which will help all our athletes in their development and be a great assistance to Triathlon Canada’s strategic plan and its focus on Long Term Athlete Development.”

Mayor Mandel, who competed in a team triathlon with Councilors Karen Leibovici and Jane Batty at the 2005 World Cup in Hawrelak Park, was a strong advocate of the bid to return international triathlons to Edmonton.

“I think that the triathlon events have been one of the best and most successful international sporting events staged in our city, and I am thrilled that they are to return next year,” he said.

For further information: Brian Hetherington 780-455-8208 or 780-886-6459

BITTERSWEET DAY

Canada’s Kirsten Sweetland Caps off Season with Bittersweet Day at PATCO Pan American Championships

October 18, 2010
www.triathloncanada.com 

PUERTO VALLARTA,Mex.—Canada’s Kirsten Sweetland had a bittersweet ending to the 2010 triathlon season.

The 21-year-old was the fastest athlete through the elite women’s 1.5-kilometre swim, 40-kilometre bike and 10-kilometre run on Sunday at the PATCO Championships in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, but was disqualified by race officials after mistakingly following an ITU official (on the bike) in the inside lane, rather than outside, during an on-course turnaround.

Full article here.

BUDAPEST ON CBC TOMORROW

First, apologies for not (yet) posting any follow-up on worlds. Canada had some excellent results worth noting and celebrating.  I'll do that soon, if only for posterity, because everyone else in the tri community has already done such a great job.  But on a related note, make sure you're tuned into CBC tomorrow (Saturday, Sept 18) to see the coverage of the Women's Elite Race. See below for a note from coach and commentator Barrie Shepley:

Because of a very busy CBC sports Saturday, the Women's World Tri-Champs will be in a 12 noon to 1pm EST show tomorrow. There may optimally be some 23 and jr shots as well. Please pass on to anyone who would enjoy seeing Budapest women racing on CBC tomorrow. Just headed down to the studios right now to finish the show.

Have a great weekend. Barrie

ZANDER

Continuing what is becoming something of a tradition, idon productions proudly presents Alexander Hinton's 2010 Worlds Video:

ITU GRAND FINAL

Elite Mens' race on now (7-9EST), at www.triathlonlive.tv. Go Kyle!

Updated with Results:

U23 WOMEN: Results
1. Emma Jackson (AUS)
2. Kirsten Sweetland (CAN)
3. Emmie Charayron (FRA)

U23 MEN: Results
1. Jonathan Brownlee (GBR)
2. Ryan Sissons (NZL)
3. Franz Loeschke (GER)
24. Andrew Yorke (CAN)
38. Jeff Phillips (CAN)

Elite Men: Results
1. Alistair Brownlee (GBR)
2. Javier Gomez (ESP)
3. Steffen Justus (GER)
37. Kyle Jones (CAN)

Junior Men, Junior Women and Elite Women race tomorrow (Sunday)

JUNIOR NATS

A very quick update before we leave for the Team Relay event today, here in Lausanne.

Congrats to all athletes and coaches on their performances at Junior Nationals yesterday. From all accounts, it was an exciting race.

Congrats to our 2010 Junior National Champions: Joanna Brown (ON) and Matt Sharpe (BC) - great racing guys!

And a big congrats to the Ontario athletes: 4 podiums, and 5 guys in the top 10. Well done!

WHITFIELD BEMOANS LACK OF COMMITTED TRIATHLETES

Two-time Olympic medalist says there aren’t enough male competitors willing to work hard enough to succeed

MATTHEW SEKERES VANCOUVER
From Friday's Globe and Mail
Friday, Aug. 20, 2010 01:57PM EDT

Simon Whitfield always makes a point of visiting the discount Kelowna motel where he stayed in 1996 during his first visit to the Canadian triathlon championships, just to remember how far he has come and how humble his beginnings were.

Full article.

SPRINT AND TEAM WORLD CHAMPS

Lausanne to Host Sprint and Team World Champs this Weekend

Lausanne, the home of the Olympic Headquarters, will host both the first-ever ITU Sprint Triathlon World Championships, as well as the ITU Team Triathlon World Championships this Saturday and Sunday. Over $100,000 in prize money will be up for grabs throughout the weekend of racing.

“We are very excited to host the ITU Elite Sprint Triathlon World Championship and the ITU Team Triathlon World Championship in Lausanne, a city with a history of great sporting events,” said ITU President Marisol Casado. “The distances are short, exciting and we think the spectators and viewers will enjoy watching our athletes race at such a high intensity. The shorter distances present a great opportunity for our younger athletes to compete in the sport in a sustainable way.”

Full article.

SHE'S FAST ENOUGH FOR YOU.....OLD MAN

RACE WEEKEND

With two races behind us and two more this weekend, we're approaching the end of our trip.

After the Tiszy World Cup, we flew to Geneva and took a shuttle to Aix-Les-Bains, France, where we've settled in nicely. From here, it's a short trip to Geneva, and Lausanne (at least that was the plan). Due to a temporary closure of the rail line on Saturday, coach Greg and the boys had to take a long detour via bus & rail to get back to Aix from the pre-race meetings in Geneva, making for a long day of travel.

The Geneva ETU race was a tough one, with wind & rain throughout, cooler temps (13-15C) and a solid climb on each of the 6 laps of the bike. It was a good hard course, with some challenging conditions. Good stuff!   Some tough racing on the day from the boys; not the results we were looking for, but the guys handled the hurdles well and learned some lessons. The good news is that we have an opportunity to race again this weekend in Lausanne and make some changes. We'll be competing in the ITU Elite Sprint World Championships on Saturday, and the ITU Team Triathlon World Championships on Sunday. Some big names are entered in both events, presenting a great opportunity for the team to mix it up in some fast races.

Back home, there will no doubt be a drastic increase in sightings of compression socks and spandex as Elite, Junior and Age Group athletes descend on Kelowna, BC for the 2010 Canadian National Championships. Looks like big fields for both elite races (Men, Women), which should make for some great racing, too.

Alison & Greg in Geneva, enjoying the weather. 

ONTARIO SUMMER GAMES RESULTS

Mens Podium

1st: Rui Xu, 2nd: Myles Zagar, 3rd: Adrian Gavrilov

Womens' Podium

1st: Sasha Boulton, 2nd: Samantha Klus, 3rd: Heather Summers

Team Relay Podium

Thanks to Lorri Zagar for the podium pics. Congrats to all athletes and coaches on their hard work and success at the 2010 Ontario Summer Games Triathlons.


Mens' results.

Womens' results.

Relay results.

JR COACH MEETING AT KELOWNA

For any/all youth & junior coaches attending the upcoming National Championships in Kelowna, please consider attending the following meeting while you're there.

From National Youth Development Co-ordinator, Kristine Chambers:


Greetings to everyone,

Thank you for the feedback in regards to the meeting in Kelowna on the 21st.
The majority voted to meet following the Junior races.

**If you have not already done so, RSVP so we know who to expect.  Thank
you!


DATE
Saturday, August 21, 2010

TIME
1 hour after the completion of the Junior races

LOCATION
Ponderosa Place (near transition)

**We will make an announcement over the loud speakers if the location
changes

DETAILS
Expect the meeting to last 1 to 1.5 hours.  An agenda is below.  Following
the Junior Series discussions, Kurt Innes will give a special presentation
to review several areas from previous meetings (including the recording of
standards for Junior athletes) and progression to high performance.

REGRETS
Any one who is not attending Kelowna is invited to send in feedback prior to
the meeting so we summarize and present to those in attendance.  Please,
keep it as brief as possible! Thanks.

AGENDA
1)  Review 2010 Junior Series (feedback, suggestions, positives, "to be
improved" areas, etc.)

2)  Suggestions for 2011 Series (races, rules, one race per region,
etc.)

3)  Requisites for races applying to be considered for the Series

4)  14-15 draft legal events (progress, growth for 2011, etc.)

5)  Other KOS / Junior issues (as per requests from coaches)

6)  SPECIAL PRESENTATION: Kurt Innes, High Performance Director


Kristine Chambers
National Youth Development Coordinator, Triathlon Canada
E-mail: kristine chambers

EURO COMP TOUR

A-Mac and JP: "stride wars" in a park beside Lac du Bourget yesterday

A quick update from Aix-Les-Bains, France: Coach Greg Kealey and I have the great pleasure of working with a small group of athletes over three weeks of competition here in Europe. Jeff Phillips, Andrew McCartney and Andrew Yorke are here now, and we're looking forward to Alison Hooper joining us on Saturday. We started in Hungary with the ITU Tiszaujvaros World Cup where the boys raced hard and learned a lot. We're now in Aix-Les-Bains, France, recovering and preparing for the next events, and enjoying seeing the Aussie Team at the pool every morning. This coming weekend we'll be racing the ETU Geneva Continental Cup, and the following weekend we'll have back-to-back days of racing in Lausanne: ITU Elite Sprint World Championships on Saturday, and ITU Team Relay World Championships on Sunday.

A big thanks to coach James Loaring for leading the RTC squad in my absence, as they prep for Nationals.

The photo album of our 2010 European Competition Tour is here, and we'll update with pictures throughout the trip.

Don't forget to check out the ITU's coverage of the Kitzbuhel WCS this weekend. Paula Findlay will be back in action, after her big win in London. We'll be huddled around the laptops cheering.

OSG! OMG!

2010 Ontario Summer Games Triathletes at the opening ceremonies.

The Ontario Summer Games are underway in Sudbury, Ontario this week. Ontario's best 15-16 year old triathletes will race two events tomorrow: an individual triathlon in the morning, and a team relay event in the afternoon. Competition schedule here.

Thank-you Thank-you Thank-you to the coaches, parents, administrators and anyone else who supports these athletes. We wish everyone safe and fast racing, and a great Games experience!

TISZY WORLD CUP

Jeff Phillips leads Canadian Men at Triathlon World Cup in Hungary

August 8, 2010 

TISZAUJVAROS, Hungary—A trio of Canadian men finished in the middle of the pack at a World Cup triathlon race in Tiszaujvaros, Hungary on Sunday.

Jeff Phillips took advantage of a strong run to lead the young Canucks in 33rd spot after clocking a time of one hour, 51 minutes, five seconds (1:51:05). Victoria’s 21-year-old Phillips, who became the first winner in the sport of triathlon when it made its debut at the Canada Summer Games nearly one year ago, continues to take positive strides forward while competing internationally on Canada’s development squad.

Phillips was joined by two training partners, Andrew Yorke and Andrew McCartney. The 21-year-old Yorke of Caledon, Ont., who has battled through a series of injuries over the last year to win the ITU Pan American Cup in Quebec this summer, finished in 38th spot at 1:51:19.

Greg Kealey (Bytown Storm) and I are here in Tiszy with Andrew McCartney, Andrew Yorke and Jeff Phillips, on a 3 week competition tour of Europe (Tiszy, Geneva, Lausanne). We're looking forward to having Alison Hooper join us next week in time for the ITU World Sprint Championships and Team Relay Championships in Lausanne, SUI.

CLUB & CONFERENCE GRANTS

From CAC:

The Coaching Association of Canada (CAC) is now accepting applications for the next wave of Chevrolet’s Making Dreams Possible Club Coaching Grants. CAC is also accepting applications on an ongoing basis for grants, made available through Investors Group sponsorship, from organizations interested in hosting community coaching conferences.

Chevrolet’s Club Coaching Grant - This fall, another 50+ $2,000 grants will be awarded to community sport clubs across the country for coach training and development. The application deadline is September 27, 2010. Visit coach.ca/makingdreamspossible for more information and to apply online.

Investors Group Community Coaching Conferences Grants - Community Coaching Conferences are intended to both promote and supplement the National Coaching Certification Program. They offer an ideal opportunity for coach education, coach networking, and community involvement. CAC, through the sponsorship of Investors Group Inc., is pleased to provide financial assistance (from $600 to $1,200) to communities and organizations interested in hosting a Community Coaching Conference. For more information and to apply online, visit coach.ca/ig/e/ccc/about.htm.

A "TWO-HINTON RACE"

Most of the squad raced Provincials in Ottawa last weekend to kick off the training block into Kelowna Nationals. But for a few of the athletes, Ottawa wasn't the only race on the calendar. Both Alexander and Ian raced Magog the week before, followed by Ottawa (Saturday) and K-Town (Sunday). Alexander put himself on top of the podium in all three events (1st in Magog, 1st Junior (3rd overall) in Ottawa, 1st overall in K-Town sprint) for 3 wins in 8 days. Ian collected a fair bit of hardware in 8 days, too; 3rd in Magog, 2nd (Junior) in Ottawa, 2nd in K-Town (long course relay, with the fastest 15k run leg). Dorelle also did the Ottawa/K-Town double, winning Elite Provincials on Saturday, and crossing the finish line as the first female in the K-Town sprint the next day. Most impressive, Dorelle was 2nd overall at the K-Town sprint, making it a 1,2 finish for the Hinton siblings.

Domi Jamnicky (ByTown Storm) also raced 3 events in 8 days, adding 3 medals to her collection: 3rd at Magog, 2nd (overall & junior) at Ottawa, 2nd female (1st junior) at K-Town sprint. Finally, Blair Morgan raced the Ottawa/K-Town double, finishing as the top junior male (5th overall) at the K-Town sprint.

Judging by the poor choice of racing attire (ie. free hat acquired in Ixtapa) and lacklustre finish celebration, I think the heat and racing fatigue may have been getting to Alexander by Sunday morning.

Check out the The Kingston Whig Standard for a summary of the K-Town race, including a video interview with the Hintons, and some top notch recovery advice from Alexander. Also great to see Olympian Sharon Donnelly volunteering her time at the K-Town event!

Results here.

Congrats to all athletes and coaches, and a big thanks to the people who work so hard to organize and host these great events.

EDIT: A big congrats to Jamie Stephenson who did the Ottawa/K-Town double....but did the Long Course K-Town race (4th overall). Great job!

2010 PROVINCIALS

Exciting racing at Mooney's Bay Park this morning. Congratulations to Ontario's draft legal Provincial Medallists:

ELITE MEN
1. Andrew Yorke (C3)
2. Matt Vierula (ByTown Storm)
3. Tyler Bredschneider (RTC Guelph)

ELITE WOMEN
1. Dorelle Hinton (RTC Guelph)
2. Angela Quick (RTC Guelph)
3. Leanna Lee (UofT Tri)

JUNIOR MEN
1. Alexander Hinton (RTC Guelph)
2. Ian Donald (RTC Guelph)
3. Taylor Reid (C3)

JUNIOR WOMEN
1. Joanna Brown (ByTown Storm)
2. Dominika Jamnicky (ByTown Storm)
3. Chelsea Mackinnon (Hammerheads)

U15 MEN
1. Myles Zagar (fun2tri)
2. Sean Mackinnon (Hammerheads)
3. Kent Hambly (Hammerheads)

U15 WOMEN
1. Heather Summers (Hammerheads)
2. Samantha Klus (ByTown Storm)
3. Paige Tate (Hammerheads)


Results for the draft legal sprint (called 'long course' on sportstats) for the juniors/U23/elite are here.

Results for the U15 draft legal race (called 'short course' on sportstats) are here.

You can find some pics from the race here - unfortunately I didn't get very many U15 pics - for anyone who has posted pictures, please post a link in the comments, or e-mail me and I'll post the info/link.

WCS LONDON ON CBC TODAY

Catch Paula Findlay’s Historic Winning Race on CBC July 31

July 24, 2010 

CBC will broadcast the women’s World Championship Triathlon Series race from London where Edmonton’s Paula Findlay became the first Canadian to win on the WCS. The race can be viewed on CBC Sports, July 31, from 2-4 p.m. EST.

GOOD JOB, RED SHOES

At the 2009 Canada Summer Games, Ian Donald ran in red racing flats. One of the spectators called him "Red Shoes" throughout the race, rather than "Donald".   Last week at the Magog Junior race, Ian started the run in pair of yellow/green flats, but ended the race with 3rd fastest run split and one very red shoe; he had tripped during dismount and cut his foot open.  Definitely the bloodiest shoe I've seen at a finish line, and a good hard effort.

Good job, Red Shoes.

ITU INSTITUTES BIOLOGICAL PASSPORT

ITU Institutes Athlete Biological Passport Programme

Wed July 28, 2010

www.triathlon.org

The International Triathlon Union today announced that it will institute its own Athlete Biological Passport programme to ensure the most solid testing programme possible, promoting the right of all ITU athletes to fair and clean competitions. ITU is proud of being an international sport federation which implements one of the most-advanced anti-doping programme in the Olympic Movement, joining only a handful of federations maintaining such a programme.

Developed by the World Anti-Doping Agency, the Athlete Biological Passport reveals doping indirectly by monitoring selected biological variables, in contrast with the traditional direct detection of doping. “Biological monitoring throughout an athlete’s sporting career should make any prohibited preparation far harder to implement,” according to WADA. The operating guidelines were approved in December of 2009.

Full article here.