Des Moines Team World Championships

Live coverage here

So until later,
CH

28.8 Degrees

Well it is very warm here 28.8 degrees celcuis. Some people may say that 28.8 isn't very hot, but let me finish. It is not the air that is 28.8, it is the WATER. At the athlete breifing last night they said that 28.8 degrees was the lowest that they got. When the sun is out in full force, as soon as you step outside you start to sweat.

Tommorow is the world cup with $750,000 total prize money up for grabs, and with my race on Sunday, I am excited to watch. The set up here is absolutely top notch. The race venue is second to none with a little merchandise village and tones of seating around the finish line, now if they could fill the seating with fans, then that would be impressive.

The course for the Team relay is relatively easy, loop swim, a 3 loop 7km flat bike with tons of corners, and a 2km flat run.

so until later,

CH

Coteau Race Report

Ok, so i am finally getting around to writing a race report. So here is how it went from what I remember. Race morning I had a small breakfast then Tyler and I headed to the race site.

I was a little worried leading up to this race because I had just finished my biggest training week of the year so I was unsure how my body would react to the stresses of racing. I did a short warm up on the bike and run, then got my wetsuit on and did one loop of the course, and I felt awful the entire time.

I was ranked second coming in behind Matt V .so I took a spot beside him at one end of the pontoon. It was a wierd start, all of us on the left couldnt hear the starter, so all we heard was the horn. By the time we reacted, everyone was already in the air, which caused the pontoon to shift out from under us, so everyone on the left basically belly flopped into the water. I swam the first 50m with my head down, then looked up and everyone on the left had about 15 metres on me. I took me the better part of 500m to finally work my way past everyone to get up to lead pack. I exited the water in 10, in what was definately my slowest/worst swim in a few years. I had a quick transition, and headed onto the bike.

I had to hammer the first km of the bike because i was in no mans land, but I finally cuaght on. A group of 7 or 8 of us formed and some of us worked well together. Sharpe flatted after the first lap, so that left us a little short, but there were enought people pulling in the pack that i didnt have t really worry about getting tired. Overall the bike wasnt too stressful, and we entered t2 with about a minute lead.

On the run, the leaders took off like they were running a km repeat. I just stayed back and let them die off. About 1km into the run I moved into the lead annd just kept building. At the turn around I noticed that the chase pack had some strong runners, so i really pushed the third stretch, then at the turnaround I knew that there was a big enough gap that Iwasnt going to be caught.

So I was first overall, and a relative newcomer to junior racing, Tristan Woodfine, a first year junior was second. Watch out for this kid in the future because he can run.

So until later,

CH

Coteau du Lac

Race report to come later

Canadian Triathletes Connor Hammond and Kyla Coates Win Teck National Junior Series in Quebec
—Paula Findlay stomps field en route to winning women’s elite gold

COTEAU-DU-LAC, Que.—Canada’s Connor Hammond and Kyla Coates won the second stage of the three-race Teck Triathlon National Junior Series on Saturday in Coteau-du-Lac, Quebec near Montreal.

The 18-year-old Hammond, who finished second at the PATCO Championships earlier this year, maintained pace with the lead pack through the 750-metre swim and 20-kilometre ride on the bike before storming to the lead in the five-kilometre run. The London, Ont. native crossed the line with a time of 57 minutes 42 seconds.

“It was a great day and I was able to get out of the water with the lead pack. We worked well together on the bike and I just gave it all I had in the run,” said Hammond. “Last week was a very tiring 24-hour training week so my legs were a little tired and I was really fatigued coming in. I’m happy I was able to finish on top.”

Hammond was joined on the junior men’s podium by Ontario’s Tristan Woodfine, who finished second with a time of 58:01 after posting the fastest run time. Quebec’s Marc-Antoine Christian locked up third spot at 58:33.

Victoria’s Kyla Coates continued her golden streak by winning her third consecutive women’s race in as many starts this year. Coates, who captured the PATCO Championship title and the first race of the Teck Junior Series in Winnipeg this spring, bolted her way to the top of the podium again on Saturday with a time of 1:02:53.

Coates was joined on the women’s podium by Ontario’s Joanna Brown, who locked up second spot after posting the fastest time in the run. Brown stopped the clock with a time of 1:03:12. Christine Ridenour, of British Columbia, powered her way into third place after clocking-in at 1:03:50.

Meanwhile, Coteau-du-Lac also hosted the elite men and women Olympic distance races under ideal conditions Saturday.

Edmonton’s Paula Findlay stomped the field in her first race of the year after recovering from a stress fracture in her foot. The 20-year-old budding star on Canada’s national squad clocked a golden time of 2:03:50 in the women’s 1.5-kilometre swim, 40-kilometre bike and 10-kilometre run.

“I was really happy with how I raced today especially since it was my first of the year,” said Findlay. “I have been slowly progressing on the run and need to continue working hard, but I was just happy to be able to finish a 10-kilometre run without any pain.”

Findlay was joined on the elite women’s podium by Victoria’s Kerry Spearing who finished second at 2:04:50, while Ontario’s Ayesha Rollinson ran up from the chase pack to grab third place with a time of 2:07:35.

The elite men’s results were not available at publication.
The Teck National Junior Series is the nation’s premier development race circuit which allows athletes and coaches the appropriate focal points for training and monitoring athlete progression. The annual three-race series is used by Triathlon Canada for World Junior Team and Canada Games selections.

Canada’s top junior triathletes will now head to Gatineau, Que. for the third and final stop of the tour, July 11.

(Although the elite results weren't up, AP was second and Yorke broke out of his shell and had an amazing race to finish third, congrats guys)

So until later,
CH

Popular website

Well, Craig has gotten on my back about not posting very much, so here is a very popular website that I like to visit a lot.

Training is going well in Guelph, so can't complain about that.

So until later,

CH

Next few days

A couple days ago I came down with a little illness. It was just a mild cold, I took a day off of training and i feel a lot better now. Hopefully I can be fully recovered for tommorow becasue I am competing in a 5km on the track in London. I am looking to finally crack that 15 minute barrier. The start list is very competitive, with about 20 people entered under 15 minutes, so if i am going to finally break the barrier, this is going to be the race to do it at. A performance list can be found here.

On Thursday I am heading down to Guelph for the summer/next 4 years, so I am looking foward to that. Thats it for now, not much has happened lately.

So until later,
CH

"I would rather Die than go to Guelph" My Bad

I know, I know, if you had talked to me last year about where I would be going to university I would have said McMaster, and maybe something like "I would rather die than go to Guelph". But after comtemplating about it late last year, I decided that Guelph is a better place for me. With my coach, Craig Taylor, based out of Guelph, and a great squad training there, with the edition of a few athletes next year, I really feel that it will be great for my developement. After spending two weeks there during March I feel that I made the right decision.



So until later,

CH

Oklahoma Race Report

Well, what can I say, PATCO could not have gone any better. One of the best races that I have ever had. Leading up to the race I had been training very well, so I knew I was capable of doing very well.

I had a solid warm up, which helped to take the edge off of the nerves. I was ranked 49th, and with the largest field of the day, 75, I was right in the middle. Everyone before me decided to line up on the left because it was slightly shorter, not much though, so i took the right side. After that people started to line up beside me. They screwed up on the number of spots and had to extend it, so i lost my end position by 5 places. They were a little disorganized for the swim start. They didnt have any speakers, so one moment I was standing there, and the next the horn went. Withing about 20 strokes I was in clean water. I swam the next few hundred metres by myself before hitting the first turn in about 4th. From there on I just swam on some feet and rested for the rest of the race. I exited the water in third, had a quick transition and was first onto the bike.

I realized my lack of bike fitness about 200m into it. An American took off, then a South American went too and I was unable to respond, but that fitness will come over the next few months. Cole, Aaron and I rode together got 5km before two guys caught us. we worked together for another couple km before Aaron and I made the decision to wait for the chase pack which was only a few seconds away. After that the pack pretty much grinded to a halt. We caught the chase pack, but other than that nothing happened. There were attacks, but none of them sucessful. The roads had many cracks and holes in then, so a few people went down. In the last few kms, I made my way to the front of the pack and entered transition in the top 5, about 1 min down on the two leaders. I had a good transition and made my way onto the run.

Just exited T2

Starting second loop of the run

My plan was to build the run. I felt great on the run, and was running behind the leaders of the chase pack not even trying, so I passed them. Ian joined me about 500m into the run, and then an American, and the eventual winner (ran a 14:18 5000m indoor this year) passed us right after. Ian and I worked well to catch the leaders. After the first lap we had caught one of the leaders, but the two Americans remained up the road. At the turn around we were within sight of one of the Americans, and the eventual winner was running with him. With about 200m to go, 2nd place was about 20m ahead of me. I started sprinting, I had caught him with about 100m to go, I passed him, but he surged ahead and passed me, then gave it everything I had to put it into final gear. I held him off for second place, and about 20 seconds behind the winner.

It was not only a great day for me, but many Canadians. Kayla placed 1st, and Marianne 3rd in the junior womens race, and Andrew McCartney placed 3rd in the U23 division after leading everyone, including olympians out of the water, and congrats to Ian Donald who had a breakout performance on the international stage. Last year the Junior men only had one in the top 10, this year we had four, so our junior men are finally beginning to establish themselves in the world, congrats guys.

Me on the podium

Canadian Juniors collecting 3 podium finishes

So until later,

CH

Oklahoma Update

PATCO went well, placed 2nd. I will give a proper race report tommorow because i have been travelling since 5:15 this morning. Here is a media article from Tri Canada about PATCO.

Canadian Triathletes Win Four Medals at PATCO Championships

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).

Full article Here

Oklahoma This Saturday

So it has been a few weeks since my last post. I never did give a race report for Texas, so it will be one of the many things included in this post, along with my lead up to PATCO.

So my flight was cancelled due to severe thunder storms on the way down. I didn't end up getting to the hotel until around 7:30 the night before the race. Lubbock is a pretty desolate place, with almost no trees. I put the bike together and then went out for dinner. The race was in the afternoon, so I got a nice sleep in.

The course was interesting, a really short swim, a hilly windy bike, and a flat run. Swim didnt go very well, after the first 100m my heart was in my throat, so I had to back off a little. I still came out of the water 2nd, but a ways behind the leader. There was a nice present for us out of transition in the form of a big hill, then another one about 500m after that. The bike never got organized, and I ended up soloing about half of it. Run came and we were 2 mins behind the leader. I took off out of t2 in third, but my legs were very tired. I started having stomach problems about 1.5km in to it. About 100m after the halfway point I pulled over to the side of the road and hurled. 4 guys passed me during my pit stop, but after that I felt great and managed to finish in fourth.

Last Saturday I rabbited the Ontario 10,000m championships in London. I would have loved to have been able to run the whole thing because I have great endurance right now, and it was a competitive field, but with PATCO being my main focus, it just was't an option. It was a very windy day so the race was going to be tough, good thing I was only going to 4km. I split it perfectly, knocking off 3:05's like clockwork. I rolled through 4km leading the chase pack of 4 or 5 guys in 12:20 running relatively easy.

I got my new Nineteen Frequency Wetsuit the other day. Being a swimmer, I can`t stand to have any restriction on my shoulders, and the frequency is about as close as I am going to get to that feeling. It has 5mm legs, and 1.5mm rubber for the wingspan that makes for a very felxible suit. Thanks Nineteen, I am looking forward to setting some fast swims in your suit.

I leave for Oklahoma tomorow, so I am getting pretty excited. My training has been going very well the last month, so I am excited to see what I can do.

So until Later,
CH