Posted: January 28, 2006

Triathlon Canada Announces 2006 National Team

Olympic Distance Triathlon specialists compete on the International Triathlon Union (ITU) World Cup circuit – racing the distance competed in the Olympics of a 1.5 km swim, 40 km bike and 10 km run.

Long Distance Triathlon specialists compete in longer distance swim-bike-run Triathlon events such as the Long Distance Triathlon World Championships, governed by the International Triathlon Union, and other events.  The distances in these events range from 1.9-3.8k swims, 90-180k bikes, and 21-42k runs.

Duathlon excludes the swim portion of the Triathlon and consists of a run/bike/run. Duathlon competition includes International Distance, which is contested as a 10km run, followed by a 40km bike, followed by another 5 kilometer run. Duathlon competition also includes Long Distance, which is a minimum of a 10km run, followed by a 60km bike, followed by another 10 kilometer run. The sport of Duathlon is also governed by Triathlon Canada .  The 2006 team members are as follows:

Highlights from the past year of the 2006 National Team Members include:

Olympic Distance:

Samantha McGlone: Otterburn Park’s Samantha McGlone had a memorable year in 2005 – highlighted by her 9th place finish at the World Championships in Gamagori, Japan. Samantha competed in 7 Olympic Distance events in 2005 and had 2 victories – at the Caledon Continental Cup and the Kelowna Pan American Cup. She also had success on the World Cup circuit finishing with three top ten’s including a fifth in Honolulu and a sixth in Edmonton. McGlone ended the year as the top Canadian - 12th on the ITU Points list.

Simon Whitfield: Former Olympic champion, Simon Whitfield, had a decent year by his standards. Simon’s most important race of the year was also Simon’s best race of the year. Whitfield fought all the way to a 6th place finish at the World Championships in Gamagori, Japan. Despite competing in only 4 events in the 2005 race season, Whitfield finished the year with a World ranking of 28. Whitfield continued his streak of at least 1 Gold medal in every race season dating back to his Gold medal in the 2000 Sydney Olympics with his victory at the Kelowna Pan American Cup.

Brent McMahon: Victoria’s Brent McMahon participated in 5 events in the 2005 season finishing in the top 20 in all of them. Brent’s best finish was a silver medal at the Tongyeong Asian Cup in South Korea. Brent is the second highest ranked Canadian on the ITU points list at #35 just 7 spots below Simon Whitfield. McMahon gained a lot of confidence after his 19th place showing at the World Championships last September and feels this year will be his best to date. Brent will be competing for Canada at the Commonwealth Games this year in Melbourne.

Lauren Groves: Vancouver’s Lauren Groves had a very busy season in 2005. Lauren competed in 9 events, more than any other National team member. Lauren’s year was highlighted by 3 second place finishes, including silver medals at the Tempe Pan American Cup, Tongyeong Asian Cup in South Korea and the Kelowna Pan American Cup. Groves finished the year with a very respectable world ranking of #26, the second highest ranked Canadian behind Samantha McGlone.

Gillian Kornell: Kelowna’s Gillian Kornell had a year to remember in 2005. With all of Gillian’s accomplishments and hard work she was rewarded by being selected to the Commonwealth Games team to represent Canada this year in Melbourne. Gillian was the second best Canadian at the World Championships with her 25th place finish. Gillian also had her best World Cup result last season in Cornerbrook, finishing 4th. And her Silver medal at the Caledon Continental Cup race definitely helped her best year-end world ranking of 27 – Kornell is the third highest ranked Canadian on the ITU points list.

Carolyn Murray: Edmonton’s Carolyn Murray competed in 7 events in the 2005 season highlighted by a career best in Cornerbrook. Carolyn’s 8th place finish at the Cornerbrook World Cup was the first time she finished in the top 10 of a World Cup event. Murray’s only podium finish in 2005 came at the Tempe Pan American Cup where she was third. Carolyn was very consistent during the year with 4 other top-20 performances at World Cup events, 13th in Honolulu, 14th in Edmonton, 14th in Beijing and 20th in Hamburg. Carolyn is the 4th highest ranked Canadian at #30.

Jill Savege: 2005 was not a year to remember for Jill Savege. Unfortunately her season came to an abrupt end when a nagging, re-occuring hip injury flared up at the beginning of July. Despite the injury plagued year, the Penticton native did finish 2 World Cup races in 2005, capturing the Silver medal at the World Cup in Mazatlan and ended the year with a respectable world ranking of 39. In Jill’s only other race last season she finished 17th at the Honolulu World Cup. The good news is Jill is back in excellent health and she’ll represent Canada at the Commonwealth Games this year in Melbourne. Now that Jill is injury free, she’s hoping to duplicate the results she had in ‘04 where she had 5 top-10 finishes in World Cup events.

Carol Montgomery: North Vancouver’s Carol Montgomery is another athlete who would like to forget the past year from a performance standpoint. Carol suffered a torn hamstring this past season and was out of action from April to August. Carol entered 2 World cup events in Honolulu and New Plymouth but was unable to complete either race. 2004 was a terrific year for Montgomery as she posted 5 top-10 World cup results. Recently Carol has endured many hours of rehabilitation and is fit and ready to challenge the world’s best in 2006.

Paul Tichelaar: There is no doubt that Paul Tichelaar’s most memorable results in 2005 took place in Canada, first in Kelowna where he won the Canadian U-23 National Championship and then in Caledon where he won the ITU Pan American Cup. The Edmonton native is one of three Canadian male members named to the 2006 Commonwealth Games team in Melbourne this coming March. Tichelaar competed in 4 World Cup races this past season – 34th in Honolulu, 33rd in Cornerbrook, 20th in Edmonton and 22nd in Beijing – Paul ended the year ranked 74th on the ITU Points list.

Kyle Jones: Oakville’s kyle Jones had a breakout year in 2005. Kyle’s most outstanding result was a 9th place finish at the U-23 World Championships in Gamagori, Japan where he was the top Canadian male. Throughout the year he also has two top-5 finishes at ITU International events – he was 2nd in Kelowna at the Canadian U-23 Championships and 4th overall and 5th in New York City. Jones is the 4th highest ranked Canadian on the ITU Points list at 127.

Long Distance Triathlon:

Peter Reid: Peter Reid, a three-time Ironman Hawaii World Champion (1998, 2000, 2003), was 3rd in the 2005 Hawaii Ironman. Reid, of Victoria, is acknowledged as one of the dominant long distance triathletes in the World.

Jasper Blake: Jasper Blake of Victoria, BC, had a top-10 finish at the 2005 Long Distance World Championships where he finished ninth.

Scott Curry: Calgary’s Scott Curry made his mark on the national scene by winning the 2005 Long Distance National Championships in Victoria.

Nigel Gray: Toronto’s Nigel Gray had a career best result at Ironman Canada in Penticton, B.C., where he finished third.

Lisa Bentley: Winning her first Ironman in 2000, Lisa Bentley posted her eighth and ninth Ironman Championships in 2005 with wins in Ironman Australia and Ironman Germany making her one of the dominant athletes in Ironman competition during the 2005 season.

Heather Fuhr: Originally from Stony Plain, Alberta, Heather Fuhr is a former Ironman World Champion (1997) and has won 14 Ironman events in her storied career including a win at Ironman lake Placid in 2005, an event she has totally dominated, winning 4 of the last 5 years.

Julie Curwin: A doctor from Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Julie Curwin was 17th in the 2005 ITU Long Distance World Championships in Denmark. For the second year in a row, Curwin was the top Canadian, in 2004 Curwin finished 11th.

Charlene Waldner: Charlene Waldner is one of Canada’s newest Long Distance prospects as she won the 2005 Long Distance National Championships.

Duathlon

Kyle Jones: In addition to Kyle Jones’s success in triathlon in 2005 he also won the 2005 Canadian Duathlon Championship title.

Paul Tichelaar: Paul raced in a variety of events in 2005; one of the 16 races was the 2005 Canadian Duathlon Championships where he finished second to Kyle Jones.

Margaret Schotte: Margaret Schotte had a year to remember in 2005, not only did she win the 2005 Canadian Duathlon Championships she also finished 14th at the World Duathlon Championships – not bad considering it was her first elite level competition. Of note, Margaret was the third best North American in the race.

Anne-Marie Madden: Victoria’s Anne-Marie Madden also had a great year in 2005, she was just 35 seconds behind Schotte and won the Silver medal at the 2005 Canadian Duathlon Championships. Madden again was right behind Schotte at the Duathlon World Championships in Australia where she finished 16th.

Triathlon Canada is the National Federation for the sport of Triathlon and Duathlon in Canada.

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