NTC - (Development and National Team athletes) Victoria B.C.

noreply@blogger.com (PK) — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 05:38:00 +0000

May the spirit of Christmas bring you peace,
The gladness of Christmas give you hope,
The warmth of Christmas grant you love.
~Author Unknown

Merry Christmas everyone from the NTC athletes and coaches.

noreply@blogger.com (PK) — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 04:39:00 +0000

more Fall Fun.

noreply@blogger.com (PK) — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 05:37:00 +0000

the squad with a few visitors. Coach CT, Brad and Matt Piggott.

Fall Fun!

noreply@blogger.com (PK) — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 05:28:00 +0000

a few pics of the squad at the Cowichan Bay Camp in October and around Vic.

Kelowna Elite Nationals

noreply@blogger.com (Alex Coates) — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 21:02:00 +0000

I know I am supposed to be posting recent photos- but since Kelowna Elite Nats were kind of overlooked, I thought I'd better post a couple shots from then as well. The NTC represented very well at Nationals. Of course our Olympians were all top three, and Paula, our future Olympian, placed third for Women. Andrew McCartney placed 5th overall, then Andrew Russell in 6th and Austin 7th and then AP 8th! For U23 AMac was the champion, followed by Austin, and for Women of course Paula won and yours truly snuck on for 3rd.
Anyways- sorry for the jump back in time. Enjoy the pics.

Thetis Lake Relays

noreply@blogger.com (Alex Coates) — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 20:14:00 +0000

Last Wednesday NTC rocked the 4x5k Thetis Lake relays! NTC A team placed first, NTC B team place 2nd and NTC women placed 1st for Ladies! Wooohoooo! Our A team boys all ran under 15:45!
Here are some pictures

The Best of Halloween

noreply@blogger.com (Alex Coates) — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 19:12:00 +0000

Here is Post one of Pictures. These are the Best of the NTC Halloween Costumes!

fall update coming soon!

noreply@blogger.com (PK) — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 17:59:00 +0000

long overdue. blog update with some fall pics and news will be posted soon. NTC athletes, feel free to post any pics, news you have in mind.

Bronze Medal - Paula Findlay - 2009 U23 World Triathlon Championships, Australia

noreply@blogger.com (PK) — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 10:53:00 +0000

The 2009 World Triathlon Championships got off to a great start today with Paula racing to a bronze medal in the U23 race. The race was held in beautiful conditions on the Gold Coast of Australia. The two U23 men also put in very good performances with Andrew McCartney finishing with a strong 15th place finish and Andrew Yorke in 36th.

Congratulations to all the coaching, medical and support staff in Australia and at home that have contributed to the development of the athletes.

Pic's to follow:

training pics, Gold Coast, Australia

noreply@blogger.com (PK) — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 01:58:00 +0000

a few more pics. wow.. two posts in one day.. I must have a bit of free time.

a few pics from Surfer's Paradise, Gold Coast, Australia

noreply@blogger.com (PK) — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 01:21:00 +0000

Hi All. Pre race prep has been going very well here at Surfer's Paradise. The weather is good (other than the big rain storm we had a few nights ago). The sharks have stayed away so far but today Gabor (team bike mechanic) and Rob Hasegawa (team chiropractor) are just heading out with a young female surf instructor. I'm sure they'll be back in a few hours with smiles on their faces.

A few pics for your viewing pleasure.

Team Relay news article - courtesy of TriCan.

noreply@blogger.com (PK) — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 05:04:00 +0000

British Columbia Sweeps Gold in Triathlon Team Competition at Canada Summer Games
August 21, 2009

SUMMERSIDE, P.E.I.—British Columbia owned the podium by winning gold in both the men’s and women’s triathlon team competitions at the 2009 Canada Summer Games in Summerside, P.E.I. on Friday.
British Columbia’s Alison Hooper, Christine Ridenhour and Kyla Coates teamed up to clock a winning time of one hour nine minutes 35 seconds in the relay where each athlete completes a 300-metre swim, seven-kilometre bike course, and two-kilometre run. Athletes tag off to their teammate at the completion of all three disciplines.
Alison Hooper, who is completing her first season in triathlon, set the tone early for the powerful B.C. trio. But while the 17-year-old opened a gap on the field with Manitoba’s Sarah-Anne Brault, it was Christine Ridenhour who took control of the race for the B.C. women, and handed off to Kyla Coates to complete the anchor leg and secure the gold.
“That was a tough race today. We all brought different tactics to the race and they came together perfectly,” said 19-year-old Kyla Coates. “We all pulled our weight today and did a great job together.”
Alison Hooper made history earlier in the weak by winning the first-ever triathlon gold medal at the Canada Summer Games.
“Of course it was amazing to win the individual race, but it is so much better to be able to share a victory with your teammates,” said Hooper. “These are the guys I train with each day and they are the one’s that pushed me to win earlier this week so I’m very happy to win this with them today.”
Manitoba’s Sarah-Anne Brault, Rachael Edwards and Stevie Moore celebrated the silver medal with a time of 1:10:12. Ontario’s Joanna Brown, Dorelle Hinton and Dominika Jamnicky locked up the bronze medal at 1:11:00.
After a short break, the top women’s triathletes under 20 years old took to the sidelines to cheer on the men’s teams competing in the relay on Summerside’s picturesque waterfront.
British Columbia wasted little time asserting their authority in the men’s competition also as Matt Sharpe climbed out of the water first after a dominant swim. While Sharpe continued to set the pace in the bike, Nova Scotia and Ontario closed the gap in the two-kilometre run. B.C. regained the lead after Sharpe handed off to Cole Stewart who opened a commanding gap on the field, setting up the anchor leg for Jeff Phillips. The B.C. trio clocked a golden time of 1:04:09.
“This was an absolutely great race today,” said the 20-year-old Phillips, who also won the gold medal in the individual event on Tuesday. “The guys set me up perfectly today. We put it all on the line and left nothing out there.”
Ontario’s Ian Donald, Connor Hammond and Tristan Woodfine combined to post a silver-medal winning time of 1:05:20. Manitoba’s Josh Drad, Riley MacCharles and Mark Okany rounded out the men’s podium in third at 1:06:25.
The team competition is a new, exciting format that is being introduced by the International Triathlon Union at the elite level in hopes of it being selected into the lineup of competitions at the 2012 Olympic Summer Games. The new format is aimed at introducing a new generation of participants to the sport with shorter, more spectator friendly courses and intense action.
“I think the team competition is so fun and adds a whole new dimension to our sport,” said Phillips at the finish line. “We train as a team everyday and to be able to come out and race together makes it very exciting.”
The team competition also wrapped up a successful debut for the sport of triathlon at the Canada Summer Games. Hundreds of spectators lined Summerside’s waterfront and downtown streets to catch the high-paced action, and one of the nation’s fastest growing sports.
Led by coach Pat Kelly, British Columbia athletes dominated the inaugural triathlon events winning all four gold medals on the table.
“Our goal this week was to sweep and we did that,” said Jeff Phillips. “I said earlier this week British Columbia is the triathlon capital of Canada and I think we did a good job in proving that.”
Triathlon Canada is the governing body for triathlon in the country. Recognized as an Olympic medal sport since 2000, Triathlon Canada’s mandate is to promote, foster, organize and develop the sport of triathlon, and its related disciplines, in Canada. For more information on Triathlon Canada, please visit us at www.triathloncanada.com on the Internet.
Complete Canada Summer Games Triathlon Results : www.2009canadagames.ca
(3 x 300-metre swim, 7-kilometre bike, 2-kilometre run)

Top-Five Junior Women’s Results:
1. British Columbia, 1:09:35; 2. Manitoba, 1:10:12; 3. Ontario, 1:11:00; 4. Quebec, 1:13:42; 5. Alberta, 1:14:09.
Top-Five Junior Men’s Results
1. British Columbia, 1:04:09; 2. Ontario, 1:05:20; 3. Manitoba, 1:06:25; 4. Nova Scotia, 1:07:08; 5. Alberta, 1:08:23

Team Event Pictures

noreply@blogger.com (Barb, aka "Matt's Mom") — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 12:24:00 +0000

Team pics at this link.
http://picasaweb.google.com/barbsha/TeamEventCanadaSummerGames#

Canada Games Media Video

noreply@blogger.com (A-Russ) — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 18:08:00 +0000

Find here a video from CSG. Well spoken, Barb did you give the them media relations training as well? Great job to the BC athletes, coaches, TriBC, and Manager!

noreply@blogger.com (PK) — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 02:33:00 +0000

CSG Pics!!

noreply@blogger.com (PK) — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 02:27:00 +0000

Double Gold - Double Bronze!!! :) Globe and Mail article.

noreply@blogger.com (PK) — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 02:19:00 +0000

Well it's 11:15 p.m. in PEI and I need to go to bed.. so I'm just going to post this Globe and Mail report instead of writing up something myself. I'll try to come up with something tomorrow. Thanks everyone for your great support and cheering. We could feel the energy!!

Lori Ewing
SUMMERSIDE, P.E.I. — The Canadian Press
Last updated on Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2009 04:58PM EDT
When Victoria's Alison Hooper broke through the finish-line banner of Tuesday's triathlon at the Canada Games, she grabbed it and took it with her.

Hooper and Jeff Phillips, also of Victoria, penned their names in the Canada Games history books by capturing gold in triathlon's debut on a dominant day for the B.C. team.

“It's pretty exciting, I made history, which is kind of cool,” Hooper said.

Hooper, 16, a former swimmer competing in her first season of triathlon, finished in 58 minutes 15 seconds to lead a trio of B.C. women that finished in the top four. Sarah-Anne Brault of Winnipeg won silver in 58:34, while Kyla Coates of Victoria took the bronze in 58:57. Christine Ridenour of Cowichan Bay, B.C., finished fourth in 59:12.

“I didn't know quite how it was going to go, especially with the 20-year-olds in this race, but I stuck with Sarah-Anne on the run and I felt really good and went for it,” Hooper said. “It was pretty exciting.”

Phillips, 20, won in 53:59, holding off Connor Hammond of London, Ont., who took the silver in 54:44. Cole Stewart of Langley, B.C., captured bronze in 54:52.

“I'm pretty happy, our B.C. team was really strong this year, all three of us were really strong swimmers,” Phillips said. “We were going for gold plus another podium spot and we got that, I'm feeling really happy about this.

“This was exactly what we wanted and I could be any more happy.”

Hooper was second out of the water behind Alberta's Ellen Pennock after a 750-metre swim in the Summerside Harbour, and then was among a pack of six through the 20-kilometre bike that snaked around the downtown area. She and Brault battled it out through much of the five-kilometre run before Hooper took the lead for good.

Inspired by Simon Whitfield's silver-medal performance at the Beijing Olympics, Hooper started training for triathlon less than a year ago, switching to the sport from swimming because her small stature.

“My size was starting to catch up with me,” said the five-foot-two Hooper. “My coach said you should try running, see how you feel, try this sport.

“I kind of took baby steps in October, starting training then, and really picked it up.”

Her goal was simply to make the Canada Games team. She did that, and went on to win the Canadian junior championships last month earning a berth for the world junior event next month in Australia.

“I love the sport,” Hooper said.

B.C. was the class of the field — no surprise considering most of the country's top triathletes, including Olympians Whitfield and Lauren Groves, make Victoria their training base.

“I'm surrounded by amazing athletes to train with, you can pursue a really good triathlon career from that centre in Victoria,” Hooper said.

“We just have a really good program in B.C.,” Phillips added. “You have all the top athletes there. We have year-round weather which is fantastic, we can ride year-round, there's tons of trails to run on, bike routes, it's just a great place to train.”

A group of eight athletes, including all three of B.C.'s athletes, quickly separated themselves from the field after the swim and hammered the pace on the 20-kilometre bike. Knowing that Hammond was a decent runner, Phillips and his teammates tried to work together through the bike to lose the Ontario athlete.

“We were trying all bike long to get a gap on him, every single one of us was trying to attack repeatedly, and I kind of decided at the end to just go for it and hammer my way in,” Phillips said. “I got a bit of a gap and then ran as fast as I could, just tried to stay away, I didn't want him to catch me.

“I didn't want to get into a running battle because I worked a lot on that bike.”

The triathlon event at the Canada Games includes athletes 16-to-20 years of age.

B.C. will be the obvious favourites in Friday's men's and women's team triathlon events.

Podium Day for Team BC

noreply@blogger.com (Barb, aka "Matt's Mom") — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 23:44:00 +0000

Pics here... http://picasaweb.google.com/barbsha/SummerGamesPodiumForTEAMBC#

Story to follow...

noreply@blogger.com (PK) — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 00:05:00 +0000

Pre Race training in PEI.

noreply@blogger.com (PK) — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 23:57:00 +0000

Hi Ya'll. The day before the sprint race in Summerside, PEI. Team BC rode down to the course at 10 a.m for pre race training. The squad is feeling fast, motivated and ready. The weather has been the opposite of last year when it was cold and raining. The past few days it's been sunny and HOT.

Athlete meetings are finished. Athletes are feeling confident and ready to race FAST and represent BC well.

If you want to read more about TEAM BC go to http://teambc.org/games

Wish us luck! PK

Summer Games - Day 1

noreply@blogger.com (Barb, aka "Matt's Mom") — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 23:21:00 +0000

Today (Sunday) was the first day of competition for many sports and the day after the Opening Ceremony. Apparently some of the triathletes from Team BC were on TSN!!

After the ceremony (long but entertaining) the team walked to a local restaurant in anticipation that going back to the athletes village to try to eat would take too long. Good idea!! After an early dinner we went back to the village, (thanks to Team BC mission staff for picking us up) then rode the bikes down to the race site for a quick swim. The ocean water is very warm, 24 degrees so it is unlikely to be a wet suit swim on race day. Pics are from travel, opening ceremonies and dinner out.

Race prep is going well.. weather is cooperating so far and tomm is the “day before. ” More pics to come in future posts.

Here is the link to pics from the last 2 days. I'm not able to post pics directly to the blog right now.
http://picasaweb.google.com/barbsha/CanadaSummerGamesDay1#

Countdown is on to Canada Summer Games

noreply@blogger.com (Barb, aka "Matt's Mom") — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 17:20:00 +0000

Team BC heads to Summerside PEI today via a short stop overnight in Vancouver. Thankfully our group is well travelled and the 7 hour flight to Summerside will not be too difficult. Thanks to Coach PK for preparing our team so well and to Triathlon BC for their financial support for the trip.

Team BC - Alison Hooper, Christine Ridenour, Kyla Coates (alternate: Alex Coates) Jeff Phillips, Matt Sharpe, Cole Stewart (alternate: Aaron Thomas)

missing - Cole Stewart

Missing - Cole Stewart.

Ride up Hurricane Ridge

noreply@blogger.com (PK) — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 04:08:00 +0000

Hurricane Ridge climb - 18 Miles (30km), 5200 feet elevation gain from PA. Sixteen riders began the climb Friday, July 24th from the peaceful town of Port Angeles and sixteen riders finished. Some faster and more easily than others!! :) King of the Mountains - Andrew McCartney - 53:37 runner up Austin Horn- 58:48. Queen of the Mountains - Kyla Coates, Alison Hooper, Hilary Wille (same time, time to the top ??). The stunning views of the Olympic mountains and some fast, fast descending made it all worthwhile. I'm sure we'll do it again!!

Race Day - Gatineau

noreply@blogger.com (Barb, aka "Matt's Mom") — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 04:55:00 +0000

Here is the link for more pics from race day in Gatineau

http://picasaweb.google.com/barbsha/RaceDayGatineau#

Female National Junior Champion - Alison Hooper

noreply@blogger.com (PK) — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 21:20:00 +0000

Quick Update from National Junior Champs in Gatineau, Quebec. Female National Junior Champion - Alison Hooper. NTC girls took five of the top ten spots - Alex Coates 4th, Kyla Coates 5th, Christine Ridenour 6th, Hilary Wille 8th. Male National Junior Champion - Connor Hammond, Ontario. Ontario boys raced very strongly with five in the top 10. NTC boys - Matt Sharpe 7th, Cole Stewart 8th, RTC lower mainland, Aaron Thomas 13th.

A very wet day with athletes racing under thunder showers right through to the end of racing made for some challenging conditions. Full results can be seen at www.sportstats.ca Very strong racing by the NTC juniors. Congratulations to everyone from all the provinces for working their butts off today. Alison Hooper surprised many with her win today but we all know she's got talent!! See you all next week. PK