Phew...race season flying along

Hey All,

Writing a blog about swimming, biking, and running (and triathlon i suppose i should add to that list) is much easier in January than in May. There is just so much to talk about, to report on, to preview, and to vent on! So on to the news o' the week...

Last week there were two very different world-class Olympic distance triathlons. The ITU race in South Korea was won by Tim Don over Bevan Docherty, with Bike-Y fave Paul Tichelaar rolling in in 6th place (that guy is kicking ass in 2008). The womens race was won by Samantha Warriner over Hollie Avil (more on her below) with Canadian Beijing-hopeful Kirsten Sweetland in 5th place in her first race in 7 months! If you've been following Bike-Y, you know that gives her the Part 1 of the Canadian Qualifying protocol and now she needs a Top 8 at ITU Worlds in Vancouver to get her ticket punched. If you want to more know about Ms Sweetland, here's a Q&A with her.

On the same day that the ITU guys/gals raced in South Korea, there was another race in St Petersburg, Florida. The St Anthony's Triathlon has been going for 25 years, and is a big money Olympic-distance event. This year's men's race finished with Matt Reed, Andy Potts, Greg Bennett, and Craig Alexander going 1-2-3-4. Sarah Haskins won the ladies race, with other notables including Mirinda Carfrae (3rd), Sam McGlone (4th), Becky Lavelle (5th), Nina Kraft (7th), and my new fave name for a women pro, Bree Wee (9th).

So why I am talking about this? The ITU race (as you may know) is draft-legal. St Anthony's (like Chicago Triathlon, LifeTime Fitness, New York Triathlon, etc) is not. This is very evident when you watch the race. Both ITU races had upwards of 20 competitors coming off the bike at the same time, while the St Anthony's race had both winners being the first runner out of T2 since they actually swam/biked faster than the rest of the field. Every ITU race seems to be a frenzied swim to join a bike pack, then either one bike pack beats the other to T2 which results in someone from Pack 1 winning, or it turns into one huge pack where the best runner wins the race. ITU racing is draft-legal for one reason: television. But from a great racing point of view, draft-legal sucks. And it sure that lots of "veteran" triathletes or long-distance triathletes enjoy doing the Olympic-distance non-drafting events. I'm just scared that too many ITU races are won by the best runners rather than the best triathletes. Or maybe it's just me...

Ok, even if I did vent against ITU, they are a great global tour (plus Canadians are doing great). Here's a great video recap of the 2007 season in case I appear too anti-ITU.



I just found out one more thing about the Beijing Olympic Qualifying. Only the Top 8 countries get 3 spots for each of the Men's and Women's Olympic Triathlons. Now Canada appears to be in great shape, but the USA is in 8th place (and under pressure from Russia who is in 9th) on the Men's side. This could lead to a shocking result in which the US only gets 2 spots, which means that both Andy Potts and Hunter Kemper would stay home (since neither of them have spots yet). Crazy. Math majors can read the details here.

One last Canadian Olympic note: HBC (who took over outfitting the Canadian team from Roots in 2006...i think) announced the Beijing outfits this week. Not bad, lots of loud colours, lots of huge Canada logos, and some very nice Chinese influences. You can see (and order) men's products here, and women's stuff here.

Whoops, almost forget about Hollie Avil. From Great Britain, she raced her first ITU race in April, one freakin' DAY after she turned 18. Oh that's only the begining. She finished that race in 3rd place (behind Emma Snowsill and Erin Densham) then finished her second ITU race in 2nd place! This girl is amazing. A lot like Sweetland last year, who turned pro early, Avil is quickly becoming a favorite in every race she starts. She hasn't qualified for the Olympics, but early indications are that she might be one of the faves if she makes it...here's her profile if you want to know more.

Two quickies before I wrap up...an editorial about triathletes, open-water swimming, and sharks! This is obviously a follow-up on last week's tragic death (see last week's Bike-y if you missed it), but it makes being a triathlete in Alberta seem not as bad as I thought...

Oh yeah: new product alert! Although we might not see it north of the border for a bit, the good folks at Gu have a new gel called Roctane. I guess it's something they have been making for pros like Michellie Jones for a while, but it's now ready for the public. It has extra citrate, amino acids, and something called histidine in it, and is supposed to be an improvement over current gels in it's ability to slow muscle fatigue. Does it work? Who knows? But the initial flavour: Blueberry Pomegranate? Yummy....

Another huge weekend this weekend, but Inside Tri did the work for me and previewed the Wildflower Triathlon (go Sam McGlone and Jasper Blake!) , the St Croix 70.3 Race (Lessing vs Alexander vs Al-Sultan!) and the ITU Race in South Africa (5 Canadians competing in a pretty watered down field). Darn it, guess next week will be busy as well.

Next week: the Giro d'Italia! See you Friday...
This weekend...