Triathlon: Canadian Juniors Shine in the Florida Sun

Canadian Juniors had an outstanding showing at the USAT Junior Worlds Qualifying Race in Clermont, Florida on March 13th. The event was a sprint draft-legal event, which consisted of a 750m swim; 20km cycle and finished with a 5km run in the late morning heat.

In the junior women’s race, Erin Braun and Amy Briscoe from Winnipeg, MB worked extremely well together on the bike and went into the run portion with over a minute lead on the next competitors. The girls maintained their lead on the run and finished 1st and 2nd respectively. Catherine Hogan (Bedford, QC) and Dianna Kennedy (Calgary, AB) sprinted through the cycle to move up through the field. Their strong cycling skills produced top 10 finishes, with Catherine taking 6th place and Dianna who delivered the fastest cycle split, placed 8th, despite a crash on the bike course.

Five other Canadian junior women were part of the competition field, Alaina Kerr (Hamilton, ON), Teresa Samek (Winnipeg, MB), Carolyn Wernham (Winnipeg, MB), Elizabeth Pellerin (Drummondville, QC), and Maude-Josee Blondin (Nicolet, QC).

In the junior men’s race, Quebec athletes were heavily represented. The men’s event was a close race with the top 3 American finishers placing within 30 seconds of each other. Guillaume Valieres, a 15 year old from Prevost who was competing for the first time at this level, was the top Canadian finishing in 4th place. His teammates Guillaume Lechance from Ste Melanie, David Gagnon from Montreal, and Eric Morissette from Sainte Foy placed 7th, 8th, and 11th respectively.

Three other junior men represented Canada, Charles Etienne Plourde (St Elie, QC), Pierre-Etienne Lambert (Granoimere, QC) and Josh McPhie (Guelph, ON).

In the U23 race event, Marie-Élaine Normand from Cap-de-la-Made (QC) earned a 3rd place podium finish on the women’s side while in the men’s race, Jacques Marcoux (Winnipeg, MB) placed 8th.

The athletes were in Florida to race and to participate in training camps organized by Quebec and the Manitoba National Triathlon Centre (MNTC). Braun, Hogan, Kennedy, Lachance, Morissette and Normand are members of the junior and U23 teams representing Canada at the 2004 ITU World Championships in Portugal during May and were using this event to prepare for Worlds.

Full junior results are available at: www.usat-ntc.com.

Full U23 results are available at: www.usat-ntc.com.