Posted: April 25, 2004

Triathlon: Whitfield wins World Cup Mazatlan; McGlone 4th

From TriathlonCanada.com.

Simon Whitfield has won the Mazatlan ITU World Cup, his second win in two weekends. Samantha McGlone of Montreal just missed the podium in her best-ever World Cup finish - 4th place.

This first time Mazatlan event proved challenging as the swim had the highest surf ever seen on the World Cup circuit. The other conditions were ideal as the water and air temperatures were 23 degrees Celsius.

In keeping with Simon’s style – he was within striking distance 2.5 km’s from the finish of the run and no one could keep up with him at that point. Dimity Gagg (KAZ) claimed the silver medal and Hunter Kemper (USA) the bronze. Both Gaag and Kemper have already qualified for the Olympic Games.

Four Canadian men were included on the start list in the Mazatlan ITU World Cup. Their presence was felt strongly on the bike where Brent McMahon (Victoria), Paul Tichelaar (Edmonton) and Sebastien LaFlamme (Quebec City) took turns with Simon and others leading the chase pack. McMahon finished in 21st position overall, LaFlamme in 39th and Tichelaar in 45th. McMahon is recovering from injury and Tichelaar is just back on the World Cup circuit following two years of battling injury.

In the women’s event Montreal’s Samantha McGlone is putting forward a strong bid for a spot on the Canadian Olympic team early in the 2003 season. Her fourth place finish in this weekend’s Mazatlan ITU Triathlon World Cup is her best-ever World Cup placement. She was 8th in the Ishigaki ITU World Cup two weeks ago and 8th in the Honolulu ITU International Race last weekend and isn’t showing any signs of slowing. Carla Moreno (BRA) was the gold medalist, followed by Anja Dittmer (GER) and Australia’s young Maxine Seear, recovered from a cold she suffered last weekend earned earning the Bronze Medal.

Edmonton’s Carolyn Murray also had one of her best World Cup performances in Mazatlan. With a 15th place finish this relative newcomer to the triathlon scene looks poised for the start of her best season to date.

Pre-race Canadian favourite, Carol Montgomery, didn’t start the event due to the high surf conditions.

For complete results visit www.triathloncanada.com or /www.triathlon.org for more photos and stories.