Posted: June 27, 2004

Triathlon: 2004 Muskoka Chase Triathlon Report

From Competition Zone's Tom Evans

The Muskoka Challenge was a very fun race all around. The unique format over the 2k, 55k 15k course gave the pro women an 18.05 head start over the men, with the goal of making the finish close with the winner, male or female, taking the top prize money.

I traveled to Muskoka with my coach Joel Filliol and we stayed at his family's cabin on a small lake close to the race site. My strategy for this race was a little different than for A priority race for this year, Ironman Canada, but it was fairly simple: go as hard as I could on the swim and bike and not worry about what the others were doing. After a hard swim and bike, I had a solid lead over the men's field, and caught last year's Muskoka winner Lisa Bentley with about 5k to go on the bike. The women's leader, Tereza Macel was still a little under 6 minutes ahead leading into the 15k run. My running legs took a few km's to get going, probably due to the Ironman focus of my training. Or maybe it was just the fear of the fast runner's coming up behind me and trying to catch the lead woman!

I felt stronger on the second half of the run for the first time in my life so I guess I have Joel to thank for that. I caught the lead woman (Tereza Macel) with about 3 km left in the run. Unfortunately my sprint speed was no match for former ITU World Champ Miles Stewart who has been racing short course for the last decade or more. He went past me like I was standing still with about 1 km to the finish. It would have been nice to be 15 seconds faster to get the win but I was happy with how good I felt on the day considering the short taper leading up to this race.

Tom Evans, a former national swimmer with the Keyano Swim Club in Edmonton, finished 2nd at the 2003 Ironman Canada, leading until the final kilometers on the run. He currently lives and trains in Penticton BC, home of his goal race for 2004, Ironman Canada. Tom is coached by Joel Filliol of Competition Zone.

Send your questions and comments to Tom at tevans@competitionzone.com or Coach Joel at info2@competitionzone.com or www.competitionzone.com .