Posted: September 20, 2004

Triathlon: New Faces Win Their First Ever National Elite Triathlon Championships In Montreal

TORONTO. 20 September 2004.

Barrie Shepley's Summary of the 2004 National Championships

2004-09-19 -- Montreal, Quebec:

Canada’s top woman at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games stood on top of the podium with her first national title at the Montreal National Elite Championships on Saturday Sept 18th. After the elite championships were cancelled last month in Kelowna due to poor weather athletes had to refocus on the Montreal event. Samantha McGlone was the big winner because she was in Athens when the Kelowna event was scheduled to occur in August. Ontario’s Tara Ross led out of the water with a significant lead over a group of eight. Ross went solo on the nine lap, fast bike course testing her new improved swim-bike skills. Leading the chase pack were Samantha McGlone, Jen McLean and Quebec’s Isabelle Gagnon. Ross eventually succumbed to the fast riding chase pack and collectively a large group of the top females came off the 40km bike ride together. Immediately onto land, Samantha McGlone showed she was the class runner of the field and ran to victory with a 35 minute 10km run split. Tara Ross in just her second complete season of racing elite, moved to the silver spot on the podium and Jen McLean had her best race ever by finishing third across the line. Quebec’s Isabelle Gagnon was incredible in her fourth place finish, just one week after a top Ironman finish in Wisconsin USA.

Ontario’s male swimmers dominated the Simon Whitfield-less men’s field. Former National Junior Champion Daniel Wells was first out of the water in the non-wetsuit swim. Team-mates Sean Bechtel – James Loaring followed along with Quebec’s Marc Despatie, Alexis Ascah and David James Tache were close behind. The lead group of six rode together while Paul Tischelaar, Colin Jenkins rode in a chase pack and another 20 seconds further back Kelly Guest, Andrea Paul Baillargeon Smith and Kyle Jones were the lead athletes in chase pack two. Pan American Games team-athlete, Sean Bechtel continued to force the pace on the bike and by lap 4 broke away with Quebec’s Alexis Ascah to eventually end up 1 minute ahead of the chase athletes off the bike. Kelly Guest rode like a man possessed and pulled his chase pack up to Jenkins and Tischelaar and eventually they caught the Wells, Loaring, Despatie and David James Tache. Part way through the nine lap, forty kilometer bike ride, Kyle Jones (a pre-race favourite) crashed with University of Guelph team-mate David Sharrat.

On land Bechtel quickly ran away from Alexis Ascah but realized that his one minute lead was not likely to be enough for the fast running chase athletes coming up from behind. An initial group of six chase runners eventually was whittled away to just three. Hamilton’s Colin Jenkins. St Catharine’s Andrea Paul Baillargeon Smith and Edmonton’s Paul Tischelaar. The trio ran side by side for virtually the entire 10km run. With 200m to go, Baillargeon Smith and Tischelar dropped Jenkins. Twice the two leaders edged ahead of each other in an epic final sprint. In the end, the more experienced Paul Tischelaar won the event by the width of a body in front of a very appreciative finishing crowd. Tischelaar’s mind during his victory likely would have been on his British Columbia team-mate Sean Marlowe who earlier this summer was hit in his car by a truck and continues to battle serious injuries in a Vancouver hospital. With Olympic champion Simon Whitfield enjoying some post-season recovery and fellow Athens’ team-mate Brent McMahon recovering from surgery, Triathlon Canada got a chance to see the next generation of male Triathletes at the 2004 Montreal National Elite Championships. With five of the top nine men all under the age of 24, the prospects for the future look very bright!

Elite National Team members are still racing around the world with October events in Cancun Mexico and Rio Brazil. For more information on the national team and events see /www.triathloncanada.com.

Women's Top 10 Results

1     1:57:53  McGLONE, Samantha    Otterburn Par
2     2:00:24 ROSS TARA            Ontario
3     2:01:11 MACLEAN, jennifer    Vancouver
4     2:01:29 GAGNON, Isabelle     Trois-Riviere 
5     2:02:29 LALONDE, Marie-Elain LaSalle   
6     2:03:35 POLITO  ANASTASIA 
7     2:04:55 KAYE, Alicia         Sudbury 
8     2:06:45 GERVAIS, Annie       St-Luc   
9     2:07:44 MICHEL, Claire       Toronto 
10     2:09:13 MARTENS, Daniela     Outremont

 Men's Top 10 Results  
1     1:50:51 TICHELAAR, Paul      Edmonton
2     1:50:52 BAILLARGEON-SMITH, A St. Catharine      
3     1:50:54 JENKINS, Colin       Hamilton       
4     1:51:11 GUEST, KELLY         VICTORIA   
5     1:51:29 TACHE, David-James   Sainte-Agathe  
6     1:51:51 DUBE, Mathieu        Saint-    
7     1:52:14 BECHTEL, Sean        Caledon      
8     1:52:30 LOARING, James       
9     1:52:43 DESPATIES, Marc      Laval
10     1:52:53 ASCAH,Alexis         Montreal
11     1:54:16 WELLS, Daniel        Holland Landing