Posted: October 6, 2004

Duathlon: Canadian Duathlon National Championships

From Eric Blais:

Canadian National Championship - Quebec City, Quebec
October 2, 2004
10k run, 42k bike, 5k run

The inaugural Quebec city Duathlon, 10-40-5, was the host of the Canadian National on last Saturday. The day was a picture perfect autumn day. Leafs were turning colors and the sky was cloudless. The temperature was crisp. Perfect for a fast day.

The elite field had many good athletes. The women's field was headed by the Olympian Samatha McGlone, Isabelle Gagnon (Ironman specialist), Annie Gervais and Veronique Fortin. In the men's field last year's national champion, Sam Babe, returned to defend his title. Kyle Marcotte, last year's runner up, was also present. Many other duathlon specialists where participating: local athlete Miguel Sanchez, Adam Campbell and Chris Van beurden. One notable missing athlete was the no show of Andrew McMartin.

The women's race took form in the first 2.5km loop. Samantha,Veronique Fortin and Annie Gervais took the lead. In the first two loop the trio held together. Samatha used here incredible running skill to break loose at the start of the third loop and in the same time broke the trio into pieces.

Samantha hit T1 with 45 secondes and never looked backed. Annie Gervais was second in T1, followed by Veronique Fortin.

On the twelve-lap bike course, no one was able to challenge Samantha. Annie held on to second. The only race going on was between third and fourth position. Isabelle Gagnon caught Veronique Fortin at lap six and formed the only pack of this draft legal race. Veronique Fortin, at lap eleven, believed that the bike course was over, as she read 40km on her computer, and headed to T2. She quickly realized her mistake and headed out to finish her missing lap. The bike course distance was 44km.

Samatha got into T2 with a very comfortable lead. Annie Gervais was second and Isabelle was third. Veronique's mistake permitted Nicole Van beurden to pass her. From there the position did not change and Samatha ran to win the National title.

The men's race had enough competitors to make it an exciting drafting race. The first 10km went out on a blistering pace of 31:30. Many believe the distance was short. Two packs formed on the run. Nine men took of on the bike with a one minute lead on the second pack of eight.

The first pack was formed with last year contenders and local favorite Miguel Sanchez, who did a particularly slow transition. The lead pack held their one minute lead on the chase pack until lap five of twelve.

After five laps, the unorganized chase pack did not gain any time. The experienced Andrew Tanner took charge of the group and started to make them work together. From that point they where gaining 10 seconds per lap.

While the lead group was loosing time, the local Miguel Sanchez broke away from the group at lap six. At the high point of his break away he was leading by thirty seconds. The crowd loved it. While Miguel was impressing his home crowd, the second pack caught the lead group. The huge chase group of over fifteen riders started to reduce Miguel's lead.

Sanchez never got caught, but barely made it in T2 alone. His second transition, which was again very slow, permitted him to lead the group out of transition by merely one second. From that point Kyle Marcotte took the lead and never got challenged. Chris Van beurden ran into second place and Adam Campbell rounded off the podium. While the days showman, Miguel Sanchez, kept the fourth position. After the race Miguel said, “I rather tried to break away and ended fourth rather than sit back and maybe win”.

All in all for a first time event, the Quebec Duathlon was a great race in a beautiful décor with immense potential. The organization will iron out the errors and from their keep on building a better race. This event will become a duathlon landmark and maybe in a short while a world cup.

Elite Women 
2:10:34 McGlone Samantha 
2:15:40 Gervais Annie 
2:19:14 Gagnon Isabelle 
2:20:53 Van beurden Nicol 
2:20:59 Fortin Veronique 

Elite Men 
2:01:28 Marcotte Kyle 
2:01:44 Van beurden Chris 
2:02:11 CAMBELL Adam 
2:02:35 Sanches Miguel 
2:02:37 DUBE Mathieu 

Full Elite Results, Age Group Results

For more on Samantha McGlone: Triathlon: 20 Questions for Canada's Samantha McGlone, Athens Triathlon, Olympian