Posted: March 1, 2005

Triathlon: Canadian Professionals Visit Allied Aerospace Wind Tunnel

Top Canadian professional triathletes Tom Evans, Jasper Blake, and Natasha Filliol spent an afternoon in San Diego testing at the Allied Aerospace Low Speed Wind Tunnel in preparation for their 2005 season. Multisports.com coaches Paul Huddle and Roch Frey and technical advisor Kraig Willett (Biketechreview.com) worked with the triathletes' personal coach Joel Filliol to optimize their position on the bicycle and gather data on different pieces of equipment.

Joel Filliol is one Canada's most experienced professional triathlon coaches and leads the personal coaching company Competition Zone (www.competitionzone.com). He has been involved in endurance sport since 1989 as an athlete and coach. "At the highest levels of performance, attention to details like aerodynamics and bike positioning are a significant part of success in Triathlon." stated Filliol. "Allied Aerospace has the most experienced wind tunnel team in the business, so they were a natural choice when researching the options for my high performance athletes." Blake is one of Canada's top Ironman athletes with several top 4 finishes at Ironman Canada as well as numerous victories in the Subaru Triathlon Series, Canada's largest triathlon series. His goal events in 2005 include Ironman Arizona and Hawaii. Blake was very pleased with the days' testing results. "Taking care of the details is essential when you are trying to compete at the highest level. Wind tunnel testing is one of those details we decided to include for this season. The experience was incredible. The gang at Allied Aerospace was fantastic, on the ball and very knowledgeable. I will definitely go back in the years to come for some fine tuning".

Natasha Filliol finished 4th overall (9:37) at her Ironman debut in Florida this past November. She is also a 5 time Canadian Elite National Team Member and winner of the 2003 ITU Cancun World Cup. "Finding your optimal aerodynamic position is one of the key ingredients to a fast bike split." remarked Filliol who will make her first attempt at the Ironman World Championships in October. "The wind tunnel enabled me to maximize my power and find the best position without jeopardizing comfort. Now I don't have to play the guessing game!"

All of Joel Filliol's athletes are equipped with custom 2005 GURU triathlon bikes. With Hawaii in his sights, Tom Evans will be riding the new full-carbon GURU Crono, Jasper Blake is already in form on his titanium GURU Tri'Ti, and Natasha Filliol is anticipating a fast year on the bike with her uniquely-painted GURU Trilite.

The drag for each position or equipment change was precisely measured using the state-of-the-art balance system that was designed, fabricated and calibrated by Allied Aerospace engineers. The athletes were also provided with extremely accurate power measurements as well as heartrate, cadence, and road speed. All of these test parameters were tabulated on a data summary sheet. This sheet showed data for each position relative to the baseline and presented time gains (or losses) as a function of drag and power measured at each test point. Additionally, they each received a set of DVD's containing top, side, front, and rear video coverage of their entire test session for post-test review and analysis with their coach.

Additional information on the Allied Aerospace Low Speed Wind Tunnel can be found at www.lswt.com. Dates available for upcoming wind tunnel testing opportunities can be found at: MultiSports.com.