Posted: March 18, 2006

Triathlon: Tichelaar 8th, Savege 9th in Commonwealth Games

Canadian men: Brent McMahon BC, Paul Tichelaar AB, Colin Jenkins ON (Photo: CWG Canada/Dan Galbraith / Concepts to Applause)

Early leads by Canadians triathletes in both the men’s and women’s races at the Commonwealth Games today – Paul Tichelaar and Suzanne Weckend were first out of the water in their respective events - were gobbled up by athletes from Australia and New Zealand who took over with torrid runs to sweep the medals.

Canada’s top finish at the 18th Commonwealth Games was an eighth by Edmonton’s Tichelaar. On the Women’s side Penticton, BC’s Jill Savege was a respectable 9th in her first big event of 2006 with a time of 2:00:54. Weckend who participated in the 1994 Commonwealth Games as a swimmer was 24 seconds ahead of the field after the 1.5km swim and finished in 12th position in 2:02:18.

Canada's triathletes fought hard in the swim and bike portions of the race, but they were unable to maintain the momentum in the 10km run, as Australians celebrated their first ever gold medals in Olympic or Commonwealth Games competitions.

Australia’s Bradley Kahlefeldt was the Men’s winner with an impressive time of 1:49:16, which was bolstered by a run of just over 30 minutes. New Zealand’s Bevan Docherty, the 2004 World Champion and Olympic silver medalist, was second 10 seconds behind Kahlefeldt and 3-time World Champion Peter Robinson was third in 1:49:32.

Emma Snowsill who came out of the water in 7th place recovered nicely with a blistering run-time of 33:50:76 and won the women’s race convincingly. Snowsill had such a big lead that she was able to stop and chat with a friend before finally crossing the finish line in 1:58:02.

Three pursuing New Zealanders were more than 36 seconds back, with Samantha Warriner the silver medalist in 1:58:38, Andrea Hewitt the bronze medalist in 1:58:46.08 and Debbie Tanner fourth in 1:58:46.08.

Tichelaar was thrilled with his performance buoyed by his personal best run time of just over 32 minutes. “That was an incredible run for me and it is 90 seconds better than my previous best.”

Tichelaar said his overall time of 1:50:51 was the most satisfying of his career, “I have been focusing on the swim and bike disciplines so I am a little surprised I was able to run so well. This great result should set me up favourably for the rest of the season.”

Coach Joel Filliol, also from Victoria, was ecstatic with Paul’s first place swim and scorching run. “This is remarkable considering Paul missed almost an entire season with a broken jaw. For Paul to lead the swim with a world class field and then follow it up with a tremendous run says a lot about his improvement in the last 6 months. If he continues his hard work and stays the course, Paul will have his best year to date in 2006.”

Victoria’s Brent McMahon placed 12th in 1:51:50.80. Hamilton’s Colin Jenkins was 16th in 1:56:07.13. Jenkins, the youngest in the field, made a name for himself in the cycling portion of the event as he recorded the fastest 40km bike time in 1:00:59.48. Gillian Kornell, from Kelowna, BC was 19th.in 2:06:43.

It was a perfect day for the race in Melbourne with light winds and a temperature of 24 celsius, the atmosphere was electric with a raucous crowd of close to 50,000 cheering the Aussies from start to finish.

Canadian triathletes were unable to duplicate their performances in the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester when Simon Whitfield and Carol Montgomery won gold medals.

Canada’s other top-10 performance came from 32 year-old Jill Savege who only competed in 2 World Cup events in 2005 due to lingering injuries. Savege battled all year with nagging ailments in her hamstring and gluteal muscles which left her at a fitness disadvantage, especially compared with the Australians and New Zealanders who were in peak condition at the end of their summer.

Savege was near the front in sixth spot and stayed with the lead group through most of the cycling leg but was unable to muster a charge for the all-important run.

However, Savege was upbeat about her 9th place performance, "it's still very early in my season and I needed to take most of last year off after July, so it's not my greatest performance but I'm almost back to being 100 percent. I thought that I might have been able to pull one out based on past experience, but it wasn't to be with all the strong girls in the front pack. It’s a long journey to get back to where I was; however, with today’s result I know I am one step closer.”

Triathlon Canada is the National Federation for the Sport of Triathlon and Duathlon in Canada.

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