West coast teammates Andrew Russell and Ellen Pennock of Victoria BC Crowned Elite Mens and Womens Canadian Triathlon Champions
KELOWNA, B.C.—
Two Canadians captured the gold in this weekends triathlon, Ellen Pennock and Andrew Russell. Pennock ranked 6th leading up to Sundays Elite race and Andrew ranking 1st coming into this weekends races won the elite women’s and elite men’s gold at this years Canadian Championships in Kelowna, B.C. on Sunday.
Victoria BC resident, Pennock is competing in 2012 in the Elite women's after a shining performance as one of Canada's leading junior girls having placed 15th in Beijing, China at the World Junior Championships in 2011 and winning gold at last years Kelowna Apple Triathlon Junior Elite race and Canada's National Junior XC Championships. Pennock was all smiles as she crossed the finish line clocking a winning time of 2hrs 10 minutes, 04 seconds over the 1500m swim, 40-kilometre bike and 10km-run.
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“The bike course was really technical and I had to work hard to catch up,” said Pennock, due to the extreme heat I had to conserve some energy in order to break free from the pack in the run course. This is such a great event, I love competing here each year, I'm so happy to win today"
Ellen Pennock finished the swim in 8th place, and moved up to 3rd by the first transition and came out with a bang to finish in first, claiming gold at a time of 2:10:04. Anna Battiata of USA who gained the silver medal win with a time of 2:11:02 and Canadian Chantell Widney came from behind the pack, rounding out the women’s podium in third place at 2:11:42.
The triathlon future also looks bright for Canada in men’s racing as 7 of the top 10 finishers were from Canada's Elite Men's team. It was Ellen's team mate Andrew Russell, also of Victoria BC., coming out on top to take first place in men's elite. Russell's time an impressive gold-medal 1:56:21. While not his best ever time, he was very pleased with his results considering the sweltering conditions. In fact all the athletes times were approximately 10 min slower than they are used to performing which was largely attributed by officials to be due today's extreme heat.
“Coach Jon Brown gave me a plan for this race, which I stuck too and it played out just as we hoped,” said Russell. “I stuck back a little in the swim but pulled ahead to keep in a solid group that worked very well on the bike. The run was quick, and a challenge in the heat, especially with Andrew (McCartney) right beside me most of the way. I had to go for it at just over one kilometre to go, I sprinted my heart out to the finish. I always love racing here in Kelowna so I'm thrilled with this win"
Andrew Russell was joined on the podium by fellow teammate and friend, Andrew Mccartney also of Victoria BC, who was right on his friends heels as he ran to capture the silver medal with a time of 1:56:30 a great improvement from having placed 15th at last years Apple Triathlon. Bronze was taken by one our American Elite men, Joe Maloy, of Wildwood Crest, N.J with a top career time of 1:57:45
This years Kelowna Apple Triathlon was, as always, a huge success for many of our athletes, with some experiencing unfortunate outcomes as well. Tristan Woodfine's flat tire which caused him to bail out at the end of the last lap of the bike race and 3 female elites, and 7 male elites bowing out due to heat exhaustion.
In addition to our elites on Sunday, our age group category also raced the sprint & Olympic distances. Age group overall top winners for the Olympic distance, and recipients of this years John Hindle and Jennifer Hindle awards were local Penticton resident Tom Evans with a stellar time of 1:58:38 and Marcy Schmidt of Sherwood Park, AB crossing the finish line grinning from ear to ear with a time of 2:13:52.
Sunday is also the time for our Corporate Relay Teams to ban together as an exciting and challenging team building event. This year the honor goes to Athletes In Action coming to the Okanagan from Edmonton AB with a great time of 2:17:23.
Triathlon Canada is the governing body for triathlon in the country. Recognized as an Olympic medal sport since 2000, Triathlon Canada’s mandate is to promote, foster, organize and develop the sport of triathlon, and its related disciplines, in Canada. For more information on Triathlon Canada, please visit us at www.triathloncanada.com on the Internet.
For more information on the Canadian Championships, please visit www.raceheadquarters.com/results/rhqResultsMulti.php?nYear=2011#aug.
For complete results at the ITU Sprint World Championships, please visit www.triathlon.org.
Thanks for your support in helping to promote the sport of Triathlon and Open Water Swimming in Canada!
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