World Triathlon

Canadian Olympian Samantha McGlone led a Canadian woman’s sweep of the podium in the 2005 HSBC ITU Elite women’s field while current Canadian National Champion Paul Tichelaar topped the men’s podium. Trailing by nearly a minute out of the water, Athen’s Olympian Samantha McGlone showed the crowd why she is so feared, as she rode herself up to the lead pack of four then ran away with the fastest run of the day to claim her fourth victory in 2005. Racing in Caledon Ontario, in front her parents and first triathlon coach, Samantha McGlone used the tough hilly 40km bike course to her full advantage. “That course was a lot tougher then anyone anticipated” said McGlone when she finished the day “I can’t wait for next year’s national championships to be held on the course, it suits me perfectly”.

Leading out of the 2 loop 1500m non-wetsuit swim, was Tara Ross from Barrie Ontario. Joining Ross in the lead group were Alicia Kaye, Jessica Kirkwood and Cornerbrook World Cup 4th place finisher Gillian Kornell. The four athletes worked well on the 4 lap hilly bike, but McGlone was incredibly impressive riding herself through the chase packs until eventually catching the leaders on the third lap. Once off the bike, McGlone continued to show her amazing running ability putting nearly a minute into the second fastest runner.
Kelowna’s Gillian Kornell showing her Cornerbrook World Cup 4th place was legitimate crossed the line in second with New Market’s Jessica Kirkwood adding her first international Podium to her resume. Ontario’s Alicia Kaye and Tara Ross rounded out the top five.

All eyes were focused on Victoria’s Brent McMahon to lead the charge on the men’s side. Unfortunately, McMahon’s old illio-tibal band injury flared up during his pre-race warmup and was a last minute withdrawl. Ontario’s Daniel Wells led a group of ten men out of the water in 18:58. Immediately onto the hilly bike, Canadian Paul Tichelaar, American Tim O’Donnell, Nicholas Becker from France and Sean Bechtel from Caledon Ontario started to push the pace. New Zealand’s Bryan Rhodes showed his incredible strength by attempting a number of break aways on the four lap bike. The lead group of ten put nearly three minutes into the chase bikers which held most of the top runners. Tichelaar and Ontario’s Colin Jenkins ran side by side for the first 1/4 of the 10km run, until the American Military Champion Tim O’Donnell caught onto the duo, with Jenkins falling off the pace. Edmonton’s Paul Tichelaar was able to gap O’Donnell on the hilly fourth run lap to claim the HSBC ITU Caledon Triathlon Title with O’Donnell from USA and Nicholas Becker from France claiming bronze.

The men’s top 10 included atheltes from four nations with four Canadian men exciting the local crowd. “This course was tough, I don’t think I have ever hurt this much for a win” said Tichelaar. Tichellaar just recently graduate with an engineering degree from the the University of Alberta where he ran cross country and track. Becker was elated over his podim finish. “Last year I finished fourth just behind American Brian Fleischman and I came back to Canada to get on the poidum”, said the twenty-five year old French Triathlete. Becker has been living in Caledn for nearly three weeks, training with the C3 Canadian Cross Training Club and living with a local homestay family. Fifty of the elite athletes took advantage of the generous home-stay support by the local race organizers. The 2006 Caledon Triathlon is scheduled to be both an ITU Points Race as well as the Canadian National Championships. Prior to the HSBC ITU Elite Men & Women’s Triathlon, the Junior athletes raced for the Canadian National Junior Championships and spots for the World Championships in Japan.