Kevin White

Just when you thought Tri season was wrapping up for Canadians, our very own Kevin White will be competing in Austin, Texas at the 70.3 Longhorn (geez, i better check to make sure i have the name right). More to come....

Now, it's Your Turn, Let us Know.

Unsolicited of course, we have had some other suggestions besides the ones you can vote on. Keep in mind the name should meet three criteria, a) originality b) does it relate to a Triathlon theme and c) will it be impactful to others.

Some other other names suggested were ; the Blizt, the Bobcats, the Breakway, the Tritons, the Full Pedal jackets. Remember, to some, "Art" is just a name.

picking a new name

Help us select a new name for the club. First we will be known as the Barrie Triathlon Club or the Triathlon Club of Barrie. Gone will be the reference to "Kempenfelt".

Carlos, Mischele & I have spent some time reviewing a large list of names and we have narrowed it down to (1) The Barrie Bulldogs (2) The Barrie Carbon Trilliums and (3) the "adjective" Kellies, (ie: the fighting kellies).

Take a moment & vote.

Time Trials are Over for 2009.

thanks to everyone who came out & competed in our Clubs TT's. a very worthy & successful event.

as the season begins to shut down & the sunset closes in on our evening training, last night was our final TT. as always open for suggestions to improve. please feel free to comment.

truly, Jamie

70.3 Muskoka Spectacular

They came from everywhere. I sat on the bus next to a guy from Arizona. Why did he make the trip to 70.3 Muskoka, because he had heard "good things about it". The morning was a typical Muskoka morning for September, & the man from Arizona ask "if this weather normal for around here?" There was an entire representative from the Buffalo Tri Club & more.

Easily 70.3 Muskoka is one of the best races to do & the best thing it's in our own backyard. The organizers & volunteers are top knotch. The swag or "goodie bags" are not only excellent but creative with some originality.

Now for the race itself. Don't kid yourself it's challenging. This is not 70.3 Florida or Steelhead. The only thing flat about this course was the swim. First steeple is the mountain climb from the water to T1. I'm guessing somewhere between 500-600 m and all up hill. The bike course was exactly as last year, however i truly don't remember it being as hilly especially the last 20k. The fans in Dorset are amazing ; its such a lift going thru this elegant town. That brings us to the run. Last year the complaint was the run was suicidal. This year they modified the run course so it was just tortuous. Congratulations to John Dow, John Welsh, Ross Fenton, Calvin Chu, Scott Whynot, Kimberely Lowery, Kevin McCormick, Marie White, Brent Boden, John Bradbury, Michael Colquhoun, Carlos Vilchez, Shannon Bebard & more. Thanks to the fans of KTC for coming out and cheering, you know who you are, Joe, Mark, Heather, Nathan, Fenton & Family and i know i have missed many of you.

TT Results from Sept 8th

Q & A w/ Joanne Merkley

Q1. So Joanne, is Ironman Canada your first Ironman ?

Yes Jamie- I was one of the 800 virgins of 2800 in this race. I always said people who did Ironman races were extremists who had an unusual desire for self-abuse.

Q2. What did you eat the night before and what did you eat for breakfast @ IMCan?

Hmmmm. The night before I had a juicy chicken breast, pasta, salad and garlic bread. I passed on the Skor Ice Cream offer.

Breakfast consisted of oatmeal, a PC Chocolate Ultra Shake, coffee, an unsuccessful attempt at a bagel, half a banana and a couple of gels right before the swim (along with some eload,Gatorade TM and water).

Q3. You had an amazing time. What was your focus ?

My focus was I had to do well enough that Nat wouldn't lose her job for letting me wear the Gatorage tri top! Otherwise, my focus was on going hard but having fun, enjoying the scenery, staying social and being safe. I felt pretty grateful to have the chance to do the race. I didn't know how my body would react to the distance and the conditions so I wanted to try to keep it all together for the duration. I am happy about all aspects of the race but I realize I could have pushed myself harder the second half of the run. There were a lot of people really struggling and I was afraid I might become one of them.

Q4. What was your biggest surprise about Penticton ?

It was astonishing to see the numbers of people lining every km of the bike and run course. People literally pulled you up the lllooooonnnnnggggg bike climbs with their cheering, genuine comments and antics. The spirit, heat, hills, beauty of the course... were all very pleasant surprises. Vineyards everywhere and fresh fruit to eat all around you. Lake Okanagan is beautiful water to swim in.


Q5. Tell us about the swim start & the swim itself ?

The group hug on the beach was the best. I managed to find Kevin and Shawn and we shared a moment. Christian- couldn't find you but you were likely up with the pros! Then we headed our own ways- Kevin to find his special place, Shawn to relieve himself (AKA warm-up swim) and me to my chosen spot towards the left end of the diagonal line where I thought other people around my predicted time would be. It was terrific to run into Nathania (Gatorade Girl) and her Mom Jane. We shared a group hug, got into the water to warmup and then didn't see each other until later in the day.

After the warm-up swim some incredibly inspirational music was playing that was pretty moving. I thought I would need to be slapped before the start but I felt a wave of calm that was reassuring. The gun went off and it seemed like there was me and the blue caps everywhere. Once everyone got in deep enough to swim it got crazy but not too much so. You just had to keep moving and watch for flying fists. The difficulty was in the broad shoulders of all the men, as well as those around me who liked the zig-zagged approach. By about 1 km my right eye was burning. It seems the normally water proof sunblock wasn't quite so waterproof- learned a valuable lesson there as I had to do the rest of the swim with one eye and have been treating my eyes ever since. Making it around the first house boat felt great and the swim across to the next house boat went quite well. I had a better rhythm going by then. The swim back in seemed longer than I anticipated but the long pull/glide really helped. When we got about 300m from shore, you seemed to catch a nice current that helped you along. It was great to see people standing in the water cheering you up to land. I didn't even think to look at the clock when I got out of the water.

Q6. Did you see anyone on the course from Barrie ? What exactly did you say to Shawn Patton when you passed him on the bike.

I saw several people at different points in time (surprisingly as it's really all single looped). I saw Shawn on the out and back at Cawson towards the special needs area so technically I DID pass him on the bike! That was the hottest area at 34 degrees.

I saw famous firefighter Kevin on the run, as well as Nat, Andrew, Shawn and Jane, all with team Gatorade. Shawn had to pick it up for the second half of the run because I saw him just before I hit the turnaround in OK Falls. It was very impressive to see Christian on the run as he was out front and looking good! Also very impressive to see Andrew even earlier on. He would have been under 10:00 but unfortunately ran into some nutrition issues shortly after I saw him.

Q7. What's next ?

Hockey season, training (getting my run back), skate skiing, snowboarding, time for fine wine...

I signed up for Placid for 2010 and if all goes well, Switzerland in 2011. Maybe next spring I'll run that full marathon I was planning for last fall before that "knee" incident at the rink. I'm planning on doing the Rideau Canal speed skate, ski, snowshoe race this winter.

TT Results from Sept. One

Matt Doucette not only did a PB at last Tuesday's Time Trials he improved his time by 1 minute & 10 seconds. Absolutely amazing. Job well done Matt !