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NOTE: ALL RACE
PHOTOS FROM THIS WEEKEND HAVE BEEN POSTED. YOU MAY
NEED TO REFRESH YOUR BROWSER TO SEE THEM. |
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AUGUST 2008 |
PUSHOR MITCHELL APPLE TRIATHLON
(Sunday - Elite) |
AUGUST
17th, 2008 |
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PHOTO: WILLIAM BURGHER - ORC STAFF |
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Special thanks to Jeanette Hoft, media
coordinator for the Kelowna Apple Triathlon, for
supplying us with this race report.
Competing in her second grueling event for the
weekend Paula Findlay of Edmonton repeated her
winning performance in the Junior Elite section
by also winning the woman’s Olympic Elite
category in the National Canadian Triathlon
championship hosted as part of the Pusher
Mitchell Apple Triathlon held in Kelowna this
weekend. Never before in the history of the
Championships has one athlete won both the
Junior and the overall Elite category. Second
place went to Kerry Spearing of Victoria and
third place went to Tenille Hoogland of Ottawa.
Brent McMahon, who just missed selection for the
Olympic team in Beijing, triumphed as the male
Canadian National Triathlon Champion. Following
a bunched transition from the cycle to the run,
Brent simple outran his rivals. Second place in
the male category went to Ethan Brown of Lowell
in the USA and third place went to A P
Baillargeon Smith of St. Catharines. Brent
finished the 1.5km swim, 40km cycle and 10km run
in 1:54:45 and Paula finished in 2.08.35.
The National Championships saw 34 males and 16
females completing in the Olympic distance Elite
event. All Elites competed for a place in the
Canadian team for the 2009 ITU BG World
Triathlon Championships in the Gold Coast,
Australia. There are 20 places on the team: ten
male and ten female.
Kelowna really delivered the best of race days
with cloud cover for most of Sunday. Also known
as the Apple Triathlon, the event was very well
attended with more than 1 300 participants, an
increase of 54 percent from 2007. This included
the Age group Olympic distance and Sprint
events.
The Apple Triathlon is an ITU endorsed event,
which forms part of the ITU Pan American Premium
Cup Series. The Pushor Mitchell Kelowna Apple
Triathlon, the biggest of its kind in Canada was
very well organised with thanks going to more
than 1 000 volunteers who helped make the event
a huge success. Athletes really appreciated the
enthusiastic support of volunteers all along the
route. Credit should also go to the Kelowna
Apple Triathlon Society (KATS), organizers of
the event, under the leadership of Richard
Montgomery and race director Randy Sparrow.
Triathlon Canada officials and the KATS
organizers surely made for a winning team
ensuring one of the best run races in the
country.
For detailed results please consult the website
of Race Headquarters, official timekeepers for
this event on
http://www.raceheadquarters.com
Click Here for the photos.
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PUSHOR MITCHELL APPLE TRIATHLON
(Sunday Events) |
AUGUST
17th, 2008 |
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PHOTO: WILLIAM BURGHER - ORC STAFF |
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While it is easy to make a fuss over the
athletes, as what they accomplish is truly
amazing. Jeanette is right on the mark
above, we must not forget the long and hard
hours put in by all the volunteers. They
are the true heart of this event. Right
from the race planning and organizing to traffic
and spectator control. A fantastic job was
done by all.
As you can see by the amount of slideshows
below, a lot of pictures were taken. I
believe there was a greater amount of
participants this year.
Click here for the 1st slideshow.
Click here for the 2nd slideshow.
Click here for the 3rd slideshow.
Click here for the 4th slideshow.
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FIRESTORM
NATIONAL BMX (Sunday) |
AUGUST
17th, 2008 |
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PHOTO: CAL MAIER - CANON PRO |
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Cal
seems to have had quite a bit of fun on the Kelowna
BMX track this weekend. He took some amazing
photos on Friday and
these photos from Sunday are just as good.
For full race results,
click here.
If you
like the action and excitement of BMX and think you
might want to give it a try,
click here. |
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FINA
5KM OPEN WATER SWIM |
AUGUST
16th, 2008 |
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PHOTO: WILLIAM BURGHER - ORC STAFF |
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Special thanks to Jeanette Hoft, media
coordinator for the Kelowna Apple Triathlon,
for supplying us with this race report.
Craig Dagnall of Victoria fulfilled
expectations
and turned out to be unbeaten in both the
1.5 and 5km Open Water Swim races by
defeating Tom Rushton of Tsawassen in both
events. Hayley Pipher of Kelowna just
managed to beat Shannon Garret of Winfield
in the 1.5km swim with Allison Donelon of
Canmore Alberta taking the honours in the
ladies 5km swim. Craig is the current
National Champion in the 5 KM Open Water
distance and will be representing Canada in
Guam for the 2009 World Open Water Swimming
Championships.
The races were presented as part of the
Pushor Mitchell Apple Triathlon held in
Kelowna over the weekend. With the lowest
water temperature at 22.9C, swimmers
thoroughly enjoyed the clean and warm water
of the Okanagan Lake.
All credit to the Okanagan Masters Swim Club
for excellent organization of not only the
open water swims but also the swim leg of
all the triathlons which took place as part
of the Canadian National Triathlon
Championships. With a well-marked course,
with support from Tolko Industries for
providing the log boom that protected the
swim venue from boat traffic, kayaks from
Kelowna Kayak and Outdoors scuba divers from
Diving Dynamics and lifeguards from the
YWCA, participants enjoyed the swim in a
secure environment. This was especially
important to the Try-a-Tri participants,
many who braved a triathlon for the first
time. Their course stayed close to the
beach.
The sport of Open water swimming is rapidly
gaining popularity being included in the
Beijing Olympics for the first time. What’s
really great is that age does not matter as
can be seen from the results. Allison
Donelon will be making an attempt at the
English Channel next summer and she has
teamed up with Brent Hobbs of Kelowna who’s
just completed the swim in 10 hours 43
minutes for support and guidance.
Males: 1.5 km Open Water Swim
1 Craig Dagnall (age group 18-19), Victoria
in 18:06
2 Tom Rushton (25-29) of Tsawassen in 18:51
3 Mike Sorba (16-17) of Kamloops in 18:51
Females: 1.5 km Open Water Swim
1 Hayley Pipher (14-15) of Kelowna in
20:34
2 Shannon Garrett (18-19) of Winfield in
20:38
3 Kayleigh Robertson (16-17) of BC in 23:38
Males: 5km Open Water Swim
1 Craig Dagnall (18-19) of Victoria 1:02:39
2 Tom Rushton (25-29) of Tsawassen in
1:07:40
3 Brent Hobbs (40-44) of Kelowna in
1:08:17
Females: 5 km Open Water Swim
1 Allison Donelon (16-17) of Canmore in
1:08:08
2 Hayley Pipher(14-15) of Kelowna in
1:14:39
3 Annelle Harmer (40-44) of Vancouver in
1:23:06
Visit
http://www.raceheadquarters.com
for full results.
Click here for the photos from this
event.
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PUSHOR MITCHELL APPLE TRIATHLON
(Saturday Events) |
AUGUST
16th, 2008 |
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PHOTO: WILLIAM BURGHER - ORC STAFF |
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Special thanks to Jeanette Hoft, media
coordinator for the Kelowna Apple Triathlon,
for supplying us with this race report.
Kelowna and Westbank first-time triathletes
did very well in the Pushor Mitchell Kelowna
Apple Triathlon completing the Try-a-Tri
(300 m swim, 15 km bike, 3 km run) in good
spirit and sunny weather on Saturday
morning. Results were:
Females
1st: 49:33 Laura Ransom -
Kelowna
2nd: 50:03 Jodi Walsh - Westbank
3rd: 53:28 Anna Page - Lumby
Males
1st:50:04 Jared Verstaete -
Kelowna 2nd:50:08 Aaron Wells -
Westbank
3rd: 50:54 Jim Faulkner -
Enderby
The Kids of Steel showed their determination
and endurance in the 500 m swim, 15 km bike
and 4 km run. In the age group 8-9 years
Desirae Ridenour of Cowichan finished first
in 21:58 with Jordan Hopkins of Victoria
winning the boys 8-9 in 23:13. Age group
10-11 was won by Cordell Dickie of Kelowna
in 31:30 and Courtney Chanin of Queen
Charlotte winning the girls in 33:42.
Spencer Burns of Powell River 44:40 was the
winner in the boys 12-13 section and Robynne
Shannon of Vancouver in the girls in 44:44
. Winner for boys 14-15 was Riley
MacCharles in 47:00 and Gabrielle Edwards of
Saskatoon in girls 52:21 .
The 16-19 age group race of 750 m swim, 20
km bike and a 5 km run was won by Fraser
Cashion of Port Coquitlam in 1:03:39 and
Allegra Rogers of Westbank was first female
in with 1:11:35.
Click here for the photos.
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FIRESTORM NATIONAL BMX (Saturday) |
AUGUST
16th, 2008 |
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PHOTO: BILL ROBERTSON |
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Click here for Bill Robertson's photos
of all of Saturday's action. |
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FIRESTORM
NATIONAL BMX (Friday) |
AUGUST
15th, 2008 |
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PHOTO: CAL MAIER - CANON PRO |
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Unfortunately, I have yet to master the art of being
in two places at the same time. Both Cal and
Bill have reported in and say that the racing at the
Kelowna BMX Track is amazing. There are huge
crowds and many talented racers. Oh well, I
will just have to have a good look at
these photos Cal Maier took of Friday's
action. Stay tuned for Bill's photos from
Saturday. Cal will be doing the honours on
Sunday. |
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FINA
OPEN WATER 1500 M |
AUGUST
15th, 2008 |
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PHOTO: WILLIAM BURGHER - ORC STAFF |
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Ok, I have to admit I was not ready for this.
Simple things like expecting a mad dash at the
beginning. There I was, ready in the water, my
Canon ever so close to becoming fish food.
I was waiting for the water to go splashing
everywhere. Well that did not happen. In
fact, these guys and girls were not allowed to
have a running start. See the things you
learn. What I did find out, is that we
have some very good swimmers right here in the
Okanagan. This new event for the Kelowna
Apple Triathlon is a great addition.
Click here for the photos of the 1500m.
What is also amazing is that some of the
participants had just finished the Aquathon and
then jumped right into the 1500m swim. If you
think you can handle some long distance swiming,
check out the
Kelowna Masters Swim Club,
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BUSY
WEEKEND AHEAD |
AUGUST
15th - 17th, 2008 |
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Wow, what a busy weekend it is going to be.
Those of you that are into pushing the endurance
limits of your bodies are going to be looking at and
hopefully participating in this year's
PUSHOR MITCHELL KELOWNA APPLE TRIATHLON!
There is
something new this year though. A new sport
has been given Olympic status - it's called open
water swimming. On Friday night and again on
Sunday, you can come and see some very gifted local
athletes do some really long distance swimming.
Friday night it's 1500 m and on Saturday, it's 5000
m We hope to capture some of that action for
you.
So, you
would think one major event would be enough, no we
like to try and get the most into our Okanagan
weekends. An ABA National BMX Racing event is
also taking place. And what better track to
hold it on, than right here in Kelowna. The
Firestorm National runs all week end long, so come
on down an catch all the fun and excitement.
Cal Maier will be taking some photos on Friday night
and Bill Robertson will be on hand for Saturday.
We will be there on Sunday as well.
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KELOWNA
BMX RACING |
AUGUST
13th, 2008 |
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PHOTO: WILLIAM BURGHER - ORC STAFF |
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It was a busy
Wednesday night at the Kelowna BMX Track. The
spectators had almost doubled and there were a few
new faces getting to know the track.
The racing as always was very exciting, but I did
get a sense that some of the riders were holding
back and saving themselves for this weekend.
Well, I did say some, not all. As you can see
from the photos a few riders were giving it their
all!
Click here for William's photos of this week's
racing.
(Please note that we are
currently upgrading our servers - so things might
look a little different from what you are used to.)
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UNFINISHED BUSINESS |
PHOTOS
FROM THE END OF JULY |
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