Tuesday, July 04, 2006 - 04:13 PM

Simon Whitfield blistered the run course at the 2006 HSBC National Championships and won his 6th National Title despite trailing by over 2 minutes heading into the final 10km run. Whitfield stole the spotlight and left the 3,000 spectators at Professor’s Lake in Brampton in awe with his incredible run split of 30:17. Whitfield easily outdistanced Hamilton native, Colin Jenkins, by 25 seconds and finished with a time of 1:51:11.

National Training Centre Coach, Craig Taylor was shaking his head in disbelieve. “That was a world class run; there are only a handful of guys in the world who could do this.”

Whitfield agreed it was a fantastic run given the work needed to make up ground on the leaders. “It was one of my best runs under the circumstances, I had to work so hard to get into a position where I could win this race, coming off the very difficult and technical bike course made it that much more impressive.”

Whitfield says this win was extra special with all the young talent out there. “The first of my six championships when I chased down Mark Bates in 1999 will always stand out as the most memorable but this one – because of the way I fought back – is a close second.”

Whitfield said he never felt confident until the 8km mark of the run when he finally took over the lead for the first time. “That race was so much work because I dug myself a hole with a poor swim. I came out of the water in 10th spot and from there it was a challenge the rest of the day.”

The athletes had to endure a hot day in southern Ontario with the temperature hitting 30 degrees Celsius with the humidity making it feel like 37 Celsius. Add the strong winds that gusted up to 45km and it made the challenging lay-out that much tougher.

On the Women’s side Lauren Groves continued her magical season with her first ever National Championship. Lauren won the race with another torrid run. Heading into the third leg of the race Groves was in a virtual tie with Kathy Tremblay, however, Groves quickly pulled away with a run time of 34:32 and won by 55 seconds with an overall time of 2:04:16.

This was Lauren’s second victory of the season, the other coming at the ITU Roatan Bay Islands Pan American Cup. Lauren has finished in the top-8 in all 7 starts this season including 3 World Cup events where she has a 4th in South Africa, 5th in Japan and a 6th in Mexico.

Groves, ranked 5th on the latest World Cup Rankings, is the highest ranked Canadian and with this win - which doubled as a National Championship and a Pan American Cup event – will move to 6th on the ITU Points List. When asked to talk about all of her recent success Groves, from Vancouver, said she was still in shock but owed it all to her coach, 2-time World Champion, Siri Lindley. “I changed everything in my life when I decided to move to Boulder, Colorado, to train with Siri and it’s amazing how well everything is working out. Siri has been so good for me – she has made the difference in my training and in my work ethic and I wouldn’t be the champion today without Siri.”

Lindley who made the trip from Boulder, Colorado was very emotional when talking about Lauren and all her accomplishments this year. “We have an incredible relationship – I have goose bumps just thinking about it. Lauren made a huge commitment in her life to come and train with me – I am just so proud of her today. We believe in each other wholeheartedly and this creates a magical combination where the sky is the limit. It’s my goal as the coach to want success as much as the athlete and this pushes us to new limits.”

Tremblay, from Montreal, is also having a year to remember. In May, Tremblay had her first ever podium in a World Cup event when she finished third in Mazatlan. And in early June, Tremblay won the Pan American Championships in Brazil – by far the biggest win of her young career. Tremblay said she came to Brampton to win. “Last year I was third, this year I was second, next year I hope will be the gold medal. Lauren was great today – especially on the run. She beat me convincingly and is a well deserving National champion.”

2-time defending National Champion, Samantha McGlone, the highest ranked Canadian at the end of 2005 was a disappointing 8th. McGlone, from Otterburn Park, Quebec, also trains in Colorado with Coach Cliff English. “This was my first Olympic Distance race of the season and it showed. I need to spend a good month working at sea level to get back to the form I had last season. I lost this race in the swim when I failed to get into the lead pack – it’s so important to keep contact with the lead group and coming out of the water in 25th isn’t good enough.”

McGlone was not bitter about her finish and was very complimentary toward the other athletes. “It’s awesome to see so many good Canadians girls putting it all together at the right time. Most of these athletes were working together out there in the lead pack and I just didn’t have anything left in the tank for the run.”

Carolyn Murray, from Edmonton, won the bronze medal in the Canadian Championships (4th overall), 33 seconds behind American Marybeth Ellis who was third overall. Murray was bolstered by her work on the 40km bike with a time of 1:09:17 - the third best of the day.

23-year-old Colin Jenkins had the run of a lifetime and finished second overall, first in the under 23 category. “The run was by far the best of my career. It’s not everyday that you can drop a guy like Australian Courtney Atkinson – a multiple World Cup winner – and sustain that pace throughout the race. I had terrific rhythm and once I realized Simon was going to win the race I set my sights on second and hung on to beat some pretty good athletes. This will be a stepping stone for the rest of my season – and has given me so much confidence in my abilities for the future.”

Pickering Ontario’s, Alicia Kaye, who finished 6th overall, was the female under 23 champion.

Joel Filliol, a National Training Centre coach, who works with Jenkins and Whitfield, was thrilled with today’s results. “Colin and Simon are training partners, it’s a testament to the work they’ve done together – they really challenge one another. I am so happy for both of them.”

Brent McMahon, from Victoria, fell off the bike 2km into the bike portion of the race and at the time was five seconds behind the lead pack. “The fall definitely cost me the win. Coming around one of the corners I hit a sandy patch and my front wheel slid and I went sliding on my face. This accident set me back 30 seconds and I was never able to recover. I really fought back and had a great run – anytime I can stay close to Simon I consider that a great run.”

Paul Tichelaar, from Edmonton, was 4th and blamed the result on a lack of focus early on in the swim. “It was a mistake to miss the lead pack - I lost concentration for a bit leading into the first turn and it cost me. I never got in a groove after that and it was an uphill fight the rest of the day.”

Tichelaar too said that McMahon’s fall played havoc with the chase group. “Early into the bike we thought we were making progress and then when Brent went down it was devastating for all of us – we were all but done after that.”

Tichelaar, who finished third in last year’s National Championships, has had a break-through year in 2006. It all started with an 8th place finish at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne and then early last month Tichelaar won his first ITU event with a victory at the Pan American Championships in Brazil and is currently the highest ranked Canadian at 40th on the ITU Points List.

Despite the 4th place finish Tichelaar said this day belongs to Whitfield. “Simon was so classy today – he kept the gap where it needed to be and ran a perfect race. He’s won this event 6 times and he seems to be getting better with age.”

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

For more information, please contact:

Michael Emmett

National Program Manager, Triathlon Canada

Tel: 416.426.7060/ e-mail: michael.emmett@triathloncanada.com