Triathlon: Canada scores two medals in Pan Am Games triathlon

Monday, July 16, 2007 - 03:35 AM

Triathlete finally breaks thru....

RIO DE JANEIRO - Brent McMahon finally swam, cycled and ran out from under Canadian star Simon Whitfield's shadow, and smack into the glare of a baking Brazilian sun that bedevilled him enough that he fell just short of gold in the Pan American Games men's triathlon on Sunday.

McMahon, wilting under 26 C heat at Copacabana beach, faded in the final 800 metres to take silver behind fast-closing American Andy Potts, who won the race in one hour, 52 minutes 31.54 seconds. McMahon, who finished 6.68 seconds back in 1:52.38.19, wobbled across the finish line, still managing to hoist a jubilant right hand skyward.

Juraci Moreira of Brazil was third in 1:52.54.79, while Kyle Jones of Oakville, Ont., was fourth in 1:53.05.25. Paul Tichelaar of Edmonton was 11th in 1:54.03.16.

The Canadian women had a strong day, as well, with Lauren Groves of Vancouver grabbing bronze and Kathy Tremblay of Montreal finishing fourth. American Julie Ertel won the women's race in 1:57.23.21, ahead of countrywoman Sarah Haskins, in 1:57.46.23. Groves finished in 1:59.50.38.

In triathlon, if you can't stand the heat, you'd better get out to a mighty big lead before the 10-kilometre run. Which is precisely what 26-year-old McMahon did, dismounting the bike in a lead pack of four competitors, 50 seconds clear of Potts and the chasing pack. It still wasn't enough to hold off Potts.

"It was a really hard race," said McMahon, who had to be helped to the medical tent after he crossed the finish line. He was packed in ice there to lower his core body temperature. "I wanted to go for gold and that's what I did today."

He didn't get gold, but the silver satisfied McMahon, who lives with his parents in Victoria the rare weeks he has off from racing on the World Cup triathlon circuit. He said his family members all had taken the time to fire off e-mails of support to him, even though they are grieving the loss of Brent's grandmother, Agnes McMahon, who died last week.

"That was something else that gave me encouragement today - knowing that my grandma's got the best seats in the house." McMahon said.

It was a fabulous race to watch, from the start in the rolling surf off Copacabana beach to the finish in front of a packed grandstand along the shore.

Potts had a 20-second lead coming out of the 1.5-kilometre swim off Copacabana beach and rolled by himself for three laps of the seven-lap, 40-kilometre bike portion, building a 35-second lead for a while. But the chase pack eventually reeled in the American, who knew there was no advantage doing all the work out there by himself.

On the fourth lap, McMahon and Tichelaar broke away, and Javier Cuevas of the Dominican Republic and Leonardo Saucedo of Mexico, joined them. Meanwhile, Jones did his best to slow down the chasing pack. The tactic worded superbly.

"Paul and I can work well together, but you need at least four, so once we joined up with those guys, we knew we were going to hold the gap," McMahon said. "We worked seamlessly, just one turn after another."

"It was just awesome. That's what it takes. You've got to grab the race in your own hands and we did that," he said.

When the four lead men came off the bikes, McMahon and Tichelaar took command on the run with Tichelaar, coming off a sprained ankle he suffered in training three weeks ago in Edmonton and a bout of the flu a week before that, simply running out of gas.

Jones wound up with the third-fastest time in the run, covering the 10-kilometre distance in 32.32.23, 26 seconds faster than McMahon, to make up ground and finish fourth.

"My ankle was fine today," said Tichelaar, who was on crutches and wearing an air cast three weeks ago after rolling it in training in Edmonton. "But I had a couple of weeks of poor training coming into the event.

"I was sick just before the Vancouver World Cup and got sharp enough to have a great race there," he said. "But, when the training is not there, the endurance is not there and you've got 30 minutes of red-lining or something like that. Because I went for it on the bike, I just didn't have enough in the tank (on the run)."

For years, McMahon has been the less-heralded second banana on Canada's men's triathlon team, which has dominated since 2000 by Victoria's Simon Whitfield, who won the first-eve men's Olympic triathlon in Sydney, Australia, in 2000. But, Whitfield, whose partner recently gave birth to the couple's first child, did not compete in Rio.

"He's always been in Simon's shadow," said longtime Canadian triathlon coach and broadcaster Barry Shepley. "So, with Simon not here today, this was his chance to sort of do it.

"I knew he would try to break on the bike. You could see him coming in, he doesn't race well in the heat, so he knew he needed as big a lead as possible," he said. "That 50 seconds was just not enough."

McMahon said the heat and the effort of leading the bike pack and going out hard on the first half of the run caught up with him on the final five kilometres.

"When Andy came by, I tried to go on his shoulder and pick up my pace - and I held him for a bit - but then he put another surge in and I was already running at my max there," McMahon said. "I wish I could have had a bit more at the end there to take the win but I'm just completely happy with putting down my best race out there."

McMahon was a dishrag at the end, but it could have been worse; he has passed right out and woken up in the medical tent once or twice.

"I was a little more with it than I have been in other races," McMahon said of his hand gesture. "I was, like, I'm here and I've finally done it."

The strong performance by the Canadian men added important points in the rankings to determine the berths for the Beijing Olympics. The top eight countries in the world, based on nine races from June 2007 until June 2008, will be permitted to enter three athletes at the Beijing Games.

With Whitfield, McMahon, Tichelaar, Jones and others all battling for one of those hoped-for three spots, Canada is a one-man triathlon show no more.

"Our national team used to consist of me and Simon, now there's five guys on the national team," McMahon said. "I think people are starting to see that, hey, there's some other guys on the circuit."

"I've been on a different development program from Simon. It clicked for him, he won the Olympics and just stormed from there," he said. "But he started with a third place at the Pan Am Games in Winnipeg, so I see myself as being at point. I'm a little older than he was then, but because I've been on a slower development path, I really believe that I'm coming into my peak.

"I'm second at Pan Ams, now it's my turn to go for a gold at the Olympics," McMahon said.