UBC Triathlon 2010

In preparation for the much anticipated triple crown many members took a break from their work and studies to do a bit of light cross training in what has long been considered the inaugural triathlon race of the season. Despite the shifting of the race past the end of spring semester UBC triathlon club had a strong showing both among the participants as well as those who failed to register and came as supporters.

Leading off the club for the day Jesse Chao and Derrick Lee were reported to have dominated their sprint heat flying past many a swift swimmer on their bikes. A special congrats to Jesse for finishing his first of many triathlons in such fine form! Not much is know about Tigers race other than he also had a fantastic bike time, and required several yoga classes to recover the next day.

Jesse Chao looking classy post race

In the female division of the sprint Rachel Scholer, Karin Olafson and Amy Kirkham battled it out together in the pool going on to have very respectable races. Both Rachel and Amy managed to win their age categories with Amy's stunning (yet not unexpected) performance proving it's possible to 'chick' 99.12% of the field! Karen in a philanthropic move decided to leave her Cervelo at home for her first triathlon but still managed to put down a great great first race on her trusty mountain bike.Rachel, Karen & Amy respectively ready for the swim

Jared Penner selflessly gave up his Olympic spot to a friend so he was left to settle for a mere 5th overall and first in age category in the short course, how sweet was the taste of podium was below his tired feet.

Jared declaring peace on the finish line

As the day drew to a close the Olympic distance athletes took to the starting gate. The first of these mighty athletes into the water was none other than Mel Van Soeren, slayer of generally good looking men. Showing impressive stats right across the board Mel finishing quote was "I feel GREAT!" Sounds like a fantastic impression from her first Olympic.

All smiles if a little tired crossing the finish line

"Who needs tapper?" These words could only come from one man: the breeze that you feel on the nape of your neck, the wind that rattles your soul; Winstorm Guo! With a wealth of science to back him the smile never left his face as he ran his way home to a new PB improving across all events despite a 11okm ride up Seymour the day prior.

Winston's secret weapon: Never stop smiling

Finally racing under the category of 'Elite' dubbed onto them by UBC Rec Vincent Lavallee, Michael Duncan and Nathaniel Janzen tied a ribbon around the whole event with Hallmark performances all round. Despite brain damage, lack of training, a recently sprained ankle and a bag of excuses weighing him down Vince placed 12th overall. Nathaniel aka Flipper finished shortly behind with a 18th overall placement and a ridiculous 22min 1500m reaffirming his nickname once again. Michael having only recently discovered both the UBC triathlon club and triathlons in general learned the pain of the bike-run transition in a very real way. In spite of this he couldn't help grinning crossing the finish line his first triathlon left burning in his heart and lungs.

Left to right: Vince, Nathaniel and Michael stoked for the swim

And so the season begins! How will those fresh into the field fare? Will old lions continue to claw up the rankings or fall victim to the young cubs? Congratulations to all those that competed and thanks to those who came to watch/cheer/photograph.

A small part of the cheering squad

Olympic
Winstorm Guo - 2:32:09
Mel Van Soeren - 2:44:39
Vince Lavallee - 2:17:44
Nathaniel Janzen - 2:23:31
Michael Duncan - 2:51:55

Sprint
Rachel Schoeler - 1:21:44
Karen Olafson - 1:28:35
Amy Kirkham - 1:08:47
Derrick Lee - 1:16:05
Tiger Ye - 1:24:58
Jesse Chao - 1:22:13

Short
Jared Penner - 55:21

News Flash

Winston Guo just returned home from a hard training session. Upon an interview request he simply stated he needed to go have his recovery meal but come the Triple Crown, he would be ready.

Get Your Legs Ready

Suffering

This morning Andrew Wight and I went for an early morning ride. Although it turned into a beautiful day in Vancouver, it started out pretty cold (1-2*C). Seeing the sunshine I was unprepared for this which resulted in some painful fingers. While out on the ride I just had to keep reminding myself of a quote that I jokingly mocked a friend with a few weeks back:

"There is no bad weather, only soft people"

With that in mind, I just plugged along trying my best not to complain. As I arrived home despite the 8 minutes it took me to get my keys out of my back pocket and the following 4 minutes to open my front door, it was a good ride. I was satisfied with having gotten out of bed early (6:15) and accomplished my ride before work.

Sure enough I got home and checked my e-mail and google reader, and this was the first listing to pop up.

I've quoted the best part below:

After the finish all the suffering turns to memories of pleasure, and the greater the suffering, the greater the pleasure. That is Nature’s pay back to riders for the homage they pay her by suffering. Velvet pillows, safari parks, sunglasses; people have become woolly mice. They still have bodies that can walk for five days and four nights through a desert of snow, without food, but they accept praise for having taken a one hour bicycle ride. ‘Good for you.’ Instead of expressing their gratitude for the rain by getting wet, people walk around with umbrellas. Nature is an old lady with few suitors these days, and those who wish to make use of her charms she rewards passionately.

-Tim Krabbe (excerpt from The Rider, 1978)

Good timing.

More Congratulations!

More congratulations are needed! This time going out to Andrew and Janelle Wight who welcomed to the world a new baby daughter two nights ago!

Brylee Wight, Born April 26th, 2010

Congrats again and wishing the two of you a beautiful healthy daughter!

Way to go Sperminator!

Kory Seder: My Hero!

A big congratulations goes out to Kory Seder for running in his first Ultramarathon yesterday in Olympia Washington!

For those of you who don't know what an Ultramarathon is. It is a 80km (50mile) trail running race. The race was on muddy trails and was virtually never flat!

If this weren't impressive enough. Kory decided to make it harder in true tough man style by running a victory lap midway through of one of the sections! Completing 88km on the day!

Good job Kory. I hope your legs are feeling good today!

Note: Unfortunately I don't have a photo, my computer isn't loading photos so I will have to wait for my lab-mate to get in and use his computer.

The Legend of the Mile

It was a dark and stormy night and the Captain said to Antonio, "Antonio, tell us a story", and so Antonio began.

Once upon a time in a land far from here, at least 1000 leagues beyond yonder horizon, there is a place where houses rise far above the seas and the young folk learn of mathematics, science, history, and many a brain learnin' topic. In this special place there exists a group of people, a mishmash of sorts ranging from midgets with flippers to giants with arms long enough to lift a grown man twelve feet into the air. There are people who have so many names that no one can keep track as well as people who are spastic to the core. There is even a creature who creates storms just by going for a jog and one who can crush solid steel with her hip. Then there are the leaders, majestic creatures to say the least. One leader is so generally good looking that he literally can't keep women off him. Another has a flock of hair so beautiful that angels sing when he walks into a room. A third, the wife of the giant, hopes to procure leadership of the group, but will have to dethrone the good looking one first. There are even creatures who's purpose is to count coins and disperse payment when it is due. These are but a few samples of the creatures in this group, the rest have each their own merits but those will have to be saved for another tale.

Now this group, nay, this band of brothers and sisters, has a special function. Their task is to compete with one another and with people outside of this band in not one, not two, but three unique activities. On the all and all they make them selves out to be some sort of amphibious creatures, but without scales, tails, or gills. First, they slash through the oceans, not to survive as if from a wreck, but for pure pleasure. They beat their way through waves as tall as this ship, seaweed that could suffocate a sea urchin, and opponents that grab and claw at them for leagues on end. Whence they emerge from the sea they clamber onto two wheel machines that propel them at speeds faster than the fastest ship on the sea. As their two wheeled machines finish their function these beings jump off and run like the wind. Each creatures has their own speciality in these three activities, but all are fierce competitors.

Each year this band gathers for competition between themselves, again, not for any particular function, but rather for pain, pleasure, and the hopes of victory. This competition makes shine the best of the group and can highlight each individual's talent. This tale is about one of the purest of said events, a race where power, speed, and strategy play equal parts. This race is known as "The Mile". These magical creatures gather to race around a fixed distance four times which equates to but a fraction of a league. One year when this race took place it had some of the toughest conditions on record. There were winds that could capsize even the sturdiest of ships and rain that would floods its decks and holds. Imagine, if you will, a night were mere mortals wouldn't even dream of setting foot outside of their cabins, these individuals emerge to race.

Now, it should be mentioned that not all of these magical creatures were present on that fateful night. Some chose to stay inside, while some chose to act cowardly and do this race at an easier time. These scallywags were The Man with Many Names, the Midget with Flippers, and the Girl who Slides on Snow. Their race was so inconsequential that it won't be mentioned in this tale. Only the true heroes are to be reported.

The creatures that gathered for this bout of pain and suffering were the Giant, his Wife, the Good Looking One, the Man with the Beautiful Flock of Hair, the one known as Winstorm, the Barterer, the Foreigner, the Bearded One, the Female Runner, the Du-athlete, Coin-Counter # 2, the Ice Dancer, the Environmentalist, the Endurer, and the Wise Cyclist. Yes indeed, and a fine bunch they were at that. Each creature rearing to go and ready to give it their all.

At half past six in the eve' they began their adventure. Each one knew there was only one way to win this race, and that was to give it everything they had. Right from the start it was clear that the Du-athlete had a clear advantage. This creature, while claiming he hadn't run in many a day, was obviously in good shape. In fact, it had been reported that he was in fact lying about not running and he had run in several races and even on his own accord in the recent past, as witnessed by other members of this illustrious band. All the other members knew that he would do anything in his power to make it seem like he could win at the drop of the hat, but in secret he had been training harder than most.

Right on the sand-baggin' Du-athlete's tail were two of the heros of this tale, the Good Looking One and the One with the Beautiful Hair, aka the Work Horse. These strapping young chaps truly gave it their all and fought tooth and nail against the wind to achieve greatness. They took turns breaking against the wind, but the Work Horse was truly the more powerful one and proved that all his opponent had going for him were his looks, and little else.

An oddity of this race was the one called Winstorm. This was a time when the 'storm was truly beaten at his own game, he was literally held back by the raging wind storm happening during the event. At one point this scallywag decided that he would try to break The Looker and The Work Horse by gusting forward and hopefully burning them out early in the race. However, all this accomplished was tiring himself out and having no power left to bravely face the gale force winds. Rumor has it that Winstorm was in fact slowed down so much by the wind that his backward force actually slowed the Work Horse and the Looker causing them to momentarily slow.

Meanwhile, as these heros were battling the forces of nature, the Ice Dancer decided to make an appearance at this epic event. She decided that if she were going to get close to anyone of any sort of caliber in this band of brothers and sisters that she would need to brave the storm like the other tough souls.

This race was not just between the Looker and the Work Horse. As I said, there were many a brave soul in the rain, wind, and hurt. The Giant made a valiant showing and used his power to propel him to greatness, as is often the case with Giants.

Then there were the Barterer and the Foreigner. These two played a similar game as the Work Horse and the Looker, they used one another to achieve greatness. The Barterer used his skill and strength to do what no one else could on this day, he ran faster than he had run before. He is truly a man of legend who can be matched by few and beaten by fewer. The Foreigner used the Barterer's power to her advantage by running behind him some of the way. This was truly a case where brain and brawn worked together to overcome adversity.

The Runner and the Coin-Counter # 2 were the fastest of the females on this fateful night. Their experience truly paid off and pushed the limits on what the body can achieve under extreme duress.

As for the other brave souls, you might ask? Well, they too achieved more than most. They have the glory and recognition of surviving one of the worst storms in history and of being part of this magical band of creatures.

Yes my friends, these creatures from that far away place are truly beings that may never be understood by our kind. Why they would choose to punish their minds and bodies in such ways will forever be beyond this storyteller, and even beyond our brave captain. Not only do they push the limits of intellect by learning day and night about topics that haven't even been discovered in this hemisphere, but on their spare time they push the limits of three activities. Indeed listeners, this has been the tale of an epic night fought through wind, rain, and grit, to bring glory that will be remembered for years, nay, generations to come.

Male Results:

Barry "Du-Athlete" Claman 5:03:00

Matt "the Work Horse" Reeve 5:15:00

Nathaniel "Midget Flipper" Janzen 5:16:40

Vincent "The Looker" Lavallee 5:17:00

Winstorm Guo 5:25:00

Liam "The Beard" Harrap 5:26:00

Kory "Giant" Seder 5:31:00

Scott "Many Names" Chris 5:33:00

Derrick "The Barterer" Lee 5:44:00

Ceilidh "Endurer" Curtis 6:36:00

Jesse "Wise Cyclist" Chao 6:41:00

Female Results:

Claire "The Runner" 5:47:00

Victoria "Coin-Counter # 2" Gilbert 6:28:00

Mel "Snow Slider" Thompson 6:29:00

Melanie "Ice" Van "Dancer" Soeren 6:42:00

Karin "Foreigner" Olafson 6:44:00

Kimberly "Wife" Seder 6:57:00

Celeste "The Environmentalist" Pakstas 7:07:00