Sanders and Quick win in Woodstock

A crisp morning and 16 degree Celsius water temperatures out of the Pittock Reservoir soon gave way to some scorchingly fast racing in Woodstock today.

As expected, with the talented field assembled for the Sprint Triathlon (750 m swim, 20 km bike, 5 km run), the kickoff race to the 2014 MultiSport Canada Triathlon Series featured excitement from start to finish.

Brantford’s Ben Sayles led everyone out of the water with a 9:35 clocking, but all the main contenders were in close pursuit including Jeff Scull of Jordan Station, Hamilton’s Lionel Sanders, Cody Beals of Fergus, and Alexander VanderLinden of Chatham.

Beals cranked up the pace during the ride to take the overall lead, but tracking him down was Sanders who clocked the top bike ride of the day (29:11 an average speed of 40.3 km/hr).

With his eyes set on his target, Sanders continued to pursue Beals and pulled up alongside at 3 km. The two ran together until Sanders put in a surge that separated him from Beals and allowed him to finish with the top run of 15:58 (3:12/km pace) to claim the victory in 57:33.

“I panicked a little bit on the swim. I went on to the bike and didn’t even look at my powermeter. I just raced it on feel, and raced all out basically. I got off the bike in second place. I pulled up to him (Cody Beals) and we ran next to each other for a little bit then I put in a nice little surge on the hill and that was enough to do it,” said Sanders, the 2013 Ironman 70.3 Muskoka Champion who is heading to Ironman 70.3 Raleigh on June 1.

Top 5 Men
1. Lionel Sanders (Hamilton, ON) 57:33
2. Cody Beals (Fergus) 58:02
3. Jeff Scull (Jordan Station) 1:00:02
4. Alexander VanderLinden (Chatham) 1:00:48
5. Garrick Loewen (Lasalle) 1:01:18

St. George’s Angela Quick successfully defended her title. Quick posted the top swim of 10:27, increased her lead with the top bike of 34:17, then cruised the run (22:22) to take the win (1:08:18) over a fast charging Meghan Lamers of Guelph.

“The game plan today (since she raced 4 races last weekend at Triple T) was to bank a bit of a lead on the swim and the bike and then if I had the time just cruise the run. That’s just what I did,” said Quick.

Top 5 Women
1. Angela Quick (St. George, ON) 1:08:18
2. Meghan Lamers (Guelph) 1:09:37
3. Elise Bolger (Waterdown) 1:12:11
4. Lauren Heinken (Mississauga) 1:12:51
5. Allison Gibb (Carlisle) 1:15:16

Hamilton’s Jesse Bauer finished third last year, but returned with an improved bike leg and an eye on the top prize. Bauer opened with a 16:58 run, biked 33:12, and finished with a 9:10 run to finish in 1:00:25 to take the overall victory in the Sprint Duathlon (5 km run, 20 km bike, 2.5 km run), winning by two minutes and twenty-one seconds.

“Woodstock is one of my favourite courses. I just wanted to come out and have a good hard first run, a good hard bike and then see if I could come out with a win. I only had one last year and we are already matching last year,” said Bauer. “For some reason I love courses where you run over a dam. It’s a real tough course to open the season.”

Top 5 Men
1. Jesse Bauer (Hamilton, ON) 1:00:25
2. Bruce Raymer (Toronto) 1:02:46
3. Ryan Trant (Georgetown) 1:04:40
4. Grahame Rivers (Toronto) 1:05:00
5. Scott Breen (Tillsonburg) 1:05:11

Brampton’s Jade Carrington, used her cycling prowess (37:12) to overtake Gormley’s Jennifer Froebel during the bike leg and she held on to the lead during the final run to take the win (1:11:42) by 1:05 over Froebel.

“It was a magnificient day to be out here. I had a great first run, catching them (the top three ladies after the first run) was a chore and I held on for the last leg. It was a really fun race,” said Carrington, who has her sights set on the 2015 World Duathlon Championship.

Top 5 Women
1. Jade Carrington (Brampton, ON) 1:11:42
2. Jennifer Froebel (Gormley) 1:12:47
3. Zoe Webster (Toronto) 1:13:10
4. Melissa Nobbs (Waterloo) 1:14:52
5. Bethany Timmermen (Paris) 1:17:49