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Canadian elites in Oklahoma for ITU Long Course World Championships

A handful of Canada’s best long course triathletes are in Oklahoma and getting ready to dive in for ITU Long Course World Championships kicking off later today. Among the talented crew are Cody Beals and Taylor Reid who have had some fantastic results so far this year including wins at Ironman 70.3 Eagleman (Beals) and Ironman 70.3 Victoria (Reid) and have a serious shot at taking the title. The rest of the men’s crew includes rookie pro Antoine Jolicoeur Desroches, who’s shown top-10 consistency this season and B.C.-based  training partners Nathan Killam and Elliot Holtman. The strong Canadian women’s showing includes Rachel McBride who’s been enjoying a great comeback season this year, Quebec’s Isabelle Rouleau who has delivered several top 10 full distance finishes this year, and Jenny Fletcher who’s been making her way around the globe in 2016 for several of the top destination races including Challenge Roth.

Canada also has several age-groupers competing in ITU Long Course worlds this weekend.

There’s a large prize purse on the line so many athletes such as Beals have made this their A-race of the season and have built their training and racing schedules around this weekend. It’s a unique distance and a first time at such for many athletes, such as Reid — a 4 km swim, 120 km bike and 30 km run. This is the same distance of Challenge Penticton this year and the inaugural ITU Multisport World Championships next year so for Canadian elites especially who aim to compete in front of the world on home soil next year, getting in a race of this distance is important. With a bike course offering undulating hills and harsh crosswinds, this is sure to be a challenging and exciting race.

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Here we go!! #itulongcourseworldchampionship

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There are several big names in the sport taking on Oklahoma later today. These include Caroline Steffen, who has decided to sit out of Kona this year in favour of mastering the shorter long course distances, Britain’s Jodie Swallow, the legend Craig Alexander and Paul Ambrose.

TMC will be live-tweeting during today’s event so head over to our social media channels to get updates on our Canadians throughout the race.