Canada Man / Woman Extreme Triathlon
Philippe Tremblay and Elizabeth Pellerin Win at Lac-Megantic Sprint
Press Release / 09.07.2018
After last week overwhelming heat wave, the solo and team participants of the CANADA MAN/WOMAN SPRINT TRIATHLON presented by TAFISA were blessed with optimal weather conditions for their Megantic challenge. The twenty-years-old Philippe Tremblay from Montreal is the new champion of the event that took place on the beach of the Complexe Baie-des-Sables. He crossed the finish line with a time of 1:23:29 seconds. Elizabeth Pellerin, 31, from Drummondville is the women’s champion with a time of 1:27:18.
The start of the SPRINT was given on the beach of Baie-des-Sables shortly after 8 am Saturday morning beginning with a 750 meters swimming portion in the lake Mégantic. Triathletes then had to ride their bike for 20 k on a section of the TRIATHLON EXTREME CANADA MAN/WOMAN course towards Piopolis, where they faced several uphill climbs with a good positive elevation gain. The event ended with a 5 k run on roads and trails.
Tremblay took the lead during the bike portion of the CANADA MAN/WOMAN's little brother, a position he kept until the very end. "It was really fun, the course is amazingly beautiful, and because I like steep hills when biking, it allowed me to push more”, said the winner on arrival. “During the race, it was a little harder than I thought, but it went well."
The young sixteen-years-old Benjamin St-Pierre of Notre-Dame-du-Bon-Conseil, stopped the clock at 01:18:30, 5 minutes later than the winner, and took the 2nd place. "The bike was difficult, because I hesitated to stand up on my pedals on the big hills because it put too much pressure on my thighs and I knew I was going to need their full strength during the run."
St-Pierre who is in his ninth year of triathlon, was the fastest in the waters of lake Mégantic, finishing the swimming portion in 00:10:59.
The winner of the inaugural edition, Matthew Le Bolloch, 19, from Magog, finished third in the 2018 race with a time of 01:21:53, far from his last year time of 01:18:11. “I tried not to put pressure on myself, I came for the pleasure because it is a beautiful course with technical challenges. Of course, my goal was secretly to win, but the first two were swimming to fast. As my strength is swimming, I tried to push myself by giving everything I had to follow them as much as possible, but despite my efforts, it wasn’t enough.”
Le Bolloch was the fourth to cross the finish line behind the twenty-two-years-old Patrick Poulin from Drummondville. But Poulin was disqualified after taking a non-regulatory race course.
On the ladies' side, the time achieved by Élizabeth Pellerin puts her in the 7th position overall. Marie-France Roy, 34, from St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, crossed the arrival arch a few minutes after the winner in 01:29:12. Roy spontaneously jumped into Pellerin's arms.
"I'm going to bike tomorrow (in an Extreme Triathlon team), so I thought why not do a little warm-up today!” said Pellerin. I like to do ride on courses with hills, the courses are perfect for me and the temperature is ideal. In addition, the one who finished 2nd today will be my teammate for the marathon tomorrow. (Ed. Julie Beauchemin, who will complete their trio tomorrow, finished 6th in the SPRINT women category). “It looks good for our extreme relay triathlon!"
The winner of the 2017 SPRINT, Maïté Galipeau-Théberge, finished third (01: 31: 18), 18th overall. “I had trouble with the weather,” she said after the race. “After the swim, my feet stayed frozen for a good part of the rest of the event and it was really difficult, but I’m happy with my result. It was more competitive than last year. Despite a different end of the scenario imagined by Frontenac’s 26-year-old athlete, Galipeau-Théberge was the fastest of all the Lac-Mégantic region’s representatives registered in the SPRINT TRIATHLON.
In total, 179 participants completed the solo event, 91 women and 88 men. Twenty three teams (64 athletes) did the relay race, including Jérôme Bresson, who finished 2nd overall in the CANADA MAN/WOMAN EXTREME TRIATHLON in 2017 and who is one of the favorites for this year edition. Bresson and his teammates from STRI - Sherbrooke Triathlon, Joëlle Gauthier and Marquy Dubois, completed the race in a time of 01:30:08 to finish first in the overall relay categories.
Both Feet in the Mud!
Even though the intensity of the bike course hurt many participants, it was the race portion that generated the most reactions. Because of last Thursday heavy rain, the trails did not have time to dry up completely, as a result, the riders had both feet in the mud. That situation caused Le Bolloch to lose a sneaker while running! "It wasn't easy, but we were able to manage," he said with a smile. “It's different from the other races in Quebec, it was fun! "
"Yes, there was actually a lot of mud”, adds Marie-France Roy. “I'm doing the marathon tomorrow, the last thing I wanted was to sprain my ankle!"
The popularity of the SPRINT TRIATHLON presented by TAFISA as part of the CANADA MAN/WOMAN Extreme Triathlon weekend is increasing every year. A hundred more triathletes compared to 2017 participated this year. It is already confirmed that the event will be back in 2019 for a third edition. In the meantime, there will be the CANADA MAN/WOMAN EXTREME TRIATHLON, this Sunday, at 4:30 am. The 304 participants will swim in the Mégantic Lake to start a long and exalting journey. They will have 15 hours to reach the Mount-Mégantic Park to the observatory, hoping to reach the stars before midnight.
For the complete results, visit the SPORTSTATS website.
Solo : https://www.sportstats.ca/display-results.xhtml?raceid=93788
Teams : https://www.sportstats.ca/display-results.xhtml?raceid=93789
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