We are coming to the end of another exciting race year with only 1 race left in 2011, the awesome new (in 2010) H20 race in Fundy National Park! Looking back on the season, I saw some great racing in the junior ranks (14-15 & 16-19) representing communities throughout the Province. This was the second year having a dedicated, entry level junior race series (14-15 age group) showing modest growth with young athletes (14-19) demonstrating some hard work in their training and race results.
Every year we do our best to interest youth in coming out to try triathlon and be part of Team NB. This year we have 24 youth interested in being part of Team NB. We are trying to build a strong team to race hard next year (in and out of Province) and to have strong representation at the Canada Games in 2013.
Team NB is open to anyone who is 14 yrs or older. There are two divisions of Team NB, Developmental & High Performance. To be on the High Performance Team, you are required to pass specific performance standards, attend training clinics and compete at certain races throughout the summer (elite level races - draft legal). Starting in late September (early October), the new season will start (in terms of training and conditioning), where training clinics will take place (over the year), performance testing will be done, and training programs will be designed for each athlete. The goal of Team NB is to help youth achieve excellence in their training and conditioning to represent their Communities at local races, their Province at away races and to have a very strong showing at the 2013 Canada Games in Sherbrooke Quebec.
I see a lot of interested and talented youth in the Province at various races that show dedication to the sport as well as a desire to excel. With dedication and desire and the right training program, you can learn to race at the elite level. These races are very fast and very exciting to compete in, and are also very rewarding to know that you can race against some of the best in the Province and Country.
This season, we had two very strong, young athletes with Team NB that demonstrated that they are forces to be reckoned with. Just in one season alone, the improvements that I have seen in these guys were phenomenal. The dedication and desire to perform was paramount in their success along with strong, smart training. These guys did many of the races in the Province and also did a couple away races which I will comment on.
The first athlete is Reid Burrows. He is well known in the swimming community for his accomplishments as well as racing track in the Province and for his High School (Saint John High). Last year he raced in the 14-15 age category, did very well, but this year raced in the age group category (16-19) Sprint Distances and did extremely well. The second athlete is James Parks who is also well known racing track in the Province and for the same High School (Saint John High). James showed amazing progress in his training and racing just from the beginning to the end of this summer.
Reid participated in a couple big races (out of Province) this year and did very well at them. In July (24th), we went to Quebec City so Reid could participate in his first Pro/Elite Level Race (47 competing). These races are draft legal (just like you see at the Olympics and on TV), very fast with some very accomplished athletes. This was a Sprint Distance Race where the Pros and Junior Elites raced together in a mass start. The Males (33 competing) started their race and once their swim was finished the Females (14 competing) started their race.
The swim started very hard with a lead pack of about 20 Elites coming out of the water (Reid in 16th place out of water) to transition. The run out to the bike section from transition was long (at least 500m) and the bike pace was just as furious as the swim. Reid worked hard on the bike with a couple other racers taking turns (15sec) pulling at the front and then going back into the draft to try and maximize the bike portion of the race. The long run into transition and then Reid’s blistering (from the heat and the fast pace) 5km run placed him 17th overall (out of 47 Pro/Elite athletes) and 3rd in his age group (out of 16 aged 16-17). The top 10 finishers ran under a 3:25/km run pace (under 17 min for 5km).
The other big race that both Reid and James went to this summer was Timberman in Gilford, New Hampshire. Again, great performances by both athletes where there were 1464 athletes competing in the sprint distance race. Reid was 2nd overall out of the water with James coming 6th overall out of the water. Both had great bike rides and the runs were extremely fast with Reid posting a 16:45 for 5km and James doing it in 19:09.
Overall Reid was 2nd out of 1464 athletes and James was 29th. Reid was 1st in his age group while James took 3rd in his age group. Both gave extremely impressive performances! Reid battled for first place overall with a Pro Level Triathlete that was there who beat him by only 35sec! Not too shabby for your first year of racing with the big boys. Both Reid and James are going to set the stage for junior racing in the years to come, and hopefully we can attract more athletes like them to our sport. If you are interested, send me an email (below).
Looking forward to seeing what the other juniors in the Province can do in 2012!
Jon Tracy - Provincial Coach, Triathlon New Brunswick
tricoach@live.com
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