Congrats to Lionel Sanders and Kirstie Kniaziew – 2014 Sprint Duathlon Provincial Champions!

 

May 15, 2014 – The Triathlon Ontario Provincial Championships officially kicked off its outdoor season this past Saturday in the small Essex County community of Harrow, Ontario with the Iron Hawk Sprint Duathlon. The race offered a $3,000 prize purse which attracted some of the province’s best.  The start list promised a blazing fast race, and the results did not disappoint.  The race also doubled as a 2015 National Team Qualifier for the World Championships in Adelaide, Australia. 

 On the men’s side, Quest for Gold supported triathlete Austen and his twin brother Taylor Forbes set a hot early pace.  Other contenders Connor Darlington, Andrew Beardsall , Sjaan Gerth and hometown hero Lionel Sanders followed an early pace that hovered near 3:00/km.  The Forbes twins continued to establish themselves at the front throughout the first two lap run of approximately 5.25km, coming through the 5k mark in close to 15:00 flat before heading to the bikes.

On the bike, strong cyclists Sanders and Sean Bechtel used this leg to establish themselves at the front of the race, with Lionel stamping his claim on the leader’s position and Bechtel moving quickly through the field into 2nd place and staying there for the remainder of the race.  Beardsall’s day unfortunately ended at the 5k mark due to a mechanical, while Gerth and the Forbes’ held strong in the 3rd to 5th positions.

No one could catch Sanders over the final 2.5km run who brought home his first provincial title of the season in 56 minutes flat.  Bechtel, Gerth, Taylor and Austen Forbes all held their positions to round out the top 5.

The women’s race also boasted a local winner as Leamington’s Kirstie Kniaziew defeated Provincial Development Team member and Quest for Gold supported athlete Kirsten Vergara and Sadie Holmes on the strength of an excellent 35:54 bike split.  Kniaziew was able to keep pace with Vergara’s strong run splits, staying within 50 seconds after the first run and backing up her bike split by nearly matching Vergara’s closing run. Holmes rounded out the women’s top 3 with an equally strong 35:58 bike split, and was followed in the overall standings by Toronto’s Lauren Tucker and Brampton’s Jade Carrington. Kniaziew’s result was good enough for 20th in the overall race, as well as top honours in the women’s 40+ division.

Click here to read Jesse Bauer’s complete race report.

Special thanks to the Iron Hawk race organizers for putting on a fantastic event and the local crowd for their enthusiastic support.

Next stop on the Triathlon Ontario Championship schedule is back to back stops in Guelph.  First up is the Guelph Lake KOS on June 15th.  This is the first stop on the 2014 Ontario Youth Cup Series.

Followed by the Triathlon Ontario Club Championships and the final wild card qualifier for the Ontario Summer Games, both at Subaru Series’ Guelph Lake I, June 21 and 22.