Lambert and Dalbec Win Gold at Ontario Summer Games

– Kubas, Lambert, Kealey, Brennan Take Mixed Relay Gold –

August 15, 2016 – Fantastic performances out-shined the extraordinarily humid conditions this past weekend in Mississauga at the 2016 Ontario Summer Games. Nicholas Lambert, and Cassandra Dalbec took gold in the individual race on Friday while the team of Ella Kubas, Nicholas Lambert, Saoirse Kealey and Keven Brennan won gold on Saturday in the Mixed Relay event.

Individual Race Review
The field of 24 boys started the morning off on Friday. Lake Ontario was 23 degrees for the non-wetsuit 600m swim. Heading out of the water and onto the bike a group consisting of Lambert, Tristen Jones, Justin De Jong and Sasha Menegotto were all within a few seconds of each other. Lambert, Jones and De Jong were able to put some space between them and the rest of the field over the 15 km (3 5km loops) bike course. Once on the 4 km run course Lambert was able to pull away from the other two and win gold with a 1:25 min margin. Jones and De Jong won silver and bronze respectively.

Three minutes later 24 girls lined up on the beach to take their turn. Cassandra Dalbec and Haley Sturrock came out of the water neck and neck after a fast swim, about 25 seconds on the rest of the field. Dalbec came back into T2 followed by Sturrock a few seconds behind. Not too far behind those two were hard charging Teagan Shapansky and Ella Kubas. Shapansky and Kubas had the fastest run splits but ran out of real estate in their efforts to catch Dalbec who took gold, 12 second over Shapansky (silver) and 32 seconds over Kubas (bronze).

Mixed Relay Review
The athletes returned the next morning to compete in the newest Games medal sport, the Mixed Relay. The Relay comprised 12 teams of two females and two males, each completing a 300m swim, 5 km bike, 2 km run before tagging the next teammate. The teams were evenly matched.

Looking to turn her previous day’s bronze into a gold, Ella Kubas put down one of the fastest opening splits among the 12 first leg females. She then tagged her teammate Nicholas Lambert who was looking for his second gold of the Games. Lambert didn’t disappoint by also having the fastest split amongst the males. It was then up to the second half of the team to hold on while the others chased hard. Team spirit was on full display as the athletes were cheering and supporting their teammates. The crowd was on the edge of their seats as they waited for the athletes to come down the finishing chute. When the athletes first emerged there were three in sight with about 250m to go. Keven Brennan was in the lead and holding strong while Bridger Hunt was trying to make up the final ground and Jack Rath trying to do the same behind Hunt. As they made the sprint home it was Brennan holding off the others to help his team take gold by 12 seconds with Hunt in second and Rath just 3 seconds behind in third.

The Silver medal winning team consisted of:
Emma Young
Max Schindler
Tara Black
Bridger Hunt

The Bronze medal winning team consisted of:
Amber Patten
Brayden Scholey
Anna Liebenberg
Jack Rath

Congratulations to all on a fantastic effort!

The Ontario Summer Games is a bi-annual competition put on by the Ontario Ministry of Tourism, Sport & Culture. Triathlon Ontario made a number of changes to the format of the Games and qualification in 2015 to ensure the Games better aligned with its High Performance pathway and its Provincial Development Program. Those changes included making the Individual race and the Mixed Relay race draft legal, changing the Mixed Relay from a demonstration sport to a full medal sport, and doing away with geographical restrictions during the qualification process-thereby ensuring the best athletes qualify.

About Triathlon Ontario
Triathlon Ontario is a non-profit organization that is the recognized Provincial Governing Body for Multisport in the province of Ontario. Our mission is to provide leadership and governance for the development of a safe and fair environment for Multisport in Ontario. Triathlon Ontario oversees the sanctioning of races and clubs and undertakes a number of duties and responsibilities on behalf of athletes at every level, coaches, clubs, officials and race directors to ensure the growth and development of the sport in a fun and safe way. Visit www.TriathlonOntario.com for the latest triathlon news, events, camps, and clinics.