The new National Junior Champion is a really busy bee these days due to her move from Alberta to Victoria.
Despite this, Ellen took the time to write a short review of her race in Kelowna.
You will notice that she is fully « Trimes approved », wearing Kiwami AND green flashy shoes, as we all know it makes you run faster !
Now, on to Ellen…
By Mark Bates
After a solid month of training, I was so excited to finally throw on the race suit, french braid the hair and shave the legs for Junior Nationals in Kelowna!
The Apple Triathlon is probably one of my favourite events; it is basically a triathlon festival with contagious enthusiasm. I love seeing all the mountain bikes and training wheels in the Kids of Steel transition and the excited little kids who ride them.
It couldn’t have been a better day for the race, and we were spoiled by some beautiful Okanagan sun.
The start to my race was anything but graceful as I tripped and sort of belly flopped into the water. The rest of the swim felt really fast and I had to work really hard to stay with the pack behind super swimmer Hilary Wille. The bike course was fast and fun.
My bike skills aren’t the sharpest so I was a little nervous about riding through some of the corners with speed. A few times I was slingshot off the back of the pack and had to pound the pedals to rejoin the pack. To my mom’s relief, I made it through another bike course safely.
My T2 was much improved with the help from my new flashy green racing flats! I felt really good running and was pulled along the run course by all the cheering. Congratulations to all competitors for training hard and competing! It was such a great weekend overall;
I loved seeing all the cute Alberta kids in their matching red t-shirts and I hope to be seeing all of them racing Junior Elite one day!
Thank you to all my family, friends and coaches for their support. I can’t wait to race in Beijing and cheer on all the other Canadians!