Canada's Triathletes to Hobart
Canada’s triathletes heading to the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games will warm up with a run at the 2006 Hobart Oceania Cup Triathlon on February 19.
The race should be a preview of what fans can expect come Games time, with all of Australia’s representatives and most of the New Zealand team out on the course.
Brent McMahon and Jill Savege look to be the early names to watch in the six-member Canadian team, defending their country’s championship from Manchester.
McMahon is a former Olympian who finished every race in 2005, including the world championships, inside the top 20.
Savege is making a dramatic return from an injury-plagued 2005, placing second in Mexico to show she’d lost none of the form which saw her take five top-10 finishes in World Cup events to finish 2004 ranked 9th in the world.
McMahon and Savege will be joined by Gillian Kornell, who was second in the Canadian championships, and Suzanne Weckend, Paul Tichelaar and Colin Jenkins, all of whom had an excellent 2005.
New Zealand's Bevan Docherty will be their team member to watch, coming in to the competition with a silver from the Athens Olympics which saw him finish just eight seconds behind countryman Hamish Carter.
The Hobart race will also be the first event for Australian medal-hope Emma Snowsill, who will emerge from two months of intense training for the first race of her planned three-race build up for Melbourne.
Her “third-time lucky” formula will see her take to the St Kilda course in Melbourne alongside Annabel Luxford and Loretta Harrop with the aim of breaking the drought of Australian Triathlon medals at Commonwealth and Olympic Games.
The Commonwealth Games Triathlon will take place on the St Kilda foreshore on Saturday 18 March.
