The Better Part of Human Valour

Elite Men getting ready

I'm back from the World Championships. My Crackberry died out there so I wasn't able to send in my wicked insights.
My role as a spectator began with the age group championships. The weather was foul – cold and windy. They were saying the water was 12.5 and the sound decision to shorten the swim to 1100 meters was made.

The waves went off one at a time and after each one the sad sight of a few athletes getting pulled out was the norm.

After awhile I moved down to the T1 area. You had to walk around a little point to get there. It was here that the winds really picked up. The surf looked lethal!

Another sound decision was made to turn the rest of the race into a duathlon. I can just imagine the bitter disappointment felt by many of the athletes who had trained all year to peak for this event but it was the only decision that could have been made.

I ran into some genius who commented that he’d swam in much worse. He just couldn’t understand how they could cancel the swim. Foolishness is infinite.

It's shaky but wind was fierce.
See if you can see the red caps amongst
the white caps.

Unfortunately, besides freezing my keester off, watching the race wasn’t as satisfying as it could have been. It was so confusing with all the loops and staggered starts you just couldn’t see where anyone was.

I guess it was just as confusing for the athletes because when I got to the finish line I was witness to athlete after athlete coming to the finish line and realizing they had another lap to go – so back out to the course they went. There were also many stories of athletes doing extra laps as well and I saw more than one 26’ 10k spilt in the results. I’m not sure how they’re going to rectify all of it. I won’t expect much from a race that charged $300 to enter it nor from a governing body that asked for more than $500 more to do the event. It left a bad taste in a lot of mouths.

Woke up Sunday morning to cold drizzle but calm seas. Apparently the temperature in the water had dropped another degree to 11.5

I won’t bother recapping the races. They went off well and were exciting to watch.

This was to be the final selection race for our Olympic teams and that’s where a great deal of the drama for the races came from. Sweetland, Murray and Tremblay were fighting for the final two positions, while Tichler, McMahon, Jenkins and Jones were battling for the last two spots on the men’s side.

Some will disagree but going into the race the slots were pretty much pre selected. Kirsten had demonstrated on several occasions that she could threaten for a medal in almost any race. She’d also mis-stepped on more than one effort and been hampered by a few injuries as well. She just needed to race like she was capable of and no one would argue her place in Beijing. The real race would be between Tremblay and Murray with an advantage going to Murray. Carolyn hadn’t lost to Kathy this year and she also had a World Cup victory under her belt.

A top 8 finish would guarantee a place for any of them – a tall order in this crowd. If no one got a top 8 then all four choices would be left up to the High Performance Committee.

No one got a top 8.

The closest was Tichler, who came 9^th – less than a second out of 8^th. But 9^th is not 8^th. And so his Olympic future, along with the others would be in the hands of “the committee”

The athletes did not make the selections obvious for the committee – not obvious at all. No matter what decisions they make there will be legitimate appeal grounds for the athletes left off.

Sweetland pulled up lame in the run and end up 38^th. It broke my heart to see her suffering out there.

Tremblay got off the bike with the chase group but ran 38:35 and finished 21^st.

Murray missed the chase pack out of the swim but the 5^th fastest run put her up to 24^th.

On the men’s side, I’ve already mentioned Paul’s 9^th. The committee has to select Paul. That should be obvious to anyone who loves and understands this sport. Recently Paul and Simon have had some differences aired publicly and that’s unfortunate but in the end Paul has demonstrated that he can finish at the pointy end of the stick.

Behind Paul was veteran Brent McMahon. Brent’s season was hampered by a broken wrist and I think most people had pretty much written the lad off as even a long shot. Everyone, that is except Brent. He knew going into the race that if he didn’t come in 8^th then it was extremely unlikely he’d go to China – even if he currently was the 3^rd fastest triathlete in the country. If an athlete wasn’t going to threaten for a medal then the committee would be looking at that athlete’s ability to help someone else get one. On the men’s side that meant helping Simon. Helping Simon is not such an easy task. You have to be one hell of a good swimmer or you won’t be in a position to help him and once you’re there, you have to have some superior bike skills. In the past Simon had found his perfect domestique in young Colin Jenkins and Jenkins had embraced the role with the knowledge that it might get him to the Olympics along with the mentorship of one of the sports best.

On Sunday Brent showed everyone, including Simon, that not only was he capable of helping but maybe he could do it better than Colin.

Brent working it!

Brent had a solid swim and got himself in the lead group with Simon, Tich, and Jenkins. As the group circled the course again and again we saw Brent up there again and again. He was working hard and he was trying to work for Simon. Off the bike he ran strong and finished a solid 17^th. Colin was not able to help as much as he has in the past but, despite what some are saying, he did get up there a few times and kill himself to help (see my picture as proof.) But Brent showed that when it counted he could bring his A game. Would it be enough to get him on the team – probably not. Simon has been working with Colin for a few years now and that kind of a relationship won’t be compromised by one race - but I can promise you this though, Brent’s race on Sunday will certainly extend the length of the selection meeting!

Click on the picture to see Colin working at
the front with Simon close by.

So in the end the final spots on the men’s team will likely be Paul Tichler and Colin Jenkins.

On the women’s side it was also pretty clear cut going into the event. It wouldn’t be such going out.

This has been Carolyn Murray’s year. She’s been racing better than any other Canadian woman out there. She hadn’t been beaten by another Canuck going into Worlds. That alone should have assured her a place on the team and it may still but on Sunday she was beaten by Tremblay when it counted. But neither of them placed 8^th so it’s unlikely their “placing” will play much of a factor in the committee’s decision. Again, they’ll look at several criteria – who is mostly likely to podium or who can help another get to the podium?

If Kirsten is 100% she gets the nod on getting to the podium. If her foot doesn’t pass examine then the question will be moot – both Murray and Tremblay will go. For arguments sake, let’s assume her foot just has some minor inflammation and she is chosen – one spot left. Murray or Tremblay? Most know I have a history with Carolyn and want to see her succeed but I think I’ve got enough integrity to look at the situation with pragmatic eyes. If you’re looking at who has the best chance of hitting the podium, you have to point to Carolyn. Quite simply she’s one of the fastest runners in the game right now and if there’s any chance at all that can be in the lead bike pack, she can run with the big girls. As far as helping someone else, this scenario isn’t as clear for the girls. Neither Carolyn or Kathy can realistically help Kirsten as Kirsten swims substantially faster than both of them. Kathy can’t really help Carolyn because Carolyn is a stronger cyclist. Carolyn couldn’t help Kathy too much because usually Kathy is out of the pond first and even if she wasn’t, she doesn’t have Carolyn’s run speed. There wouldn’t be a point.

There is however one realistic possibility for a domestique relationship and that’s for Carolyn to help Groves. After all, Groves has already been selected so clearly the committee still considers her a threat because there are loopholes available to them to remove her from the team – though it would be poor form if they did. She hasn’t been racing too well this year but we have to assume she’s got a plan that involves peaking in August. Carolyn is strong enough to work for her on the bike. In fact she did a lot of it on Sunday.

I think most everyone was hoping the athletes would take it out of the hands of the committee but they didn’t and so men and women behind closed doors will decide the fate for these young people. Their decisions, like Caesar’s wife, must appear beyond reproach.

Whatever those decisions I hope they have the courage of their convictions to explain and justify them. The athletes and the people who support this sport deserve that.