The future of Canadian triathlon appears as if it comes through the Island. Desirae Ridenour of Cowichan Bay and Hannah Henry of Victoria, both 17 and members of the national development team, swept gold and silver Saturday at the CAMTRI Junior American Championships in Magog, Que.
鈥淭hat was a pretty rough swim, but when I saw I was beside a familiar face in Hannah, we motivated each other the whole way to the finish,鈥� Ridenour said.
Ridenour was across in 1 hour 05:15, with Henry nine seconds behind and bronze-medallist Raquel Solis Guerrero of Costa Rica 17 seconds in arrears.
鈥淭he swim was pretty rough and the waves shot me back pretty hard,鈥� Ridenour said.
鈥淥nce I caught up to the chase pack, it took a while for us to get started working together. Nobody wanted to take pulls [at the front]. I think we were all just saving our legs for the run. Hannah was ahead of me and we pushed each other to the finish.鈥�
Henry鈥檚 sister, Holly Henry, did not finish. The conditions included rolling waves.
鈥淭he waves today made it really hard to breathe in the swim,鈥� Hannah Henry said.
鈥淸Ridenour] and I worked really well to close the gap, but once we caught up on the bike, I was really tired. I was first out onto the run course. Des and I ran together and were talking our way to the finish. She just broke away at the end to win.鈥�
Darr Smith of the U.S. and Mexicans Aram Penaflor Moysen and Abraham Rodriguez Moreno reached the podium in the men鈥檚 race. The top-placed Canadian was Michael Milic of Trail, who finished fifth.
INTERNATIONAL NOTES: Aidan Webber and Ben Leslie, both of Nanaimo, and Alison Grecht of Parksville have been named to the Canadian junior team for the BMX world championships in South Carolina from July 25 to 29.
鈥� sa国际传媒
