Canada’s full Commonwealth Games squad will race the 2006 SMF Hobart Oceania Cup Triathlon to be held on Sunday February 19. With all Australia’s representatives set to compete and most of the New Zealand team as well the race will generate enormous interest in the lead up to the 2006 Melbourne Games.
Brent McMahon and Jill Savege appear the best credentialed of the 6 member Canadian team. McMahon represented his country at the 2004 Olympic Games and in 2005 won the silver medal at the International Triathlon Union Asian Cup in South Korea. In 2005 international events including the world championships he never finished outside the top 20.
Jill Savege is back after an injury plagued 2005 that allowed her to do just two World Cup events with a second placing in Mexico her best result. Savege will be one to watch in the lead up to Melbourne. In 2004 she had 5 top-10 finishes in World Cup events and ended that year ranked number 9 in the world.
Mcmahon and Savege will be joined by Gillian Kornell who was second at the Canadian Championships, Suzanne Weckend, Paul Tichelaar and Colin Jenkins all of whom had an excellent 2005.
New Zealand’s Bevan Docherty will be an athlete to watch in Hobart. In 2004 he won the silver medal at the Olympic games finishing just 8 seconds behind countryman Hamish Carter. Fellow Kiwi Kris Gemmell is a World Cup winner and both athletes are strong runners and will be serious contenders if they are with the leaders off the bike in Hobart.
There is no doubt the lead group going into the run in both men’s and women’s competition should include a number of Australians with world champions Peter Robertson and Emma Snowsill at the head of what could well be the strongest contingent of professional triathletes to race in Tasmania since the Devonport event in 2000. In that year many of the world’s best triathletes were competing in the National Series as part of their preparation for the Sydney Olympics.
The 2006 SMF Hobart Oceania Cup Triathlon will be held on Sunday February 19. The professional women’s event commences at 1.00 pm followed by the men at 3.00 pm. The morning program includes junior elite racing and a national series race for Australia’s age group athletes. Full event details can be accessed from the DTA events website www.tasmanianevents.com.au