Toronto Triathlon Festival Recap
“Participating in the Toronto Triathlon Festival was so much fun! I feel really lucky to be able to represent UBC through TSC Triathlon at competitions across Canada!” - Christina Howard
This past weekend, TSC Triathlon competed at the Toronto Triathlon Festival for their biggest competition of the season, the Ontario Provincial University Championships. After dominating the UBC Triathlon Duathlon and winning numerous medals at local races, this group of athletes looked to carry that momentum over to the sport's largest collegiate triathlon competition in the country. In the festival's inaugural collegiate competition, these 'birds soared above everyone else for a collegiate title. Here's how it went down!
Submitted by Ariel Rosen, TSC Triathlon Marketing & Communications Officer
Scoring Breakdown
The T-Birds competed against University of Toronto, Queen’s and Western. Our team members competed in 4 events:
| Race Categories | Swim | Cycle | Run |
| Olympic | 1.5km | 40km | 10km |
| Sprint | 750m | 20km | 5km |
| Draft Legal Sprint* | 750m | 20km | 5km |
| Triathlon Ontario Draft Legal Cup Series** | 750m | 20km | 5km |
*In the Draft Legal Sprint, cyclists are allowed to draft off other cyclists.
**Triathlon Ontario Draft Legal Cup series is the same as the normal draft legal sprint, but for elite racers.
The point system against the other teams worked as follows:
Age Group Sprint and Olympic races:
Club members received points based on their Age Group division place:
| Placement - Age Group Division | Points |
| First | 6 |
| Second | 5 |
| Third | 4 |
| Fourth | 3 |
| Fifth | 2 |
Draft legal sprint and Triathlon Ontario Cup Series:
Club members received points based on their overall placing, as seen below:
| Placement - Overall | Points |
| First | 6 |
| Second | 5 |
| Third | 4 |
| Fourth | 3 |
| Fifth | 2 |
1 point awarded for each club finisher (to a maximum of 10 points)
Race Recaps
Olympic Distance
Swim: 1.5 km, Bike: 40 km, Run: 10 km
Most athletes on the team raced in the Olympic category and saw success in every age group division. T-Bird performances were highlighted by racers Owen Vincent and Christina Howard, who finished first place in their age groups, earning 6 points each for the T-Birds with times of 2:12:18 and 2:27:44, respectively. Each racer performed well, with no one finishing below 7th place in their age category.
Owen Vincent, Mahish Rajdev and Ethan Blake before their Olympic distance race.
Christina Howard and Ariel Rosen in their gear, pre-race.
3rd place – Ari Rosen (2:29:16)
4th place – Gabby Bourgault Kennaley (2:32:14)
1st place – Christina Howard (2:27:44)
4th place – Olivia Baldassare (2:32:40)
1st place – Owen Vincent (2:12:18)
5th place – Ethan Blake (2:24:24)
7th place – Mahish Rajdev (2:26:25)
Sprint & Draft Legal Sprint
Swim: 750 m, Bike: 20 km, Run: 5 km
UBC's performance at this distance was highlighted by Abby Edison earning first overall female for the whole race, and 2nd overall for all the racers, including the men, an incredible result! Amy Topshee, Aki Zverac, April St. Pierre and Lucas Wiens all earned top 5 finishes in their age categories, as well.
“This event was truly the perfect end to my time as a Thunderbird! Personally, I had a great race and really tried to give it my all to win as many points as possible for the team competition. It was awesome to see so many UBC athletes on the course, and there was a wonderful feeling of camaraderie among all the collegiate competitors. The cherry on top was winning the inaugural university championship against some tough competition. It’s clearly a testament to how strong our team is and how much it’s grown since I joined five years ago. I can’t wait to see what the future holds for this incredible group of athletes!!” - Abby Edison
Abby Edison with first place in the women's overall category at the sprint distance.
April St. Pierre finished second in her age category in the Sprint Distance, draft legal race.
1st place - Abby Edison (1:03:15)
2nd place – Amy Topshee (1:15:20)
4th place – Aki Zvjerac (1:12:27)
Draft Legal Sprint - Overall Times:
2nd place – April St. Pierre (1:13:08)
5th place – Lucas Wiens (1:06:20)
Triathlon Ontario Draft Legal Cup Series
Swim: 750 m, Bike: 20 km, Run: 5 km
Emma Jean Neal was the sole UBC representative in this race and she did not disappoint, finishing second in her category of Elite Female triathletes.
Emma Jean Neal, second in the women's elite race.
T-Birds on Top!
Overall for the team, we accumulated the most points compared to the other schools, so we won the Ontario Provincial University Championships.
“I had an amazing weekend racing with the team in Toronto, everyone showed up and raced really hard against a tough field. I can’t wait to come back next year and defend our title” - Ethan Blake
Your UBC Thunderbirds as Ontario Provincial Collegiate Champions!
What’s Next?
Seniors Abby Edison and Amy Topshee on top of the podium in their final race as a Thunderbird.
Senior send-off: this was the last race that Abby Edison, Amy Topshee and Olivia Baldassare will be competing in as part of our team. They all had incredible races and we will miss them next year, and wish them luck on their future adventures!
“I cannot express how incredible it was to reunite with my teammates after a couple months of training solo! Although triathlons are technically individual competitions, this race weekend felt like a true team sport! From cooking and sharing meals together to building our bikes as a team, the camaraderie was undeniable. And the best part? Our combined solo efforts led to us winning the overall university championship!! I am super sad that my time with the UBC Triathlon Sport Club is coming to a close. However, I am eternally grateful for the opportunity to be part of such an exceptional team. And I can’t have asked for a better end to a phenomenal four years!” - Amy Topshee
As for the rest of the club, many of our athletes will continue racing this summer, with a few of our athletes racing in full Ironmans in August.
UBC Triathlon SC would like to thank all our amazing support systems for making our race weekend as great as it was, including our sponsors, STORIES by SWISSBO and Coach Powell Training, as well as our support from Steph and Jonah from TSC for helping us make this all happen!