Marauders in the News and Friends Abroad #2

IJA Joggling Festival 2015

Gabrielle Foran will be representing McMaster at the 2015 International Juggler's Association Festival, July 20-26 in Quebec City. The week includes juggling workshops and clinics, and culminates with a Joggling track meet! Competitors race while juggling 3, 5 or 7 in events ranging from the 100m to the mile.

Gabrielle wil compete in the 100m, 400m, 800m and mile. She will be looking to defend her titles and hopefully set faster World Records in the 800m and mile, while also attempting to capture the 400m record as well. If she is successful, this will bump her World Record count to four!

The Hamilton Spectator is the most recent media outlet to feature Gabrielle and her talents, read their article here: http://www.thespec.com/news-story/5741551-mac-student-defends-joggling-title-no-that-s-not-a-typo-/

Instagram

We are excited to share that we just recently made an Instagram account. It will feature photos from practice, races and McMaster Marauder life. Follow us on Instagram at MaraudersTrack 

Friends Abroad #2

Two of our (tri)athletes, Taylor and Austen Forbes just returned from 6 weeks in Europe, training and competing on the european triathlon circuit. They achieved some great results and enjoyed the experience of competing at this competitive international level. Here is a recap they wrote for us:

The Twins’ Perspective

"The opportunity to travel to Europe is something most people wouldn’t pass up. For the most part it’s to travel and explore a foreign country and its culture. For us, however, it was strictly business, or what we consider business in Elite sport. The idea stemmed from the cold hard fact that racing in Europe is one of the most competitive triathlon circuits internationally, and much more so than in Canada. Ultimately, the plan was to immerse ourselves into a competitive atmosphere similar to what the best in the world experience everyday of their lives. This includes consistent long days of hard training with nothing else to worry about, and racing in between. With almost 24 hours of travelling ahead of us it is ideal to adjust to the time change as soon as possible. Most of us had a sleep plan heading into the trip with the idea to sleep on the flight there and then to start slowly adjusting 90 minutes each day. Obviously being on the same time clock as the country you’re training in makes for a smooth transition. Once we finally landed in Bilbao and made it to our homes in Vitoria we hit the ground running as our first race was not 3 days later."

                  "The night we arrived at our hotel we were almost immediately told that we would be racing in what was described as “the hardest race course you will ever do” in 3 days time. To be brief, it was a mass start of 500 men with a wavy 1500m ocean swim followed by an intense 40km of cycling with 3 mountain climbs equalling up to a 1000m of elevation, and 10km of running to top it all off. Not your traditional Elite race making for a new competitive and challenging experience. Unfortunately Austen ended up with a flat 500m into the bike course while Taylor continued on to tackle what he referred to as “walls not mountains”. In the end Taylor finished 6^th and went home with a bit of cash. Nevertheless, our next race was our main focus as it was our first European premium cup and first exposure to what the rest of the world was doing."

Mass Swim Start in the Onditz Oroituz Triatloia

                  "Holten, Netherlands was to be the most competitive race we had ever competed in. We both felt confident with consistent success in workouts and the races leading into the event. It is easier to mentally focus on the task at hand with very little distraction outside of training and racing. Of course nerves are natural, but this time around it would make sense that nervousness was at an all-time high. It was the first of many: The 1^st experience of professional European racing, the 1^st time some of the most competitive Canadian racers went head to head since last summer, and the 1^st time Taylor and Austen would attempt a 3^rd race in 14 days. With the race changed to a sprint distance (750m swim, 20km bike, 5km run) everyone knew that it was going to be a crazy fast, crazy rough, and crazy tactical race; you'd expect nothing less from a European race. The swim was feral, but the packs came together within the first 4km of the bike. It was the first time we have experienced a race where all 70+ people came together in what really felt like a bike race instead of a triathlon. The course was very technical and it was dangerous to be caught at the back. The accelerations alone had dropped some, and fatigued others with a couple of crashes throughout the race. Fortunately most of the field made it to transition #2 safe where the run would start. With upwards of 70 people running out the gates together it was obvious that the race was going to be tight. Austen made an early move in the first half of the race and established himself in a top 10 position while Taylor slowly grinded his way into top 15. All in all it was a great race and an even better experience. The locals were lovely, the crowds were huge, and the athletes were fast. It’s the type of race an elite triathlete would be satisfied with."

Post-Race in Holten

                  "After Holten we traveled back to base camp in Vitoria, Spain where we have been training hard preparing for our National Championships in Magog, Quebec on the 25^th of July. The goal is to podium. That’s our update on our time in Spain! We are back in Canada July 20^th and are very excited to see our friends and family again."

2015 Onditz Oroituz Triatloia Results

2015 Holten ETU Triathlon Premium European Cup Results

The Forbes were also featured in an article on triathlonmagazine.ca, written by Taylor Reid. Read it here:

http://triathlonmagazine.ca/news/dynamic-duo-u23-standouts-austen-and-taylor-forbes/

Pre-race Pat-a-cakes in Spain