Canadian Gold Medalists Help Olympic Triathlete Prepare for London This Sunday Ashleigh McIvor and Ben Rutledge to Participate with Brent McMahon at the Subaru Vancouver Triathlon

Jul 06, 2012

Vancouver, BC - The 6th annual Subaru Vancouver Triathlon happening this Sunday, July 8th at Locarno Beach Park, has not only attracted a record number of participants this year, but also several past and present Olympians; Vancouver 2010 Ski-Cross Gold Medalist Ashleigh McIvor and Bejiing 2008 Gold Medal Rower Ben Rutledge will help London-bound triathlete Brent McMahon by joining him on a Relay Team this Sunday as he prepares for London this summer. It is incredibly inspiring to see two of the nation's last gold medalists, one from the Vancouver Winter Games and one from the Beijing Summer Games, step up to help a 2012 Olympian go after that same feat.

McMahon will do the swim portion of the three distances on three different relay teams on Sunday, including one with McIvor and Rutledge. McIvor, who participated In the 2011 Subaru Sooke Triathlon as part of her rehabilitation training after tearing her ACL at the X Games earlier that year, will do the 20km bike portion of the Sprint distance with McMahon, and Rutledge will complete the distance with a 5 km run.

The Pro field for this year's event will also make for an exciting race, especially on the women's side; last year's Subaru Vancouver Triathlon Champion Rachel McBride will be back to defend her title in the Half Iron event against other past Series Champions and podium finishers, including Sara Gross, Rachel Kiers, Martina Wan and Janet Nielsen. On the men's side, 2009 BC Provincial Champion and Series podium finisher Nathan Killiam will be battling against last year's podium finisher Anthony Toth for the Championship title this year.

Besides the Pros racing for championship titles, Age Groupers in the Half Iron distance will be competing for the title of BC Provincial Long Distance Champion as well as for chance to represent Canada at the Long Distance World Championships in France in 2013. The Subaru Vancouver Triathlon is a World Championship Qualifying race as well as the BC Long Distance Provincial Championships this year.

Close to 800 participants will be competing in the Sprint, Olympic or Half Iron distances on Sunday, with almost a third of those coming from outside of the Lower Mainland area. Athletes from all across Canada and the US and as far away as Ireland, Germany, Korea, Qatar and Australia arrived in Vancouver with their family and friends this week to take part in race weekend festivities, which also includes the Danone Kids' Fun Run and meet-and-greet with McMahon on Saturday afternoon at Locarno Beach Park.

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