High Performance Update

Just a short note to recap an incredible month of racing. Most of our athletes who raced have placed some great reading on the forum, and there is a true sense that they are beginning to recognize where their personal limitations are being overcome, and a new level of competition is open to them. As these reports serve the athlete a chance to reflect, so too does it give us coaches some direction of where we may be able to redirect some energy towards improving our program in the future.

We are working hard to design and plan a great opportunity for the HP and Junior BPR Team for 2010, and the details of those programs will be up very soon. In addition, Chris, Ginny, Luke, Jen Segger will all be taking on a limited number of age-group athletes who are looking for support from BPR coaches and our unique approach to testing and training.

As for August...there were some stand out performance to mention, but I am sure I will miss a few, so please feel free to point out any flashes of brilliance I miss here...

Rose Gerspacher - Ran a personal best 37:12 at the Women's 10km in Calgary. Showing her depth of talent after coming off a second place finish in the TR3 MTB race. This result also shows the value of working on specific run skills, as Rose has made considerable improvements in cadence this year, and backed that up with extremely good conditioning done mostly on the bike.

Luke Way - 2nd place at the 24 Hours of Adrenaline in Canmore, and a Top 10 performance at TR3, put him in the money. He said that he felt as though he improved in strength each day, which is a tribute to his excellent structural base he developed over the past 18 months. He backed this up with a 2nd place at Xterra Alberta, and has decided to race Xterra Canada this week-end with Rose...GO LUKE!!!

Joel Johnson - First Cat 3 rider to the top of Seymour Mountain in the hill climb a few weeks ago, breaking away and racing in an elite group that consisted of only 3 other sponsored Cat 1/2 riders. He is racing Mt Baker next week-end, which should be a great challenge, as he goes head to head with our friend Olav Stanna.

Simon Craig - Sub 10:30 at his first ever Ironman!!! A really tough day of racing made the times a little slower than usual, but Simon showed excellent improvement in his swim skills this year, and put that together with a fantastic bike and solid run.

Ginny Sellars - 3rd in her age group at IMC. Still facing some long hard work to get her feet strong enough to run to her potential, but her strength and spirit showed through after nearly giving up in the hail and rain as she descended form Yellow Lake

Ian Crossthewaite - Returned to triathlon on nearly no swim/run training, to race well at Kelowna Apple, and be invited to represent Canada at Worlds. He is putting that plan on hold in hopes of finding a more enjoyable venue to show off his skills...Xterra Maui 2011?

Geoff Waterman - Solid performance at Kelowna Apple, and continuing to train pain free, which was his primary goal for 2010. Here is an athlete that is just beginning to recognize his own potential.

Martin Courtney - Prepping for Budapest and World Championships Short Course with a strong performance in Kelowna. Watch for him to make huge gains as we add a bit of stride length to his excellent foot speed.

Peter Watson - Demonstrated incredible biking skills to post the fastest split at the Kelowna Apple over the sprint distance, racing for a corporate team that won their category by MILES!!!

Chris Willett - Age-group National Champion in the Sprint Race...incredible performance.

A reminder of the Xterra Kelowna event on Sept 26th, that is posted on our Facebook page, and the 6-Hour Enduro scheduled the day before. These are likely some of the last races of the season, so I hope to see as many BPR athletes out there as possible. Hook up as a team, race the duathlon, or just come and try something new.

And there is the xc-running series which starts up soon as well, for those who need some functional work. We usually make it a fun day by pre-riding the course on MTB, then racing hard, and post-riding again at top speed to challenge our coordination and functional abilities. So, bring your bikes, and some warm clothes.

We will also be hosting a year-end wrap-up party at some point, and a 2011 planning session, so stay tuned for those announcements.