May 22, 2009 – Hamilton Hammerheads take top spots at Ancaster High School’s Dared-to-Tri 10^th annual triathlon. In the first tri of the 2009 season, 13 of the Hamilton Hammerheads Club headed to Ancaster High School where they took 9 top-3 positions, where everyone swam 300m, biked 7km and ran 3.2km.

In the individual triathlon, Spencer Blackwood placed 3^rd in Senior competition and 17^th overall out of 254 athletes. Derek Hambly finished 1^st in the Junior race in 28 minutes and 33 seconds and placed 2^nd overall. Derek also had the fastest run of the day at 11:04.

Not to be outdone, Kent Hambly took 1^st in Elementary boys in 31:10, placing 5^th overall with the 3^rd fastest run while Sean Mackinnon came 2^nd at 31:39 and 6^th overall. Will Alley round out the top three taking 3^rd place closely followed by Gallacher Patterson in 4^th and Riley Hambly in 5th place.

For Elementary girls, Heather Summers placed 1st at 33:22, placing 9^th overall and Natalie Stacey took 2^nd place in 36:53. In her first triathlon, newcomer Madeline Chow came in 3^rd while teammates Maddie Ross and Bailey Panoff also raced well. Michelle Sulewski took 6^th place in her first triathlon with a very strong performance on the bike.

In the Elementary team relay, Hammerhead Yinze Xu swam while teammate Scotia Brailsford did the bike for The Vampires. Both girls worked hard to get their school, Dalewood, interested in the exciting sport of triathlon. The Vampires placed 3^rd out of 20 team. Congratulations to all of our athletes!

Hammerheads successful at OFSAA Track and Lakeside Triathlon

The Hamilton Hammerheads had an extremely successful weekend of competition at both the OFSAA Track and Field Championships in Toronto and at the Lakeside Triathlon near London. Seven Hammerhead athletes qualified to compete against the best high school runners in the province at the new track and field facility at Varsity Stadium at the University of Toronto.

For the second year in a row Chelsea Mackinnon finished fourth and fifth, this year switching events as she finished fifth in the 1,500 m in a personal best time of 4:42.15 and a close fourth in the 800 m – her 2:17.97 was just a second behind the gold medal winner. Carise Thompson finished eighth in the senior girls 1,500 m in 4:44.15 and set another PB in the 800 m in 2:17.46.

Austen Forbes ran a personal best 2:03.24 in the 800 m and finished 17^th in the 1,500 m, while twin brother Taylor qualified for the final of the 1,500 m, where he finished 11^th.

Jessica Witt was 14^th in the junior girls 3,000 m in a personal best time of 11:12.48. Catherine Howell and Julia Stacey joined Chelsea Mackinnon as part of Westdale’s open 4 x 400 m relay team, which finished12th. Julia Stacey also competed in the midget girls 800 m.

At the Lakeside KOS event, part of the HSBC Triathlon Series, Ian Mackinnon and Findlay Adams won the 10-11 category. Josh Shenker finished second in the boys race. Natalie Stacey was second in the girls 12-13 race, with Scotia Brailsford just behind her in third.

In the girls 14-15 race, Aleksa Despinic was the girls champion, Heather Summers came third, Paige Tate finished seventh and Maddie Ross was 12^th. Sean Mackinnon finished second in the boys 14-15 age group, while Kent Hambly finished third and Gallacher Patterson was 12^th.

Adam Shenker finished ninth, while Lily Ross was 11^th in the 6-7 category.

Earlier in the day Spencer Blackwood and Ian Summers finished seventh and ninth in the junior category of the sprint triathlon. In the GAT Trevor Clark was 18^th.

The Hamilton Hammerheads were traveling across and out of the province this weekend posting some amazing Triathlon race results. In Dunrobin (Ottawa) 10 year old Josh Shenker placed 1^st in the 150 m swim, 10 km bike and 2 km run.

In Chatham, Kent Hambly was 2^nd is his 500 m swim, 15 km bike and 3 km run triathlon. Heather Summers competed in the Quebec prov. championship race and placed 2^nd in the U15 Elite with an amazing bike split. Ian Summers was 8^th in the Valleyfield Sprint. In Orillia, Duke Lloyd was 1^st for his age group at the sprint distance with the 4^th fastest run overall and Jessica Alley was 3^rd in the Try-a-tri. In the Orillia Kids of Steel Triathlon four triathletes finished 1^st in their age categories including: Liam Yoell, 6-7; Ian Mackinnon, 10-11; Rui Xu, 14-15; and Julia Stacey, girls 14-15. Natalie Stacey and Sean Mackinnon both took second in their categories, and Will Alley, Shanze Yoell and Taylor Jauernig took fifth. Other Hammerheads who had strong performances included: Gallacher Patterson, Nicole Sulewski, Maddie Ross, Michelle Sulewski and Emily Patterson. For information about staying active contact