The Hamilton Hammerheads had a fantastic showing at the Ontario Summer Games in Sudbury, including a gold medal individual performance by Rui Xu in the boy’s race and a bronze medal showing by Heather Summers in the girl’s race. Sean Mackinnon and Aleksa Despinic both placed fourth, while Kent Hambly was fifth. Trevor Clark (15) and Gallacher Patterson (21) also had great showings in the boy’s race.
Julia Stacey finished seventh in the girls race, while Paige Tate finished 13th, Nicole Sulewski was 21st and Maddie Ross managed to overcome an extra 3 km of biking to finish 25th.
In the relay event, the Festival region team, made up of Rui, Sean, Aleksa and Heather took the gold medal. The rest of the team were put on other teams and all had fantastic performances. Overall it was a fantastic day of racing and the Hammerheads, which had more athletes (11) than any other club in the province, did exceptionally well.

(also see page under “Events“)

The Ontario Association of Triathletes held their Inaugural Draft Legal Provincial Championship in Ottawa on July 31. Members of the Hamilton Hammerheads were well represented in the Junior Championship (16-19 year old) and 14-15 year old development categories. 

In the Junior Men’s Championship, Taylor and Austin Forbes placed 8th and 9th, respectively; David Hopton 12th, and Derek Hambly finished 14th.  In the Junior Women’s division, Chelsea Mackinnon capped her race with an impressive run to take third place and Julia Stacey came in 10th position.

In the newly established 14-15 year old draft legal development race, Sean Mackinnon secured second place with a very fast bike split while Kent Hambly’s outstanding run led to a third place finish for the men.  On the women’s side, Heather Summers was first and Paige Tate took third with Natalie Stacey (5th) and Aleksa Despinic (9th) also placing well in a highly competitive field.

At the National Capital Triathlon held earlier the same day, Ian Mackinnon took third position in a field of 89 competitors while Ian Summers was second for his age group in the Sprint Event (9th of 252 overall). 

In total, 11 Hamilton Hammerhead athletes in a 15-16 year old category have qualified to compete in the 2010 Ontario Summer Games to be held in Sudbury next week.  Congratulations and good luck to Trevor Clark, Aleksa Despinic, Kent Hambly, Sean Mackinnon, Gallacher Patterson, Maddie Ross, Julia Stacey, Nicole Sulewski, Heather Summers, Paige Tate, and Rui Xu.

This year 13 Hamilton Hammerheads were recognized at the Breakfast of Champions put on by Sport Hamilton at Carmen’s Banquet Center on December 2, 2009.  All 13 were Provincial Champions during 2009.

Fin Adams was Provincial Gold Medalist for Tyke Girls Indoor Track 400m and 800m, in York on Mar. 1, 2009. Fin was also the Provincial Gold Medalist forTyke Girls Outdoor Track 800m, in Mississauga on July 19, 2009.

The Midget Girls Cross Country team of Phoebe Cseresnyes, Heather Summers, Karen Thompson, Aleksa Despinic, Jacklyn Lloyd, Kaitlyn Pansegrau, Paige Tate won the Athletics Ontario Gold Medal in King City on November 15th.

The Mite Boys Cross Country Team were Provincial Champions at the Minor Track Association Cross Country Championships in Burlington, on October 24, 2009.  Team members were Owen Jones, Liam Boatsmith, Jesse Manzin, Sydney Flageole-Bray, Adam Shenker.

The Hamilton Spectator also featured two of the Mite Boys on the front page.

  

photos by Sport Hamilton

Hamilton Hammerhead Midget Girls are 2009 Athletics Ontario Cross Country Champions
Congratulations Phoebe, Heather, Karen, Aleksa, Jackie, Kaitlyn and Paige

Also congratulations to Natalie, Rui, Kent, Sean and Will for their great races.

In case you haven’t heard, a number of Hammerhead athletes had a great day at the OFSAA XC championships Saturday Nov. 7th.

Kent Hambly finished 13th and led his Ancaster team to the bronze medal in the midget boys race.

Aleksa Despinic, Heather Summers and Phoebe Cseresnyes (who is joining us as a run-only athlete) were part of the silver medal midget girls team from Westdale. Phoebe won the bronze individual medal, while Aleksa and Heather finished 13th and 14th.

Rui Xu was 17th in the junior boys race.

Paige Tate and Jackie Lloyd were 109 and 114 in the junior girls race. Karen Thompson and Kaitlyn Pansegrau, team-mates of Paige and Jackie from Highland finished 12th and 126th.

In the Senior boys race, Austen and Taylor Forbes were two of the faster Grade 11 students and finished 26th and 21st. Duke Lloyd finished a gutsy 74th in the senior boys race despite some leg issues.

Chelsea Mackinnon finished eighth in the senior girls, the second grade 11 student in the race. Jessica Witt was 30th and Catherine Howell had a gutsy race despite feeling quite ill and finished 172nd. The Westdale team won the silver medal in the senior girls race, a huge achievement considering they’re all in Grade 11.

Run-only member, Cerise Thompson had a phenomenal race to finish fourth in the senior girls race.

Also see OAT site write-up http://provincialtriathloncentre.blogspot.com/2009/11/photo-essay.html

It was a great day for the Hamilton Hammerheads at the Lakeside Triathlon on September 19. The event served as a qualifier for the Ontario Games for our region.

With her win in the 14-15 race, Heather Summers won a spot at the Games next summer. Aleksa Despinic finished third in the girls race and also won a spot. Rui Xu finished second in the boys 14-15 race, while Kent Hambly finished fourth, so both also gained spots for the race in Sudbury next year.

Other Hammerheads had great races in Lakeside, too.  Ian Mackinnon won the 10-11 race,  Scotia Brailsford came fourth in 12 to 13. Lily Ross was ninth.

Paige Tate was seventh in 14-15, followed by Julia Stacey in eighth, Nicole Sulewski finished 13th and Michelle Sulewski finished 17th.

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

Lakeside KOS

It was Hammertime at the HSBC Lakeside KOS and Give-It-A-Tri and Sprint Triathlons June 7-8, 2008. Twenty-one members of The Hamilton Hammerheads Triathlon Team were represented over 5 age groups in 3 triathlons.

It began with an overall top 3 sweep in the 8-9 year old race consisting of a 75m swim, 5k bike and 1k run. Finley Adams came 1st out of 13 girls and placed an incredible 3rd overall, behind two of her Hammerhead teammates. This was Fin’s first lake swim and second ever triathlon. Her first was May 25th at the Caledon KOS where she also won 1st place in girls and 5th overall. Way to go Fin!

Out of 22 boys 8-9 years old, Sam Kahn finished in 20:15 clinching 1st place overall and taking 1st in both the swim and bike. In his first triathlon Josh Schenker won 2nd overall, less than a minute behind Sam. Drew Nesbitt rounded out the team wins with a strong 5th place finish and 7th overall, coming 3rd in the bike. Go Hammer!

Another Kahn, older brother Joshua, won 2nd place overall in the boys 10-11 year category, swimming 100m, biking 7.5k and finishing with a second place 2k run.

In the 12-13 year category, both girls and boys delivered astounding wins in the 200m swim, 12.5k bike and 2.5k run. Heather Summers led the girls taking 1st place out of 19 girls and 2nd out of 48 athletes overall. Her splits included 2nd in the bike and 3rd in the run. Not to be outdone, Morgan Ryder took 2nd in girls and 3rd overall while Aleksa Despinic won 3rd place and 4th overall. 4th place went to Yinze Xu who was 12th overall and hot on her heels was Nathalie Stacey who took a strong 7th in girls and 20th overall.

For the boys, eldest brother Zachary Kahn won 2nd out of 29 and came 5th overall while Gallacher Patterson was a close 3rd place and 6th overall. Daniel Nesbitt placed 12th, an incredible accomplishment considering he took a nasty fall at the beginning of the bike. He was injured but wanted to continue and finished strong coming 17th out of 48 competitors.

In the 400m swim, 15k bike and 4k run, Rui Xu won 2nd overall out of 27 in 14-15 year olds. With a time of 50:50, Rui was less than 1 minute off the leader and came 1st in both the swim and run. Julia Stacey led the girls with a 4th place finish and placing 11th overall. Rina Charalampis came 6th closely followed by another first timer, Catherine Howell in 7th place and Mariah Mammoletti in 10th place.

Hammerheads Natasha Despinic and Trevor Clark participated in the Give-It-A-Tri Triathlon swimming 300m, biking 10k and running 2k. Natasha won 1st place in girls under 19 and 11th place overall out of a field of 95. She was 2nd in the swim and finished with a spectacular time of 43:57. Likewise, Trevor finished 1st in boys under 19 with a time of 46:18 and coming in 23rd overall.  Incredible!

Lastly, in the Sprint Triathlon, 16-year old Spencer Blackwood did the Hammerheads proud in his longest distance race to date, completing a 500m swim, 18k bike and 4k run. Spencer placed an outstanding 4th in the men’s 19 and under and 12th out of 207 overall, finishing with a time of 56:28.

Congratulations to all of our athletes on their accomplishments! For more information on training with The Hamilton Hammerheads Triathlon Team, e-mail: hamiltonhammerheadsac@gmail.com

OFSAA Track and Field Championships

Hammerheads qualify at the 2008 OFSAA Track & Field Championships June 5-7 at Mohawk Park, Hamilton. In the Women�s Midget 1500m run, Chelsea MacKinnon had the fastest preliminary time of 4:47.65. This time qualified Chelsea for the final where she finished strong in 4th place with a time of 4:48.54. In the Women�s Midget 800m run, Chelsea qualified at 2:22.34 and finished in 2:21.42 in the final, taking 5th place. Austen and Taylor Forbes also qualified for OFSAA finals in Men�s Midget 1500m and 3000m runs. In the 1500m run both Austen and Taylor came 5th in their heat and finished 9th and 11th respectively in the final. Taylor also competed in the grueling 3000m race with a time of 10:44.35.  OFSSA is a competition for students from schools all over the province and the Hammerheads are proud to count our athletes among the best in Ontario.  Congratulations Chelsea, Austen and Taylor!

For more information on training with The Hamilton Hammerheads Triathlon Team, e-mail: hamiltonhammerheadsac@gmail.com

Lakeside KOS

It was Hammertime at the HSBC Lakeside KOS and Give-It-A-Tri and Sprint Triathlons June 7-8, 2008. Twenty-one members of The Hamilton Hammerheads Triathlon Team were represented over 5 age groups in 3 triathlons.

It began with an overall top 3 sweep in the 8-9 year old race consisting of a 75m swim, 5k bike and 1k run. Finley Adams came 1st out of 13 girls and placed an incredible 3rd overall, behind two of her Hammerhead teammates. This was Fin’s first lake swim and second ever triathlon. Her first was May 25th at the Caledon KOS where she also won 1st place in girls and 5th overall. Way to go Fin!

Out of 22 boys 8-9 years old, Sam Kahn finished in 20:15 clinching 1st place overall and taking 1st in both the swim and bike. In his first triathlon Josh Schenker won 2nd overall, less than a minute behind Sam. Drew Nesbitt rounded out the team wins with a strong 5th place finish and 7th overall, coming 3rd in the bike. Go Hammer!

Another Kahn, older brother Joshua, won 2nd place overall in the boys 10-11 year category, swimming 100m, biking 7.5k and finishing with a second place 2k run.

In the 12-13 year category, both girls and boys delivered astounding wins in the 200m swim, 12.5k bike and 2.5k run. Heather Summers led the girls taking 1st place out of 19 girls and 2nd out of 48 athletes overall. Her splits included 2nd in the bike and 3rd in the run. Not to be outdone, Morgan Ryder took 2nd in girls and 3rd overall while Aleksa Despinic won 3rd place and 4th overall. 4th place went to Yinze Xu who was 12th overall and hot on her heels was Nathalie Stacey who took a strong 7th in girls and 20th overall.

For the boys, eldest brother Zachary Kahn won 2nd out of 29 and came 5th overall while Gallacher Patterson was a close 3rd place and 6th overall. Daniel Nesbitt placed 12th, an incredible accomplishment considering he took a nasty fall at the beginning of the bike. He was injured but wanted to continue and finished strong coming 17th out of 48 competitors.

In the 400m swim, 15k bike and 4k run, Rui Xu won 2nd overall out of 27 in 14-15 year olds. With a time of 50:50, Rui was less than 1 minute off the leader and came 1st in both the swim and run. Julia Stacey led the girls with a 4th place finish and placing 11th overall. Rina Charalampis came 6th closely followed by another first timer, Catherine Howell in 7th place and Mariah Mammoletti in 10th place.

Hammerheads Natasha Despinic and Trevor Clark participated in the Give-It-A-Tri Triathlon swimming 300m, biking 10k and running 2k. Natasha won 1st place in girls under 19 and 11th place overall out of a field of 95. She was 2nd in the swim and finished with a spectacular time of 43:57. Likewise, Trevor finished 1st in boys under 19 with a time of 46:18 and coming in 23rd overall. Incredible!

Lastly, in the Sprint Triathlon, 16-year old Spencer Blackwood did the Hammerheads proud in his longest distance race to date, completing a 500m swim, 18k bike and 4k run. Spencer placed an outstanding 4th in the men’s 19 and under and 12th out of 207 overall, finishing with a time of 56:28.

Congratulations to all of our athletes on their accomplishments! For more information on training with The Hamilton Hammerheads Triathlon Team, e-mail: hamiltonhammerheadsac@gmail.com

OFSAA Track and Field Championships

Hammerheads qualify at the 2008 OFSAA Track & Field Championships June 5-7 at Mohawk Park, Hamilton. In the Women�s Midget 1500m run, Chelsea MacKinnon had the fastest preliminary time of 4:47.65. This time qualified Chelsea for the final where she finished strong in 4th place with a time of 4:48.54. In the Women�s Midget 800m run, Chelsea qualified at 2:22.34 and finished in 2:21.42 in the final, taking 5th place. Austen and Taylor Forbes also qualified for OFSAA finals in Men�s Midget 1500m and 3000m runs. In the 1500m run both Austen and Taylor came 5th in their heat and finished 9th and 11th respectively in the final. Taylor also competed in the grueling 3000m race with a time of 10:44.35. OFSSA is a competition for students from schools all over the province and the Hammerheads are proud to count our athletes among the best in Ontario. Congratulations Chelsea, Austen and Taylor!

For more information on training with The Hamilton Hammerheads Triathlon Team, e-mail: hamiltonhammerheadsac@gmail.com