Contestants & Finalists
Scroll down to see all 11 contestants and the 3 finalists.
Andrina Kelly
FINALIST
Target Race: HSBC Toronto Island Try-a-tri on August 15, 2010
Target Time: 45:00
TARGET RACE REPORT
Andrina improves over 7% and takes 3rd place in her category
Andrina improved over 7% at the Multisport Canada’s Toronto Island Try-a-Tri this weekend!
She was hoping to double the minimum 7% improvement target for the IMPROVE 7% & WIN contest, but some rough weather presented itself race day. Despite the forces of nature, she still finished with an impressive final time of 49:06, an improvement of over 4 minutes of her time last year. Here’s her story:
“The water was quite rough for the swim, I saw quite a few other folks struggling with the waves. While I wound up with a few mouthfuls of Lake Ontario, I made it out a bit faster than in last year’s calm water – this doesn’t show in the results as the timing mat last year was on the water exit, whereas this year you didn’t hit the mat until after running up the beach, boardwalk and across the grass to the transition area. The bike was fantastic, this is where I made up the most of my time, doing a lot of passing, and I don’t recall being passed at all on this course. It’s a very picturesque flat route that’s well blocked from any cross winds, which of course makes for a fantastically fast route! Of course the run is always the dreaded part for me, having only just started running just over a year ago in preparation for this race last year, but again, managed to knock a chunk of time off the run, and felt really good finishing.
To add to it all, I ended up placing 3rd in my age group as well – completely unexpected.”
JULY UPDATE
“I’ve done a few races since entering the 7SYSTEMS contest, my first one being the Welland Triathlon. This was my 2nd ever triathlon after the Multisport Canada Try-a-tri on Toronto Island last year, and with a 750m swim, 30k bike and 7.5k run it was also the longest race I’ve taken part in. I was pretty pleased with completing the event, and even managed to improve my pace times over the Toronto Island tri last year. Since then my husband and I took part as a team in the Toronto Urban Race (essentially a big scavenger hunt all over town), and this past weekend we both finished events at the National Capital Triathlon & Duathlon in Ottawa. I competed in the Sprint Trithlon, while he did his first ever Duathlon – the Sprint Duathlon.
Since I started getting into MultiSport my husband has been inspired to see what he’d be able to accomplish; now just a day later he’s already talking about when his next race will be!
I’ve been taking 7SYSTEMS endurance sports supplement for a month now and comparing my pace times in this past triathlon in Ottawa to the Welland race a month ago I’ve taken another 5 second/100m off my swim pace, and a full 30 seconds off my run pace! With my target race coming up in 2 weeks now I’m getting quite excited to see how much I’ve improved in the same course over last year.”
ABOUT ANDRINA
“It will be just over a year an a half since I changed my life. I’ve gone from being a sedentary obese woman with a body fat of 54% down to a athletic physique of 23% body fat. When I did the Toronto try-a-tri last year I was still working towards my goal. Now I’m at my goal and have encouraged others to get out there with me to do their first tri!”
Read more about Andrina at:
Luke Ehgoetz
FINALIST
Target Race: Muskoka 70.3 on September 12, 2010
Taget Time: 4:40
I’ve done this race in both 2008 and 2009 and I hope to use the 2010 race to qualify for the 70.3 World Championship down in Clearwater Florida in November.
Read more about Luke, who he is and more details about training and racing since starting to take 7SYSTEMS: http://mytriathlonandtrainingadventures.blogspot.com/
JULY UPDATE
I’ve done 2 triathlons since starting on 7SYSTEMS. The first one was the Multisport Canada Belwood Sprint Triathlon (1K swim, 30K bike and 7K run) on July 18th. I had a good race and finished 2nd in my age group and 15th overall out of 400 athletes. Next up was the Muskoka Long Course Triathlon (2K swim, 55K bike and 13K run) on July 25th. This race is generally more competitive, so I actually wasn’t expecting to get on the podium in my age group. To my surprise, I once again had a solid race and managed to finish 4th in my age group and 27th overall in the race out of 350 athletes.
My training generally consists of the following on a weekly basis:
- 3 swims per week in the pool (around 2500m per session) and if possible, one open water swim;
- 2 mid week runs. One interval session and one tempo run;
- 2 gym strength training sessions;
- 3 bike rides to work. This is my primary bike training that I do. It is about 28.5K each way, so 57K round trip and 170K per week.
- If I am not racing, I will look to do a long brick type of workout each weekend. A typical workout would be about a 70K ride and 16K run;
- In addition, a lot of stretching and leg rolling is key to maintaining flexibility and working out any muscle tightness.
It is still early, but so far 7SYSTEMS endurance sports supplement has been working well. I am hoping that it will keep me healthy and injury free, as I continue to train for my goal race.
Ajay Kohli
FINALIST
Target Race: Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation CIBC Run for the Cure 5 km
Target Time: 27:00
For the past 38 years I have lived my life with not a care in the world. During those years I engaged in an extremely unhealthy lifestyle that affected my daily life. I would usually smoke a pack of cigarettes a day, drink frequently and use food as a means of escape from every day stress. I started to notice deterioration in my health and a lack of energy. The total impact left me with no motivation to interact with my children at the end of the day. I looked old, felt old, and was almost 50 pounds overweight plus nothing felt right. I was heading down the road to Diabetes, heart condition and possible high blood pressure. As of last July 2009 I decided to make some changes. I quit smoking cold turkey. I also stopped drinking. I started to watch what I ate and have now lost almost 50 pounds. Most importantly I took up the sport of running. This has given me a whole new outlook on life and a determination to succeed. I have just completed my first Triathlon I and hope to compete in an Iron Man one day. For my Target Race, I actually believe I can shatter my 5km race time of 29.03 not by 7%, but by 14%! Failure is not an option.
JULY UPDATE
Throughout the month of July, I believe my training has gone rather well. With the use of 7SYSTEMS endurance sports supplement I have found that I have the extra energy and endurance I need to complete my training. I have also been able to increase the number of training sessions I can do every week to help accomplish my goal of a 5km run in 27 minutes.
Deanna Solomon
I was actually training for this race last year but had to postpone due to a horrific bike crash resulting in five fractured ribs and a severe concussion. It was devastating to pull out of the race but I learned a lot about proper recovery and nutrition.
Gerrad Lewin
I’m a commerce student who will be coaching this summer at 2 triathlon camps, one of which will be with Cliff English. With more 100km+ rides this season, that’s more than what I had done in the last 2 season’s combined. So I’m confident my biking has really improved.
Chris Wielki
I plan to meet my race goal through improved focus on nutrition/recovery and staying injury free. Consistent training and improved focus should get me there. This was my favorite run of the season last year and there could be no better race to set as my 7% improvement. And just incase I lose any motivation I can always read Simon Whitfield’s blog and get pumped up… well as pumped up as a skinny runner can.
* the extra second is incase there’s a wind
Kirsten Lowery
I started out with running to get fit but since I already enjoyed biking and swimming better it seemed a natural transition for me to triathlons. 2010 will be my 5th year of racing, having taken one year off due to injury. This winter I suffered a complete ACL tear and am still waiting for surgery, but after a 3 month rehab, I am back training hard and feel fitter than ever. I am hoping for my first podium finish this season, having been within a couple of minutes of the podium in a couple of races last season. I’m from Orillia originally, and grew up in a house on the run course, in which my parents still live, so this is very much my hometown race. I have competed 3 times in Orillia, in 2007, 2008 and 2009, with times of 2:07:24, 2:08:41, and 2:02:02 respectively. It has been my goal to get on the podium in a race, so what better place to do it than in my hometown!
Leslie Black
I have run 20 marathons and have been blessed to have finished all races that I began. I know that I have the experience that is required to test my body further. The Victoria marathon will be my 21st marathon and at 50 I want to test what I can master as a seasoned Master. 7 SYSTEMS may just be the nutrition edge I need to conquer my 2010 goal.
Keith Mills
I believe I can DO MORE, because I have already DONE MORE. In 2009 after making a return to running after a 5 year hiatus, I was able to peel minutes off of me personal bests from 5k-21.1k. I saw my TC 10k times improve from 39:47 to 33:43. My 5k times improved from barely sub 18-16:03. Now I’d like to improve my weakest link – The Half Marathon.
Andre Christensen
I got into running the summer of 2008 as a way of getting my shapely figure back in shape with a life full of global travel and long hours as a management consultant and two small kids (plus another one on the way). Went from not being able to run 5k straight to now having completed 5 marathons. My times have been dropping (shaved 40minutes off my marathon time in Ottawa this spring) and I even had the courage to pick up ice hockey again after 20 years of hibernation. Now I am looking for that extra edge to take my running to the next level. If I can avoid gettig sick and recover quicker with 7SYSTEMS (plus a little bit coaching, I don’t train very smart..) then I am confident I can improve my time by OVER 7%!