Caledon’s Andrew Yorke at the New Zealand World Cup Triathlon : Caledon Citizen : https://caledoncitizen.com

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Caledon’s Andrew Yorke at the New Zealand World Cup Triathlon

Who ever would have thought that a young soccer-playing kid from Caledon East would one day be putting Caledon on the international map for triathlon?
Twenty-four year old Andrew Yorke has been waving the Caledon flag all over the world for the last few years, but this particular year has been extra busy. Yorke took the spring semester off from McMaster University to try to make the 2014 Commonwealth Games Team for Canada (the games are in Scotland next year).
He started the year with a three-week camp in Florida, where he was swimming 75 kilometres per week, and running and biking as well. Yorke came back to Canada for three weeks of cold-weather training before he headed off with his C3 coach Barrie Shepley to Tucson, Arizona. After three weeks in Arizona, Yorke went back to Florida for a sixth place (in Clermont) and a fourth place (in Sarasota).
“Andrew had some great early season races and showed indications of how fit he is,” Shepley commented.
Yorke returned to Tucson for a three-week, huge training camp, where he was averaging 450 kilometres of biking, 110 kilometres of running, 40 kilometres of swimming and three hours of strength training a week.
“Those were some of the toughest training days of my life,” Yorke recalled.
Yorke then headed to Auckland, New Zealand, to race on the toughest course in the world against the London Olympic athletes, and he had a world-class 16th-place finish.
“To come 16th against 30-year-old top men on such a tough course was a great confidence booster for Andrew,” Shepley observed.
Yorke then raced in San Diego, California, on the course on which the very first ever triathlon occurred 39 year years ago.
“Mission Bay San Diego is the home of the first ever triathlon in 1974, so it was pretty cool to race on that historic site,” Yorke said.
Yorke has been back in Tucson, getting ready for a major race in Mexico, before he returns to Caledon for the May 26 C3 Kinetico Kids of Steel Triathlon.
“I got my start in Caledon at the KOS race and I will never forget how excited I was to race against the other youngsters and to look up to people like Sean Bechtel and Hans Porten, who were some of the top athletes winning the early races,” he said.
Yorke and his C3 High Performance Team will be volunteering all day and are encouraging families to come out and meet him and his team-mates at the Caledon village race.
“The race is at Caledon (Central) Public School on Kennedy Road, and we will be giving away free prizes just for showing up and meeting us,” Yorke said.
Following the Kids of Steel Race, Yorke will be headed to Madrid, Spain, as well as Edmonton, Austria, Germany, Sweden and London before going back to McMaster for his final semester of schooling.
“I owe all my success to C3, my parents, my coaches and the great sponsors who have believed in myself and my teammates,” Yorke commented.
For more information about Yorke, and how to register for the May 26 event, go to www.c3online.ca

Post date: 2013-05-15 17:24:36
Post date GMT: 2013-05-15 21:24:36
Post modified date: 2013-05-15 17:24:36
Post modified date GMT: 2013-05-15 21:24:36