Lauren Groves and Simon Whitfield are the 2009 Canadian National Championship Elite gold winners and also winners of the ITU Pan American Premium Cup held in Kelowna this weekend.

Whitfield was followed by Kyle Jones and Paul Tichelaar with 2008 winner Brent McMahon in fourth position.

In the Female Elite Kathy Tremblay came in second after Groves with young Paula Findlay, winner of the 2008 double medal winner in the Junior Elite and Elite, in third position. Groves was first out of the water in a non-wetsuit swim. Groves and Tremblay stuck close together for most of the race with Groves pulling away from Tremblay with approximately 400 meters to go to the finish line. They proved stronger than Findlay in the run.

While Andrew McCartney had a very strong swim being out of the water nearly 40 seconds before Whitfield, he was caught in the cycle where there was strong teamwork between six of the lead pack. The break only came in the run with Whitfield showing his strength and pulling into a comfortable lead.

The rest of the race was really between Tichelaar, Jones and McMahon with a sprint finish between Tichelaar and Jones resulting in Jones finishing in point one of a second before Tichelaar.

25 Male Elites completed the race with 25 Canadians. The Female Elite saw 19 finishers with 17 Canadians.

The 2009 National Canadian Triathlon championships and ITU Pan American Premium Cup was hosted as part of the Pusher Mitchell Apple Triathlon this weekend, with athletes complimenting the challenging and well organized course and great support by volunteers and spectators from Kelowna.

In the U23 event Andrew McCartney placed first with, Jordan Bryden second and Andrew Yorke third. The female U23 was won by Paula Findlay, followed by Mirrielle Rodrique and Alexandra Coats.

Males

Simon Whitfield 1:53:31

Kyle Jones 1:53:49

Paul Tichelaar 1:53:49

Females

Lauren Groves 2:04:59

Kathy Tremblay 2:05:07

Paula Findlay (U23) 2:06:25

U23 Elite Males

Andrew McCartney 1:54:32

Jordan Bryden 1:58:43

Andrew Yorke 1:59:12

U 23 Elite Females

Paula Findlay 2:06:25

Mirrielle Rodrique 2:13:25

Alexandra Coates 2:15:17