Eric Hedlin won BC's Open Water Swimmer of the Year Award and coach Ron Jacks won BC's Open Water Coach of the Year Award for the 2017-18 season, as announced yesterday in Whistler at the BCSSA Conference. Eric was present to accept the award but Ron wasn't able to be there this year.
Both Eric and Ron have won this award before, but it's always won against a lot of strong competition. Congratulations Eric, Ron, and the rest of the PCS Family!
Greater Victoria Sports Hall of Fame proudly honours Ron Jacks 25th Annual Induction Dinner Saturday, October 27th at 5:30 pm Westin Bear Mountain Resort and Spa Register now at www.gvshof.ca "Events". Admission $135 with $50 tax receipt.
Eric Hedlin had a breakthrough swim at the Pan-Pacs in Tokyo today placing 2nd behind American Jordan Wilimovsky. The Pan-Pacs and Europeans are the 2 major competitions in current cycle and while Eric had previously finished in the medals in the 5km distance he had not been able to translate that success to the 10km Olympic distance until today!
It was the first international medal in five years for Hedlin, the 2013 world silver medallist in the 5-km.
“I feel really happy,” said Hedlin, who raised his arms in jubilation after crossing the finish line
Jon and Chris were again racing some of the best Open Water Swimmers in the World this past weekend, swimming the 10km World Cup at Lac Megantic in Quebec. Both Jon and Chris are young and inexperienced in the sport when compared to many of the swimmers in these races, and every race is a huge learning opportunity for these guys. At the 5km mark Jon decided to take the lead and push the pace a bit to try and make the field less comfortable, but proceeded to lead the pack for ~4km straight, waisting too much energy in the process and letting the other top guys draft off of him. Jon staid
Eric Hedlin qualified for the Pan Pacific Games in the 10km Open Water race, but yesterday he swam the 1500 in the A-Final as well. Finishing in a time of 15:07.18, Eric finished in 6th place, and puts him in the to 30 in the world this year. Keep your eyes out for Eric's 10km race, taking place at 7AM in Tokyo on August 14, which is 3PM on August 13 in Victoria.
Sunday marked the final day of the lengthy, yet exciting Junior National Champs. 680 swimmers competed over the six day event. The inclusion of the mixed relays and the format of relay Heat/Finals made for a physically, mentally challenging week. PCS stayed tough and averaged 25pts per swimmer.. one of the highest in the competition.
PCS had four individual finalists and one Relay on the final pool day.
The evening began with Naeva Scott- Bouris running away with top spot in the B final in 200 Freestyle with a best at 2:08 slicing over 2 sec off her previous time.
Hana Edward and Jacob Rambo both finished 6th in the B finals just over pbs.
Michael Schmidt improved on his prelim performance to finish 6th in the A final.
Racing continues in the pool tomorrow and at St Malo Lake for Open Water on Monday.
Day 3 Finals of the RBC Canadian Junior Championships in Winnipeg was UVPCS’s most successful session so far with 2 top 3 finishes.
Our first swimmer was Naeva Scott Bouris who won her first ever national medal in the 13-14 Girls 1500FR where she placed 3rd in a best time by over 18 seconds and was only 3 seconds off of 1st.
Sophie Lorette was up next in the 15-17 Girls 1500FR where she placed 6th in a new best time.
Michael Schmidt swam to a 3rd place finish in the 14-15 Boys 100BR where the top 3 finishers were only .16 apart.
Day Three in Winnipeg has had many highlights so far. Once again most athletes improved the pre race rank. Michael Schmidt will race for top spot from second in 100 m Breaststroke with his best prelim time or 1:06. Sophie Lorette also had a prelim best of 2:19 to qualify in 5th and will aim for the podium. Kier Ogilvie had one of his best prelim results but will race for top of the consolation final in 200 Fly. The 4x100 Mixed Medley Relay had a fabulous performance moving from 7th to 2nd in 4:06 and will go after the podium tonight.
