2014 was a Good Year!

 I was recently notified that I received the 2014 Canadian Sprint Athlete of the Year Award by Triathlon Canada, because I won the 25-29 Age Group Sprint Triathlon World Championship in August, 2014.  In addition to that, I had received the 2014 BC Senior Cross-Country Athlete of the Year Award by BC Athletics, because of my performance at the FISU World University Championships in Entebbe, Uganda when I ran for Team Canada in March 2014.

Thank you to both these sport governing bodies for the recognition and awards.

Team Canada at FISU XC World Championships

The Bronze medal that I won as part of the Canadian Womens Team (The real one was stolen!!!) This gem of a medal is brought to you by a fantastic friend and teammate Morgan Cabot

My 'team' at Triathlon World Championships cheering me on to my 1st place finish in the Sprint and my 7th place finish in the Standard distance

TWU Spartan's Alison Jackson - Graduating Reflections

Thank you to TWU Spartan media man - Mark Janzen for conducting this graduation video, you have been a blast to work with throughout the years.

For the rest of you, enjoy the video!

Graduation Reflections

A Spartan for the Final Season

With only one more class needed to finish my degree and only one more year of eligibility to run for the university, I took a French class for fun and planned to run every day.  However, my biggest goal was to inspire other athletes to be leaders on the TWU Spartan track team.

First: A Kudos to my 4 years at Trinity Western University.

In the beginning, it took a bit of convincing to make the switch from where I was at a local university to attend and train at TWU.  When I did decide to make the switch I was all in: the faith community, the high-level of academics, and the elite level of training that TWU offered could not be beat.  I was challenged in many ways and have graduated a better person full of confidence to pursue all of my God-given dreams.

Second: The final XC season.

Just as we planned in training, I came out faster at every race throughout the season than the previous year (about 30+sec faster over 6km).  I placed 3^rd, 4^th, 2^nd and 7^th respectively, in the CIS season, finishing 7^th at nationals.  Our women’s team took home the CanWest Championship banner and trophy for the second year running (pardon the pun *wink*) and finished 2^nd as a team at our National Championships.  The word of the year for our team was ‘history’, and even though we wanted to make that by winning our National Championships, that National Championship race made history in and of itself!  Race day included 100kph winds with gusts of up to 140kph!  We will all be talking about our week out in St.John’s, Newfoundland for years to come.  Also, TWU’s XC team made history by giving back to the local community and inspire young runners in schools to participate in athletics.  We hosted a School Spirit Contest across the entire school district in St.John’s and surrounding communities awarding two winning schools with a running clinic from the TWU XC team.  The run clinics were a great success which brought as much joy to the elementary students as it did our team. Finally, and especially meaningful to me, was that the love of my life flew all the way across the country to watch the race and tour the countryside with me afterward.  The history books will say, that I have the best family who ever supported an athlete.

A few girls from one of the School Spirit Run Clinics

Royal Blue: color matched for TWU

That's me, second row, tucked in like a cyclist to defend myself against the brutal wind!

Hanging onto our well-earned Championship banner

Alex and I exploring the east coast

One of many Newfoundland fishing town

We were awarded honorary Newfoundland status after getting 'Screeched-in'

Living out of the back of a rental van :)

Fogo Island - a must visit on the east coast

Fogo Island's beautiful coast

In order to wrap up my time at TWU, here is a list of a few of my accomplishments during my university career:

-          Best finish at CIS XC Nationals : 5^th (2013), 7^th (2014)

-          Best finish at Canadian XC Nationals: 14^th (2013), 19^th (2014)

-          Named to Canadian World University XC Team 2014 to finish 17^th individually, 3^rd as a team

-          Best indoor 3000m: 9:36 and CanWest Champion (2013, 2014), 4^th at Nationals (2013), 6^th (2014)

-          Best indoor 1500m: 4:31 and 6^th at Nationals (2013), 11^th (2014)

-          Canada West Student Athlete of the Year 2013

-          Hosting the School Spirit Contest during our trip to Newfoundland for the 2014 XC Nationals

-          A graduating GPA equivalent to an A-

As for the goals that I set out to accomplish this season, I did not make the Canadian team for XC Worlds - God knows that it doesn't fit with my new line of work anyway (more to come) - however, I do believe I succeeded in leading myself out of a job as Team Captain on the TWU track team because I am not missed yet from a void of my input, lol, but I am happy to say that the team is full of beautiful candidates for future leadership.

Cheers to the next season of athletics and of life!!

The STANDARD Episode

     Again, I chose not to wear a wetsuit but I wish for this one I had one!  1500m in the pond, two hours earlier than the Sprint race, and on a rainy miserable day – the wetsuit would have made warmth and flotation benefits.

     The entire race felt strained and my body felt tight rather than relaxed (possibly tired from Friday’s Sprint race, possibly not dressed properly for the weather).  Still, on the bike I was able to catch and pass people especially on all the corners (triathletes cannot corner well…good thing I’m also a cyclist!).  When I got to the run I was still feeling tightness and couldn't seem to settle into a 36min 10km pace which I accomplished last year.

     It was really fun to get to see teammates out on the course racing and on the sidelines cheering!  I already had my win and taking 7^th place in the Standard distance isn't so bad either.  Two years ago in Auckland I came 11^th so I am happy that this is still an improvement.

*~Best Story of the Day~*

     After taking my bike out of transition, I had my Garmin in the pocket of my backpack.  I visited with teammates, tried the specialty ‘Draft Legal’ beer at the gardens and watched some more racing before I headed home.  At this point I noticed that I had lost my Garmin.  So I went looking.  When I arrived at the Lost and Found desk, with my Garmin serial number (which I just so happened to have in an email), I expected that whoever found the Garmin would decide to keep it – lucky find.  However, the clerk handed me my Garmin with a note on it!  The note said “Ride Fast” “Good luck – from Russia”.  Isn’t that so cool!  A Russian athlete turned in my Garmin!  So cool :)

Here are some pictures of the day, including the podium presentation at the closing ceremonies!

Swm - Bike - Run

Getting friendly with other Canadian athletes :)

Standing on top of the podium with the Canadian flag = A proud athlete

     That’s all for the triathlon season!  Next up, my final semester at Trinity Western University running my last cross country season and studying French! 

Yes, I am taking a French class, but no, I will not dress like this all the time ;)