fmct

This month we’d like to introduce you to Tina Shewchuk.

I remember as a child I was interested in triathlons, but didn’t know much about them.  I can’t remember what sparked the interest again, but a few years back I wanted to learn more and volunteered at the Subaru Milton Tri.  I was amazed at how many people from different walks of life came out to this sport and what stood out the most was how supportive the group was to each other.

I always loved to swim and bike:  hated running though but I had been running for over 6 years now.  I knew I could not handle a full tri but I discovered the greatest invention since slice bread:  a try a tri.  That I could do.  I was running out of the Runner’s Mark in Port Credit at the time and the store owners brought in David Jenkins and Lorene Hatelt to do an intro to triathlon clinic. Perfect timing! Great experience and that’s how I was introduced to FMCT.  Dave invited the clinic members to join in for the open water swims at Professor’s Lake.

Did my first “try a tri” that year:  Women’s only at Kelso.  What a great experience – loved it.  Continued training but then life & injuries got in the way.  My mom took ill and passed away the following year which through things for a loop for me.  Then I got a bad case of plantar fasciitis that hindered my running abilities.  That got better then I broke my shoulder skiing early spring which sidelined me once again.  Over came that injury only to completely tear my ACL in the fall last year.
I am still involved in the sport as I was lucky enough to take an official’s course through Triathlon Ontario back in 2014.  Truth be told, I took the course to learn more about the sport and not to become an official but things happened and I have been officiating a few races a year ever since.  Took my Level 2 last year.  The official’s main purpose is to make sure the race is safe & fair to all athletes.  I liked that concept.  We are not powered crazed people wanting to flash our “DQ” cards all the time.

Now at 46, I do hope to get back into racing.  Just started running again last month – so we shall see.  The one good thing about this sport is that is accommodates so many people.  You can do a swim-bike race, you can do a relay, you can do a duathlon and new this year is the Stroke & Stride series – no bike required.  Not many sports allow for that type of flexibility.
Outside of this, I train with Jade year-round through her training sessions at the Train Station.  Her fall/winter session for FMCT members has been great and made me a stronger person.  I’ve progressed from not being able to do one regular push up to doing 20 with 15lb plate on my back.  My winter passion is skiing and that has improved tremendously over the years as a result.  I ski at least once a week in the winter with my ski club with an almost annual trip to Europe in January and year end trip to Banff in the spring.  Being in the mountains in the fresh, crisp air is both breath taking and exhilarating at the same time.  Makes the winter pass by SO quickly and is a good prep for spring training for triathlons again.  And the cycle continues.

This month we’d like to introduce you to Cesar Centeno.

I started swimming when I was around 12 years old and quickly realized that I was not going to be the fastest person on the team. When I turned 14 and was allowed to compete in 400 meters freestyle I found that I was stubborn enough to not quit on the longer distances so I found my niche on the team in these events.   From that time on I have had a lifelong affinity with endurance sports although I always joke that “at my slow speeds everything, even a 5K, becomes an endurance event”.

In 1998 I decided that I would walk a marathon before I turned 30, which I did the following year finishing at 6:59:58 on a 7 hour cut off time.  After moving to Canada from Colombia permanently in 2006 I found myself too busy reorganizing my life in a new country and put swimming and walking in the back burner for a while.

Eventually I decided to start walking again around 2012 and moved on to running in 2014, I did however got injured several times and was not making much progress but I did still get back to walking half marathons and running 5Ks. During one of these injuries I decided that I needed to look for plan B as my doctor told me to hold back on running / walking for at least 3 months and I started riding my bicycle regularly again and got back to swimming, this time in open water.

Mid June last year I decided that if I was going to be doing the 3 sports, might as well do them in one go and sign up for a triathlon which led me to finding FMCT.  Where I have been very lucky to learn a lot from the experiences of other team members and coaches.  I have since done several try a tris and plan on moving up to Sprint and Olympic distances this year.

Outside of multisports, I am very passionate about the environment and especially the water.  I love spending time in the lakes and due to the amount of travel I have to do for work you will constantly hear me complain about not being able to spend as much time as I want in the water.