History

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The Antilopes Triathlon club was formed in 1996 by three couples that participated in triathlon and were looking for a more structured training regimen.  The 6 original members were Marc Cormier, Isabelle Rousseau, Jocelyn Gascon-Giroux, Manon Jutras, Eric Reiher, and Vivian Boily.  A formal Charter was drafted, and the new Administrative Council set up the team as a ‘non-profit organization’.  Marc Cormier became the Head Coach of the team, a position he held until 2000.  Isabelle Rousseau became the team’s President, a position she held for 7 years until 2003.  Under their guidance, the team grew rapidly to more than 30 regular members.

In 1998, Jocelyn Gascon-Giroux left the Antilopes to join the National Team at the National Triathlon Training Centre in Victoria, BC.  For 6 years, he was member of our National Team, ultimately participating at the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester, England.  At about the same time, Manon Jutras gave up her triathlon career to focus her energy full-time on her main strength, cycling.  She was team mate to Geneviève Jeanson for 2 years on the RONA Team, before joining the #1-ranked cycling team, Team Saturn.  As member of the National Cycling Team, she participated in numerous World Cycling Championships, culminating with her participation at the 2004 Summer Olympic Games in Athens, Greece.  Back in Montreal in 2005, both Manon & Jocelyn returned to their roots with the Antilopes as swim members.

All the while, the team continued to grow and position itself in Quebec as the team to watch, in terms of member participation, performances, and team sponsorship.  In 1998 and 1999, the Antilopes won their first and second ‘Championnats des Clubs’ respectively.

At the start of the 2000-2001 season, Eric Douville, who was one of the first members of the team, took over the reins as Head Coach.  As the team was rapidly growing, it hired additional coaches to assist Eric with the increasing number of members.  For 3 years, Marie-Élaine Lalonde, an elite-level athlete, assisted Eric.  Marie-Élaine managed to maintain her elite-level training all the while helping Eric with the team workouts.  Anastasia Polito, another elite-level athlete, joined the team in 2004 as assistant-coach and head coach for the 2007 season.  In 2003, Thomas Koniuszewski became the second person to act as team President until 2007 when Éric Piuze was appointed.  And in 2006.  More coaching changes brough back Éric Douville as head coach and Khalid Bouhkar as assistant coach.

The efforts of all the members of the team have resulted in winning the ‘Championnats des Clubs’ in 2003, 2005, and 2006, as well as ‘Team of the Year’ in 2002 and 2005.

Antilopes-Triathlon

équipe Antilopes, saison 1999-2000

équipe Antilopes, saison 2000-2001

Manon Jutras tente l'échappée aux jeux olympiques d'Athène en 2004 (grhamwatson.com)