Earlier today we pointed out some of the fastest runners in the sport, but we didn’t mention Canada’s Tamara Jewett, a former national team runner who ran a blazing 1:13:08 on her way to a runner up finish at Ironman 70.3 Augusta last year. Jewett has seen an incredible improvement in her world ranking over the last few years – in 2020 she was ranked 123 in the Professional Triathletes Organisation (PTO) World Rankings, by the end of 2021 she had moved all the way up to 17 thanks to a win at Ironman 70.3 Timberman and that runner-up finish in Augusta along with another runner-up finish in Indian Wells. (She was 13th at the Ironman 70.3 World Championship.)
After a successful training camp in St. George, Utah with her teammates from the Real Tri Squad in January, Jewett is in Tucson, Arizona for the month of February. Unfortunately some of that time is going to be spent recovering after she was hit by a car earlier this week.
“Arg. It’s really damn scary waking up in an ambulance thinking at first that you are in Florida (when you are in Arizona) and having to really struggle for a bit to piece together where you are and what on earth is going on,” she wrote on Instagram earlier today. “And realizing once you do that you were hit by a car. I don’t have a lot to say right now other than that I am doing OK and so deeply grateful for that and for the huge depth of injury-rehab experience that is going to serve me well as I work to bounce back.”
Jewett has a concussion and a cut on the side of her head, but appears to be bouncing back from the crash. Her helmet and bike were damaged in the crash, but local triathletes in Arizona are helping her to find a bike and a trainer, and a local Trek store and a couple of Trek stores in Canada are helping her source a new bike to replace the Speed Concept she bought from fellow Canadian Tara Norton, the 2018 Ultraman world champion.
We wish Jewett a speedy recovery as she gears up for another season of racing.
