Officials Feature - Shelly Wiens
Shelly Wiens, Calgary
Current Director, Triathlon Alberta (TriAB)
Current Chair, Technical Committee
Current Technical Delegate/Official, Triathlon Alberta
Current NTO (ITU-1) Official, Triathlon Canada
I have been an active volunteer at Triathlon races since 1990, following my family to various races in Alberta and BC. I have also been a Race Director. I started officiating in the mid 1990's. After I retired from the federal service in 2014, I was hired for a new role with ATA, which involved 'herding the cats' - finding and organizing our Officials while joining the Technical Committee and continued officiating at races in Alberta as well as a few in BC.
In my role as Chair of the Technical Committee for TriAB I am involved in:
*Sanctioning (reviewing race submissions for safety and fairness)
*Reviews and decisions for Appeals and Protests of races
*Queries regarding the eligibility / legality of equipment
*Addressing concerns from athletes and Race Directors
*Assisting para-triathletes by liaising with Race Directors on how we can accommodate them safely
*Recruiting, Training, Mentoring and Assigning Officials
*Reviewing Results and Post Race Reports
*Assisting the Executive Director on Return to Sport, and updating online Resources
In 2015 I became a Triathlon Canada NTO (ITU-1) Official. I have been fortunate to have been able to officiate in many areas at WTS Edmonton, Canada Summer Games, Alberta Summer Games, Magog, Challenge, Apple and Ironman races. As part of my professional development in 2020, I used the Alberta Sport Grant for a month of back-to-back races in Florida: the Clermont PATCO Sprint PanAmerican Cup, the Sarasota-Bradenton ITU Paratriathlon World Cup and the Sarasota-Bradenton ITU Triathlon World Cup. But Covid hit; and the Sarasota races were canceled. It is my plan to apply for some self-funded International races when we start up again: they will extend my experience in different types of races (Para/Cross/Duathlon), different rules (USAT), larger fields and multiple events. It is my hope that this experience will assist me in reaching the next level, the CTO (ITU-2).
Being an Official; whether Provincially, Nationally or Internationally means meeting new friends, learning new things, travel and looking forward to new adventures. I am so fortunate to have been able to do all these things for many years, and really enjoy watching the athletes and talking about officiating!
Something you may not know about me: last year I learned to play a cello my father-in-law hand crafted and this year I’ll be learning to play a Dulcimer he made.