Photo above: Jocelyn Saunders, third place finisher at the Make-a-Wish Triathlon in Bethany Beach (Photo courtesy of Linda Toretsky, Lin-Mark Computer Sports)

Summer Triathlons at the Shore

The local triathlon season is ending with a couple of major triathlons in the area. A few duathlons finish the season and multisporters will rest and begin to prepare again for next season. One of the triumphs of this season is the ...

Dewey Beach Triathlon
Ava Cannon has every right to be a proud mommy--and not just because of her beautiful girls. The Dewey Beach Triathlon has grown up!! The triathlon, Cannon's brainchild, struggled to get a couple of hundred contestants in its early years. Now, in its seventh year, it boasted more than 1000 entrants. Web sites advise potential racers to register early. Cannon nee Seany, a successful multisport RD in the Virginia suburbs of DC, moved to Dewey Beach to marry her sweetheart Gary Cannon, whose Surf Spray Cafe has been a consistent major sponsor of the event.

This year's event on Saturday, September 14 helped define some of its charm. Dewey Beach, DE provided a very do-able international distance venue with a one-half-mile swim, 16-mile bike and 3.5-mile run in weather that lived up to the Dewey Beach-in-September promise. The low-70's water temperature combined with a sea that had calmed from the wind-swept surf of the previous day to make the distance the major challenge for most swimmers. Calmer winds helped the bike as well.

Bill Kvetkas proved consistency is golden as he chested the tape in 1:15:31 to win the men's race and finish as the top masters triathlete as well. Annapolis's Kvetkas (40), an Inside Triathlon (IT) age-group All-American last year, parlayed two fourth-place splits among the males (in the swim and bike) and a sixth-best run to hold off a trio of twenty-somethings. Kvetkas emerged from the bathwater-warm ocean behind the third through fifth place male finishers. He hammered from the swim-to-bike transition area just ahead of third-place finisher Colin Robinson (26) of Philadelphia, owner of the second-fastest swim of the day. Kvetkas caught fourth-place finisher Steven Dowler (27) of Boyds, MD to start the run nearly dead-even (timewise) with him. The Annapolis winner then proceeded to reel in top swimmer (12:25 for the half-mile) Mark Frantz (33) of Arlington while holding off the hard-charging John Chambers (25) of DC, owner of the fastest run split (20:09) of the day. Chambers, despite his speed on the run and bike (2nd-fastest split of the day averaging over 24.8 miles per hour), could only eat away 49 seconds of Kvetkas's 1:09 lead as he closed in during the 3.5- mile run. Chambers finished in 1:15:52 with Robinson a century of seconds back (1:17:32). Robinson edged Dowler by three seconds and Frantz by 15.

Besides Kvetkas, masters division triathletes finished in ninth- through twelfth-place overall. Timonium's Frank Russo (41) conceded 3:03 to Frederick's Wynn Fertig during the swim and chased him the remainder of the race. Russo's third-fastest bike split and fifth-fastest run of the day ate all but 13 seconds from Fertig's lead. They finished in 1:19:25 and 1:19:38, respectively. The pair was followed home by Craig Propert (41) of Linthicum, MD in 1:20:24 and Bel Air's Richard Brokaw (42) at 1:20:42. Brokaw owned the fourth-best run time of the day.

The male grand-master's (ages 60+) title went to Murray Sarubin of Baltimore who throttled the field in 1:38:12, good for 189th overall. Len Leshem of Lewes, DE was second 1:46:58. McLean's Wayne Black (65) and Columbia's Ken Schadel (68) were third and fourth in 2:20:38 and 2:20:47 respectively.

Hollie Kenney (29) of Baltimore emerged from the sea eight seconds behind second-place finisher Christy Underdonk (33) of Kensington, left the transition area first and never looked back. Eighth place in the triathlon! Underdonk posted the fourth- fastest times on both the swim and the bike among the women. Still, she was no match for Kenney who, although she couldn't break into the top five female swimmers, put up the best numbers on both bike (23.1+ miles per hour) and the run (21:34). Her times in those events carried her to a relatively easy win with a 1:18:57 clocking. Underdonk followed in 19th place in 1:22:33. Nancy Watson (35) of Newark, DE was third (25th overall) in 1:24:05, despite not cracking the top five in any of the three (swim, bike, run) disciplines. Ellicott City's Suzy McCulloch (22) translated her fourth-fastest run split to a fourth-place (1:24:30) as she made up 53 of the 78 seconds that she had fallen behind Watson. Veteran Julie Caprio (41) of Columbia was the top female master and used the race's fifth-fastest bike clocking to earn fifth place (33rd overall) honors in 1:26 flat.

Baltimore's Stacy Karwacki (40) was the second master 2:48 behind Caprio, followed seven seconds later by Wilmington's Sharon Caffrey (41). Allison Suckling (46) of Arnold, MD was the fourth master in 1:32:41. Cindy Eckert (43) of Fairfax rounded out the masters top five in 1:33:14.

IT All-American for 2001Marge Burley (57) of Baltimore owned the grand-masters (50+) field with an eye-catching 1:33:40 time in 129th place overall. Baltimore swept three of the top five grand- masters places. Bethesda's Nancy Avitabile (54) took second place in 1:39:29. Patti Harden (50) of Columbia finished 47 seconds later in 1:42:16 to best Baltimore's Susan Levickas (55) by 1:03. Louise Ramm (57), also of Baltimore, was next in 1:46:34.

19th Annual Make-a-Wish Triathlon
Fast forward exactly one week. Move a few miles south to the Sea Colony at Bethany Beach. Another decent day, another tri. This one raises money for the Make-a-Wish Foundation and features a 1.5K (0.93 mile) swim, a 36K (22.37 mile) bike, and a 10K (6.21 mile) run. There were almost 500 finishers here.

Amazing! Incredible! Astounding! Mind-boggling! Astonishing! Mind-blowing! Oh, alright--AWESOME! Relative newcomer Margaret Shapiro (26) of Annandale blew away a very good field in Bethany Beach. She finished third overall to win the women's race by over eight minutes with a time of 2:00:45. Her 40:12 10K time was only bested by overall winner Otho Keller (25) of Timonium. Shapiro's lowest rank overall was 14th (on the swim, the shortest leg of the triathlon) and that was the only time in this race that she was beaten by a woman--2nd place winner Christy Underdonk (33) of Kensington who was 16th overall. Shapiro was ninth overall on the bike, averaging nearly 24 miles per hour. Underdonk's 21:31 swim and second-fastest bike among the women brought her home in 2:08:51. Newark, DE's Jocelyn Saunders (36) parlayed the fourth-fastest bike and third- speediest swim to third place (23rd overall) and a 2:12:32 time. Saunders was followed home in 2:17:05 by top female master Stacy Karwacki on the strength of her fifth-fastest bike leg. Allison Woodward (36) of Towson crossed the line 17 seconds later for fifth place. The two were 41st and 42nd overall.

The women are comin' on! The second-place master was actually grand-master Judy Sears (51) of Prescott, AZ who was 63rd overall in 2:22:15. She edged Allison Suckling (in 65th place) by a scant six seconds. Takoma Park's Jane Godfrey (53) was the second grand-master in 2:38:43 (193rd overall).

Keller put as big a hurtin' on the men's race as Shapiro had the women's with his blistering 1:50:08. He won by nearly nine minutes (8:58) over Canadian (Ottawa) master Tom McGee (45), the third-fastest swimmer and fourth runner with a finish time of 1:59:06. Alexandria's Florian Zeender (36) earned the fourth- quickest bike and the fifth-best run, finishing in third in 2:02:49. Mark Facciani (34) of Pasadena averaged a top 26+ miles per hour on the flat course carrying him to fourth place in 2:04:05. Newark master Paul Schlossel, Jr. (47) used his fifth- fastest swim to take fifth place in 2:04:03 and join McGee as top masters. Craig Propert was the third master in 2:06:24 good enough for eighth place in the tri.

The grand-masters race was won by Annandale's Kenton Pattie (62) who was 238th overall in 2:39:53. He was followed by Terry Smith (63) of Reston (270th overall) in 2:43:15 and Oxford's Ray Stevens (60) in 2:47:41.