The Washington region is a showcase for celebs. As a major city and world capital, we get our share of top performing artists, authors, star pro athletes in most team sports and, of course, well-known politicians and statesmen. Still, with all of that, it seems relatively rare to get world-class athletes in individual sports and certainly so in the multi-discipline sport of triathlon. That's one of the reasons that we need to value...

The Blackwater Eagleman Triathlon
Pro men. The Hawaii Ironman Triathlon (HIT) is to this sport what Boston is to marathoning. Triathletes (and others) speeding toward the shore along Rt. 50 in Cambidge, MD are beckoned to stop by the huge sailboat-type sculpture in Sailwinds Park. Still, Cambridge is by no stretch of the imagination Hawaii, but you can get there from here.

For this year's event, the skies, though blessedly overcast, produced none of the rain that has inundated the region throughout this year. It rained so much prior to the event that it was hard to keep the course completely debris-free. Although there is always a headwind on this course, this year's was minimal.

The Eagleman is a half-Ironman distance race that is the only HIT qualifier in the DC region. Thus, it tends to draw large (more than 1300 finishers this year) and top fields--both amateurs and pros. Last year, pro winner Tim DeBoom set a blistering course-record 3:44:07--more than four minutes faster than it had ever been done. He not only qualified for the HIT, he won the Kona event last October for the second time in a row.

This year, coming off wins at the Ralph's and Wildflower Half- Ironman events in California and the international-distance Memphis in May triathlon, DeBoom (30) may have seemed unbeatable- - but he wasn't. It only took a couple of LBs to administer the pounding to DeBoom and the rest of the field (male and female). The LBs? Aussie (relative newbie) Luke Bell and Canadian veteran Lori Bowden.

Bell (24), lately of San Diego, completed a masterful race validating the credentials offered by his third-place finish at Ironman Australia in April. Emerging from the 1.2-mile swim in the uncharacteristically unchoppy Choptank River a mere five seconds ahead of DeBoom, Bell built a ten-minute lead early on the 56-mile bike course. His 2:06:26 bike split (about 26.6 mph) was two seconds slower than DeBoom's last year during that record-setting effort. More importantly, it was five minutes faster than DeBoom's split this year. The Brighton, Victoria, native succeeded in distancing himself, fearing the footspeed of the Ironman world champion. Bell said that he was quite aware that DeBoom was capable of a 1:10 half-marathon. Bell ran a 1:13:03 (5:35 pace) half-marathon with DeBoom doing a 1:14:45. He bested DeBoom, of Lyons, CO, by seven minutes overall in 3:47:14. DeBoom, who followed in 3:54:15, indicated that he had probably peaked earlier in the season and was looking forward to some down time prior to an October rematch on the Big Island.

Austin, TX's Jamie Cleveland (31) earned third place honors with the third-fastest bike split. Cleveland, a Canadian, regained some of his earlier form as he battled back from the effects of both overtraining and a toe infection that have hampered him for two years.

Pro women. Like DeBoom, last year's women's winner, Natascha Badmann, parlayed her Eagleman into a big win at Kona. It was the third straight World Championship for the Swiss Miss. Badmann did not return to Cambridge to defend her Eagleman crown, leaving a wide-open field for pro women. Not to worry; the gap was filled by Canadian (Victoria, BC) Lori Bowden (35), the third-place finisher in Hawaii last year.

Bowden came ashore 4:40 behind swim leader Andrea Fisher (30) of Austin, TX. Fisher, who was suffering from a bulging disk that weakened her performance on both the bike and the run, led all comers into the half-marathon. She was passed early by Lauren Jensen (35) of New Berlin, WI, owner of the fastest bike split (23.1 mph) of the day; but Bowden, as she often does, controlled the race from behind. Bowden biked and ran to ensure a reasonable finish. She passed Fisher in the second mile and caught Jensen some 10 km into the footrace. Fiona Docherty of Taupo, New Zealand, and Tampa, FL's Lara Shaw went one-two in the half-marathon with a 1:19:25 (6.04 pace) and 1:20:34 respectively to pass Fisher as well. Bowden's 4:21:53 for the event was well off Badmann's 4:13:58 record on this course last year. Jensen was second in 4:27:15, a scant nine seconds ahead of the hard-charging Docherty.

Ironman slots. Congratulations! Hawaii Ironman Championship slots went to several locals. Debi Bernardes of King George, VA, captured the 40-44 age group with a 4:51:41 clocking and Shandra Wrinkle overcame a four-minute time penalty to finish first among the 18-24 year-olds (4:54:23). Christy Underdonk (34) continues to impress as the Kensington, MD, resident qualified in 4:34:49. Underdonk finished seconds behind (4:34:30) Diane Haupt (37) of Virginia Beach.

Among the men, Michael Wroblewski (40) of the other (little) Washington (VA) earned top masters honors and a trip to Hawaii with his 4:16:45 performance. Tim Morris (30) of Richmond and Douglas Marocco (39) of Quantico also qualified in 4:16:16 and 4:17:37 respectively.

Other age-group winners. Annapolis's Bill Kvetkas (41), featured in earlier columns, was the third male masters finisher in 4:23:55. Ann Sablik (23) of Blacksburg finished second (in 5:02:47) and Rebecca Moore (21) of Harrisonburg, VA, finished fifth (5:26:55) behind Shandra Wrinkle in the 20-24 age group.

Greenbelt's Jordan McAmmond (27) led a local onslaught in the 25- 29 age group with her first-place clocking of 4:54:47. Baltimore's Megan Gridley (26) earned fourth-place in 4:57:27 and was followed (in sixth place) by Connie Chow Dowler (28) of Boyds, MD (5:08:16). Baltimore's Anthony van Lierop (28) earned sixth place honors in the corresponding male age group with his time of 4:25:40. Local men also took slots 11 to 14 in that age group which had 123 finishers. They were: Steven Dowler (28), Boyds, MD; Brian Diepold (25) of DC; Brady Dehoust (27), Sterling, VA; and Michael Guzek (28) of Arlington.

Monica Robbers (32) also of Arlington garnered fifth-place honors in her age group in 4:58:45. Among the nearly 250 finishers in the male 30-34 age group, John McGarva (32, Glen Allen, VA) took fourth place with a time of 4:17:56 while Westminster, MD's Mark Coleman (30) finished ninth in 4:24:37. A stronger run by Midlothian, VA's Jinx Mancini (37) could not help her catch Olney, MD's Tara Smith (35), who took fifth place honors in 4:52:23.

Women masters top performers included Andrea Wagner (40) of Richmond who was a scant five seconds behind HIT qualifier Bernardes for the masters title and slot. Also in that age group were Lisa Warren (42, Sykesville, MD); Julie Billingsley (44, Chevy Chase, MD) and Roseann Dougherty (44, Glenwood, MD) in fifth through seventh places, respectively. Among the male masters, Midlothian's Brian Bortell (40) finished second in 4:25:33, 25 seconds ahead of former Virginian (now Floridian) Steve Pettit. Bel Air, MD's Richard Brokaw (42) finished eighth in 4:31:26.

A six-pack of 45 year-olds made it into the top ten of the next age group. Thomas Glista of Silver Spring led home Alexandria's Sean Norton and (49 year old) Steven Teslik as the trio took fourth, fifth, and sixth place honors (in 4:43:33, 4:44:44, and 4:45:26, respectively). They were followed in ninth and tenth places by Peter Lively of Virginia Beach and Lusby, MD's Frank Mazur (46). Among women, Kathy Canese of Arlington, Helen Brennan of Severna Park, and Constance Maxwell of Hampton finished in the seventh, eighth, and tenth spots in the age group.

Among the 50-54 year-olds, a pair of Viennans (VA, that is) took top five honors for women. Beatrice van Horne (51) turned in a 5:33:28 to take second while Gail Fisher-Lohman (52) took fifth in 6:02:16. Veteran Tom Shinners was the only local among the top ten males in his new age group as he spun to a 4:52:40, good for fifth place. A pair of 57-year-old Baltimoreans broke six hours to earn second and third place age group honors. Louise Ramm finished in 5:56:35 to edge veteran Marge Burley by 2:44. Age 57 was good for the men too as Jay Tobin of Fallston, MD, missed the automatic HIT slot by three minutes even with the help of a four-minute time penalty to the age group leader. Tobin's 4:58:23 was good enough to beat Midlothian's Thomas Waldrop, who was 3:04 behind in fourth place. Antonio Panizza (64) of Reston finished second in his age group, stopping the clock at 5:19:29.

A trio of locals finished in fifth through seventh places among the Clydesdale group. Rockville's Kevin Owens led home the group in 4:37:16. He was followed by DC's Kyle Yost (32) in 4:41:37 and Alexandria's Matt Madigan in 4:42:15. Washingtonians Andrea Marsh (37) and Olwen Huxley (32) finished in 5:10:47 and 5:13:08 as the second and third place Athenas. Richmond's Brandi Boyanksi took fourth place (5:23:52).