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Tri-Umphs (Triathlons & Duathlons)
Midatlantic Multisport (January/February 2008)
By John ElliottJanuary/February 2008
For the Washington Running Report
I am delighted to pick up reporting on MidAtlantic Multisport activities where my friend Jim Starr left off a while back.
We have had a magnificent fall racing season filled with fantastic events. Just like road races, we cannot report on all of them, so we have done a selective sample to represent the best of the sport and showcase local athletes. I do a lot of these races and will describe some of them with "my race" commentary.
This fall sampler includes the Long Course Duathlon World Championships, the Triumph Run-Kayak Biathlon, and the Fox Duathlon, which was the USA Triathlon MidAtlantic Regional Duathlon Championship. Other great events included the Nation's Capital, Annapolis, Make-a-Wish, Dewey Beach, Cape Henlopen, Big Acorn, Osprey, and ChesapeakeMan Triathlons. MidAtlantic really does have it all.
Long Course Duathlon World Championships
When I did the 180 (turn) out of Riverside Park I was headed downhill out of the protective foliage and my speed really picked up. Momentarily I thought I had made a wrong turn and wound up on the Lake Placid Ski Jump. Tires were humming on the concrete pavement like killer bees and the bike was kicking 80KPH (Ks do sound faster don't they) when I bottomed out on the Nickel Bridge. The speed washed off climbing to the aid station and making that thankful turn into the lakes region. Those of you who raced the cross-country races at Maymount will know the area.
Bridges and turns were a big deal at Du Worlds in Richmond. We crossed the four James River bridges sixteen times to complete the 15K run, 77K bike, and 7.5K run. The technically challenging bike course featured some 19 turns with some devilish descents and tricky turns on each of the four loops. It is an absolutely spectacular course for a World Championship. And, Team USA had its best day ever at the first time this race was held in the U.S.
Team USA produced 51 medals with 26 by the men and 25 by the women. Athletes from Virginia, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Maryland wore 26 of the 51 medals home. In fact, our MidAtlantic region had the largest contingent of the 267 U.S. team members of the 450 competitors from 25 countries.
Some of the many successful MIDATLANTIC duathletes include:
Jeff Timm of Pennsylvania, also known as "Mr. Duathlon" because he frequently does a duathlon double on weekends, took home a bronze medal in the 55-59 age group.
Anne and Donn Viviani of Alexandria competed, the only husband and wife team at World's, with Anne bringing home an age group bronze medal.
Michele McGleish, Director of Parks, Recreation and Culture for the City of Gaithersburg, MD for the past eight years, raced typically tough and placed well in the highly competitive women's masters age group. She has been a member of the U.S. Duathlon Team since 2001, racing in Italy, Austria, Australia, Switzerland, Denmark, and the United States. Michele has expanded her scope of racing to include marathons, ultra marathons, adventure races, and she completed the Ironman Lake Placid this year.
David Thompson (MN) was the top American. Mechanical issues assaulted him on the bike course and he finished in 16th place. His comments summed up the views of many others on the race, "That's how it goes racing. The course is good. It was fun." Kathryn Kasischke (CA) and Gabriel Hnilkova-Jenks (NM) had top-ten finishes behind the winning Catriona Morrison of Great Britain. Belgium's Joerie Vanstellant won the race in 3:06:43 with almost six minutes up on Javier Garcia of Spain. Many of us were thinking about how Benny Vanstellant would have run the race had he not tragically died on September 14 from injuries sustained when he was hit by a car on a training ride near his home in Tourhout, Belgium. He was the current world champion and the world's most celebrated duathlete. The brothers raced together often and Joerie said, "The second half of the race, he was certainly on my mind." Just like his brother, he never gave the course or the competition a break.
Other racing news . . .
Many of the athletes had used the Fox Run Duathlon to sharpen up for Du Worlds and really benefited from the "zipper section" of the course which challenged them to keep tempo high through the turns on a windy out and back course won by Kerri Robbins of Davidsonville, MD. Kerri also won the Women's overall Gold at the Short Course Duathlon World Championships at Gyor, Hungary this past April.
ChesapeakeMan was definitely the most exciting MidAtlantic triathlon this past fall and is as close to the Kona World Championships as you can get without an airplane ride.
Yes, you can swim: 2.4 miles in the now famous (from the record- rich EagleMan Triathlon) Choptank River, but this time it is a point to point, from the host hotel, The Hyatt Regency Chesapeake Bay Resort, and it is Infinity Beachhead to end at Great Marsh Park, site of the Eagleman 70.3 race in June.
Then it is 112 miles of some of the most beautiful riding there is, through and around the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge, chock full of eagles, egrets, deer, you name it. Oh and rarely to be seen--a car!
Then it is up and down Egypt Road, for 26.2 miles of flat asphalt, with not a light in sight, much like that famous run in Kona, all to end a glorious day and night at Vikings Stadium on the campus of the local high school under the lights and on the track.
This year there were entries from 21 states and five foreign countries, so be part of something very special in the fall. Next year's date is September 27, 2008; check it all out at www.Tricolumbia.org.
Triumph Run-Kayak Biathlon
My most exciting race was the Triumph Run-Kayak Biathlon to support the Wounded Warrior Project. I wanted an event that would help deal positively with the Project's challenge that "the greatest casualty is being forgotten."
In the Triumph Biathlon, you are out competing with the wounded warriors, the "adaptive athletes," or teaming up on a relay. The Biathlon consists of a four mile run or hand cycle on the Capital Crescent Trail and a mile on the Potomac in the kayak. Male or female adaptive athletes could use the hand cycle for the run segment or run on their new legs. Many chose to kayak the half mile out and back as lead out for a relay team. The rest of us did the kayak and then charged right off the dock into the run.
The Triumph Biathlon is conducted by Team River Runner and hosted by the Washington Canoe Club on the Georgetown waterfront. Team River Runner, working in partnership with the Wounded Warrior Project and Disabled Sports USA, helps veterans recuperating at Walter Reed and the Washington, DC Veterans Administration Hospital find healing and new challenges through white-water boating.
A few years ago Team River Runner seized on the notion of using the kayak as a means of helping heal wounded soldiers at the Walter Reed Army Hospital. They lugged kayaks into the swimming pool and wounded warriors quickly adapted. Open water came next. Then came whitewater. More challenge equaled more fun with more adaptation.
I was up front with the Missing Parts in Action (MPIA) athletes at the Army Ten Miler start, so it was great to be back with them in a race. This was my first kayak race and I quickly learned that my boat was a special "rodeo kayak" used for quick turns and even faster circles. I could will it to respond to about three paddle strokes before it started turning faster than a ballerina. Slamming into the boat ahead at the dock, I finished dead last. I never had so much fun being last. Now the run was a different matter. I know how to do that.
Sure wish we could do this more often. I really appreciate their help. I will not forget them.