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Seahorse Triathlon – Swim, bike, run and relaxing fun

It was finally time for triathlon season to start and shake off the rust of the winter. I’m taking a lower key approach to racing triathlons this year and my late decision to sign up for the Seahorse triathlon reflects that different mindset. Even with the late sign up, there was still time for the weather forecast to change from 80’s to mid-90’s, I had to be prepared for a hot one. There was great representation from the team at the race with the relay team, RJ and myself plus more non competing others giving us all great support – thanks Micheal and great photos – thanks Stephanie.

A quick warm up swim revealed I was feeling relaxed and ready to go. The water was pleasant without being too warm at 72F so I went with the full wetsuit. I stayed relaxed and focussed despite someone who was trying to draft me constantly grabbing my feet through the whole swim. Other than my drafting partner the water wasn’t too crowded and I was able to get around the two laps efficiently which was my main aim. I clocked a steady 30:57 for the 1500m. I had a hiccup in the first transition when my wetsuit decided to adhere to my right ankle. Doesn’t matter how many times you rehearse, these things happen. I must have lost close to a minute by the time I had untangled myself.

The bike course was smooth and fast with just one longer incline and a short section of rough pavement that had to be negotiated on each of the two laps. Dan riding his relay leg blew past me at about 10K giving encouragement as he went. I settled in and rode a fairly conservative leg averaging 21.2mph for the 40K. My second transition thankfully went exactly to plan and I was in and out in 41 seconds.

The run was interesting, a mix of pavement, grass and wooded trails. I felt like I was running one of the faster Dances With Dirt legs for a while. The run course was another two lap affair made up of multiple intertwining loops. I’m sure I saw RJ eight times out on the course! I started out at 7:30 pace and was able to maintain for the first few miles. The humidity started to build and eventually my legs that had felt strong to that point faded in the last ten minutes. My family came out to cheer me on at the finish which always makes for a great ending to any race.

My finish time of 2:36:50 was in the ballpark of what I was expecting from myself today. It was respectable enough and would even have won my age group last year. Unfortunately there were a lot of faster people out there today and I was only 6th in age group and 37th out of 101 overall but no complaints. All in all I came away satisfied with my performance, shook off the rust for a new season and have a good marker for races to come this year. Now it’s time to really go to work.

See Dan’s post below for photos.

– Neil Jenney

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SeaHorse Tri

Another good showing from the WSI/TA Racing group at the Seahorse tri. Neil and RJ both rode the Olympic distance (RJ placed 3rd). Chuck, Sara and I did the relay again and kept the tradition alive by winning again – all with good times. Our competition cheated again and we still won:).

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Addison Oaks Stage Race

Hard earned, but not widely contested.

I love the mountain bike stage races that are done by Tailwind. You have 3 different disciplines, Time Trial, Short Track and Cross Country. Saturday was the TT and Short Track at Addison Oaks , there was a small field for our group of 50 to 59 year old racers but I was able to eek out a psychological win in the short track by taking 3rd place in my age group.  I used my cross bike and it handled the extreme turns very well.  The turns did not affect me, but I stuffed my pedal into the hill on an off camber turn and, although I was in 3rd place of the entire ‘sport’ group, went to the back of the pack in seconds.  It is only a 15 minute race, so it is a lung burning, leg cramp-fest, a fall is fatal.   So, like I said, a 3rd place finish for our age group was a nice win.

In the morning we had the Time Trial and I ended up 4th of 4 in our age group there.  Even though the number of racers in my age group was low, these stage races are double points races and set the tone for the leaders for the rest of  the season.  As such…finishing 4th is strategically valuable…even if there were only 5 or six of us out there this weekend.

Final tally, 4th place TT, 3rd Place Short Track, 5th place in today’s extremely hot 3 lap cross country race…overall I should walk away with a 4th place double points win for WSI-Team Active.

 

Jack Miner.

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Goff Family & the Stampede

Again my race day started with Jacob and the little kid’s race. As usual he had a great time; he was slightly disappointed in the course because there were hardly any jumps compared to Yankee. Either way he got to stand on the podium and received a dog tag for his accomplishment.

Then my race started a little while later, with almost no passing. Then it opened up a bit here and there and I was able to pick a few of the guys here and there throughout the rest of the race. I ended up with a time of 1Hr 26min and that was surprising enough to get me to 4th place in my wave. I was very pleased with my overall race and look forward to next year’s race.

My son Dilan took 3rd place in the 10 and under race, just missing 2nd place by 6 inches in a frantic sprint to the finish line. His time was 56 minutes, it sounded like his race went very well, with no major mishaps.

Special thanks to everybody involved in the after race festivities. The food and beverages where great! Also thanks to Danny and Amy for the pictures and team support. Great Job guys!

David Goff