By Kristen McFarland
ISSUE #8, October/November 2000 – The Mrs. T’s Chicago Triathlon was again the race designated as the U.S. Pro Championships this year. The largest triathlon in the U.S., it draws over 6,000 ath-letes and has a huge expo. Located in picturesque Grant Park on the shore of Lake MIchigan, the run consists of three laps through the park and the bike leg is through the downtown city streets.
Although the foreign pros dominat-ed the men’s race, taking the first four positions (Chris McCormack of Australia won) and Michellie Jones of Australia came in first for the 7th time, most of the best U.S athletes were there, including a large Colorado con-tingent of pros. Marcel Vifian (Boulder), not well known but a repre-sentative of the U.S. at dozens of ITU races over the years, came into his own with the race of his career by placing top American and taking the Pro Champion title. Tim DeBoom (Boulder) was right behind him by only a single second to take second. The two traded the lead on the run a few times. DeBoom’s result was espe-cially sweet in that he had not even rested for the event, preferring to keep on his training schedule in prepara-tion for the Hawaii Ironman. Wes Hobson (Boulder) was 27 seconds back to finish 3rd in the U.S. standings.
Nick Radkewich (Colorado Springs) and Hunter Kemper (Colorado Springs), both leaving for Sydney following the race, were advised by coach-es to not focus too much on the race and came in 8th and 9th Americans. Other Colorado men included Cam Widoff (Boulder, 15th), Paul Fritzsche (Boulder, 17th), and Kevin Carter (Colorado Springs, 18th).
On the women’s side Boulder’s Siri Lindley was edged out by Joanna Zeiger by only 9 seconds, taking second place. The ‘98 Pro Champion, Siri had the fastest run time of the day, a blazing 5:35 pace. Nicole DeBoom (Boulder) finished 8th U.S. woman and Gail Laurence (Manitou Springs) 13th American.
