Wind Sprints

Wind Sprints

Issue #11, June/July 2001

ColoradoTriathlete.com

Siri Just Keeps Getting Stronger

Boulder’s Siri Lindley seems to be headed straight to the top of the World Cup circuit. After wrapping up last season with her first Cup win at Lausanne, Switzerland and then following it up with another first place in Cancun, you would think she would take a rest. But she kept training hard through the winter and has come out fighting this spring. The 2001 season opener was in Gamagori, Japan and had a whopping $60,000 purse. She had a troublesome swim and ended up in the second bike pack. Then she put her blazing run speed to work to clock the second fastest split of the day (34:29).

Issue #11
Issue #11

When she went to Rennes, France for the fourth race of the tour she swam at the front of the group and biked with the best. The way she has been running lately, that set her up for a sure victory. Winning the run leg put her ahead at the line by 49 seconds, a substantial margin by World Cup standards.

Race 5 was back in Japan, on the island of Ishigaki. It was broadcast live on television, very rare for triathlon. She ran better than the rest yet again, this time by 34 seconds, to take 3rd (18:11/1:03:08/36:57, 1:58:16 total. This all despite her grandmother having just passed away. Our sympathies go out to her.

Wes Wins Memphis in May

The triathlon community has recently been spending quite a bit of Internet conversation time on the subject of various formats for races. The sport really started with many different distances but has slowly sorted out into most events being one of the typical four distances: sprint, Olympic, half, and full IRONMANs The discussion now focuses more on the drafting and non-drafting question and how some of the issues surrounding those choices can be resolved. The 19-year-old Memphis in May race approaches the problem by having each participant start 15 seconds apart (the age-groupers just 3 seconds apart). drafting is still not allowed. The style of starting also avoids some drafting on the swim.

For Wes Hobson, who competed there last in 1995, this was a blessing. His strong swimming gave him a nice advantage. Additionally, he was positioned almost at the end of the list of the starters.

“It was nice starting near the end of the pro line because I could play the hunter instead of the hunted,” he said.

Well, by T2 he had bagged all but five of his competitors, and continued to knock them all off running. But at the five mile mark Todd Wiley passed him and kept going and Wes wasn’t sure whether or not he had enough time on him to keep the win.

“I am running as hard as I can with my arms flailing trying to keep up with him, but he keeps pulling away.”

His effort was enough for the victory, as his finishing time was 59 seconds better.

1. Wes Hobson (Boulder) 1:50:10
7. Nick Cady (Boulder) 1:54:47

2. Teri Duthie (Boulder) 2:07:08

Pan American Championships

The Pan American Championships were in Florida this year, and are part of an 11 race western hemisphere series that the Pan American Triathlon Confederation (PATCO) is calling the ‘Copa Americana’. The last event is in Chile in November. PATCO is a regional organization, sort of a subset of the ITU. The race was a points race, awarding points towards world ITU rankings, and was also a qualifier for the World Championships in Edmonton for both pros and age-groupers. Veteran race director Fred Sommer of Clermont was called upon to do the organizing. Olympian Jenny Gutierrez (Greenwood Village) was in the lead group on the bike and went on to finish fourth. Boulder’s Elizabeth Anderson, the 2000 Collegiate National Champion, was 31st in her very first ITU race as a new pro. Hunter Kemper (Colorado Springs resident team member) placed fourth as well, but third place in the championships because Australian Marc Lees took first and he was not eligible for the Pan Am competition. Micheal Smedley (Colorado Springs resident, but also resident team member) came in 7th. New resident team members Brent Pedrizet and Mark Fretta were 24th and 25th, respectively.

Monica at Gulf Coast

Our April-May issue’s cover athlete was Monica Fernandez of Boulder. The Ultraman champion competed at the half-IRONMAN Gulf Coast Triathlon on May 13th and came in 10th woman in a race with 1700 athletes. The 33-year-old finished in 4:57:17.

Powerman Tennessee

The race directors of the popular Powerman Alabama put together the first Powerman Tennessee in College Grove. Then they assured good attendance by securing status as a qualifier for the World Duathlon Championships in Venray, the Netherlands, in September. The day was fairly hot for spring in Tennessee, but also very windy. The course winds itself through lovely green rolling hills typical of pasture land in the Old South.

The male and female duathlon world champions, Benny Van Steelant of Belgium and France’s Edwige Pitel, made the trip across the Atlantic and won handily. Boulder’s duathlon specialist (and IRONMAN triathlete) Eric Schwartz competed, as did Wes Hobson. Wes is doing all kinds of new things this year. Perhaps a better way of saying that might be that they feel new to him. He hadn’t done a duathlon since 1985. He was preparing for a half-IRONMAN, something he hadn’t done since 1987! He fared well, coming in second American (fifth place) behind U.S. du champion Greg Watson. His time was 2:48:17. Eric Schwartz finished 11th in 2:55:51.

Bruckner Time Trial Champion

Duathlon may have lost its most recent female phenom to the world of cycling for good, except perhaps an occasional recreational foray. But can you blame her? Kimberly Bruckner (Boulder) has taken to cycling with just as much instant success as she had in duathlon. Last year she was picked up by Saturn and began shifting her focus. On May 24th she won the US National Time Trial Championships in California by 40 seconds.

IRONMAN Lottery Winners

Five lucky Coloradoans were picked in the annual IRONMAN Hawaii lottery drawing for slots in this October’s race. Of 4,000 entries in the lottery this year, 150 United States athletes, 50 international athletes, and 5 physically challenged athletes were chosen. Lottery entries must complete at least a half-IRONMAN distance race before participating in the World Championships.

Scott Caruso of Colorado Springs, David Koons of Boulder, Rob Ladewig of Colorado Springs, Dennis West of Denver, and Paul Martin of Boulder were all given automatic entry to compete. Paul Martin is in the physically challenged category. He has raced in Hawaii at least twice before, and has won his division. Paul is a below-the-knee amputee. He has completed the Boston Marathon in 3:41:20 before.

USAT News

The new multi-million dollar USA Triathlon Training Center in Clermont, Florida is nearing completion, but USAT won’t be pulling up stakes in Colorado. They have applied for a grant to purchase a building in Colorado Springs to move their administrative offices. Their current space on the south end of town is up for sale but was becoming woefully inadequate for the growing organization anyway.

A Great Reason to Join USAT

There are many different reasons to join your national organization, but there is a new and compelling one you might not know about. USAT has worked out a deal with United Airlines to give a free round-trip bike waiver for a United flight with every membership. This is worth six times the cost of annual membership dues. With United’s hub in Denver, every Colorado triathlete would surely find an occasion to put the coupon to good use.

Kristen McFarland

Kristen McFarland is an editor-at-large for Colorado Triathlete. As an athletic trainer and massage therapist, she works with professional triathletes in Boulder that have included both ITU and IRONMAN world champions.