Experience Pays Off as Franks Nabs 2nd in Rainy Rye Duathlon

Frank KJ put his multisport expertise to good use today at the Rye by the Sea Duathlon in Rye, NH. Here's his report:

"When the going gets tough the tough gets going. Or in my case go race the 16th Rye-by-the-Sea duathlon in miserable weather (because I had already registered in advance). But I did not regret going because it is a great low-key race with a fun run course and a scenic bike course along the ocean. Even in the driving rain I found time to watch the cresting waves roll in on the shore and look at the pastures in front of the large houses in Rye and Hampton.

The rain actually didn’t start until 30 minutes before the race but from then on it seemed to rain harder for each leg of race. I had a good first run positioning myself in 4th only a few seconds behind the first 3 guys. Two of them were multisport rookies so I was out of T1 way before them. I passed the last of the 3 guys out of the gate and found myself in the lead at the start of bike leg. Yeah.

I had bought new wheels Friday afternoon and only ridden them for 2 minutes to test the gears so I was a bit nervous about that. But boy are they great wheels. I was flying down towards the ocean. Still the guy I had passed at the start found his legs and passed me at mile 4. He was a strong cyclist so I did not attempt to follow him. Around mile 8 another guy came by but he was only a tad faster than me so I used him to keep me honest for the rest of bike leg by staying 30-40 feet behind for the rest of the ride. I ended up riding the 17 miles with an average speed of 24 mph so the wheels are officially broken in.

In T2 I had a faster transition than my pacer so I was quickly in 2nd place. I did catch a glimpse of the leader just before he headed into the trail section. His lead was about 90 seconds so very unlikely I would catch him. The trails were now really muddy from the damage done by the first run leg and more rain coming down. Since I was running in my regularly road racing flats I almost wiped out a couple of times.

Net result: 4th fastest first run, 3rd fastest bike leg, and 2nd fastest second run leg, and 2nd place overall. Plus a dirty bike and a pile of very wet clothes. Results at http://www.coolrunning.com/results/12/nh/Jun2_16thAn_set1.shtml

At the awards ceremony the announcer just had to point out that the combined age of 1st place and 3rd place does not even add up to my age! But he did say he was impressed with my ‘fitness level’ (given my advanced age)."

Check out the article here on the race from Seacoastonline. I think they were only off by a couple letters on Frank's last name. Not bad. Congrats Frank!

In other multisport news, NETT up-and-comer Zoltan Varga finished second at the Ludlow Triathlon, with our pal Pat Dwyer just a few spots behind.