NETT muscled, cranked, and tip-toed its way to the mixed relay crown at the FIRM MAN Half-Ironman Triathlon this weekend. Given that Frank has competed in 12 out of the past 13 FIRM MAN tris, NETT will begin a legitimate lobbying campaign to change the name of this race to FRANK MAN. Here's his report:
"Sunday it was yet again time for a trip to Narrangansett to partake in the Firmman Half-Ironman. Similar to last year we mustered a great mixed relay team with Al as the swimmer, yours truly on the bike and Tina as the closer on the run leg.
Hurricane Leslie may be several hundred miles out in the Atlantic but still close enough that swimmers had 4-7 feet waves to battle. Some people decided not to swim, some started and then turned. Not Al of course who took the challenge head-on and swam a phenomenal 22:30.
Next up, it was me and Kuota. There was a bit of rain at the beginning of the bike leg which resulted in lots of flats but luckily I had none today. My new wheels were perfect for the course since there was a bit of crosswind which bothered people with deep rims but allowed my short rim wheels not to be caught by the wind. My 10K splits were very consistent and I felt good from start to finishing – so good that I ended up with a PB of 2:26 (23.0 mph) for the 56 miles. Coming into T2 we were 10th of all despite starting in the 4th and last wave.In fact I came in to T2 before Tina expected so she quickly handed Emma to Al before we exchanged the timing chip, then I took my helmet off and next thing I had Emma in my arms. She fell asleep and so for the next 20 minutes I stood with a sleeping toddler next to my bike in the transition exchanging stories with Al and fellow relay cyclists.
Tina had a very solid run. So much that when Lisbeth Kenyon (the overall winner at Firmman and 3 time age-group in Hawaii Ironman) saw Tina on the run course she started doing math in her head. She started in the elite wave and got nervous there was some fast unknown age-grouper outracing her down. Pretty funny and good practice for Lisbeth to dig a bit deeper. Talking about digging then Tina had her challenges digging through the ¼ mile run on the beach. Seen from the finish line she was tip-toeing her way through and going sideways at times as if the beach were filled with landmines. She just doesn’t dig the sand. Of course her face lit up when she saw Emma and there was even time for a High-five before crossing the line.
Final outcome: We finished 1st mixed team relay out of 8, and 4th overall out of 19 teams. Results are posted www.firm-racing.com. Another great trip to the beach."
2 comments:
Results were updated some time yesterday. We were in fact 3rd overall out 20 teams. Most mixed relay teams have a female swimmer and male cyclist/runner. NETT do things the hard way.
Way to go!! NETT never takes the easy way out.
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