Monday, August 18, 2014

Bob Burns Up the Trails of Connecticut

Congrats to Bobble Head Bob who successfully defended his age group title at the Bluff Point 3.5 mile trail race in Groton, CT. 

Bob says "It was a beautiful day and an easy, clearly marked trail. Wearing my NETT colors, I was even 30 seconds faster than last year!"

Congrats Bob! 

Tuesday, August 12, 2014

Frank Takes Top Three at Kingston Tri

Congrats to Frank KJ on yet another successful triathlon up at the Kingston Triathlon in NH. Here's his report:

This one I just could not miss out on since it has a real 5K trail. But let's start with the beginning.

Set the alarm for 5am for another beautiful summer morning with warm dry air and little wind. Arrived in Kingston NH around 6:15am and quickly bumped into my friend and triathlon nemesis Steve Levandosky. He runs a lot of trails as well (including Thomas Chamberas) so he also felt compelled to give this race a try. 

Since the swim leg is only 0.25 miles and there is only a little beach area, this race starts in a time trial fashion with two people going off into the pond every 5 seconds - self-seeded. I  agreed with Steve that we should line up as the first to hit the water. After all, how often do you get the chance to start a triathlon with only one person next to you. We swam side by side for the entire 6:45 minutes completely undisturbed except for one guy passing us at a very quick pace. 

T1 was smooth and then it was time to hit the roads. It took me about 3 miles to catch the fast swimmer and then it was me, myself and I for the next 11 miles. All the hills are in the first half which means that the second was a lot of fun with long stretches go well above 25mph. Going into T2 I had about 2 minutes to the next person.

T2 was smooth as well and then it was time to meet the much anticipated trail run. And it did not disappoint. It was a single track constantly winding and with lots of short steep up/down hill sections plus the mandatory roots, rocks and muddy sections. And plenty of horse flies for company. Around mile 2 I heard footsteps behind me and about 0.4 miles later I was passed swiftly by some fast guy. 

I ended up holding on to 3rd overall with my pal Steve in 2nd place. Turns out the person who passed was a slow swimmer but a phenomenal cyclist (25mph+) and strong trail runner (6:10 pace on a fairly technical course) so he deservedly took the top spot.

Results at http://www.coolrunning.com/results/14/nh/Aug10_Kingst_set1.shtml  

Tuesday, August 05, 2014

Frank has "99.9% Perfect" race at Greenfield

Big congrats to Frank KJ for his strong performance at the Greenfield Triathlon.

"I came in 5th overall, first in my age group," he reports. "It was a 99.99% perfet race. And I had Tina and Emma along to cheer me on." Full Results Here