Team: Two and a Half Men 2014
Today we returned to Lincoln Park for the 4th annual triathlon and tried to improve upon our second place finish in the 2013 team relay. It would be same team as last year, Two and a half men (us) vs. our rival team The flying dutchman.
Race morning had nice dry weather, and it was clear and hot typical of a late June day, but clear skies made it for bright sunny morning..Because of the warm weather this would again be a non-wetsuit swim… This year we actually had some time to talk with our rival team before the race, and it was clear from the outset it would be a good battle for relay team bragging rights….
Photos (Google Plus are linked below) Photos are free help yourself…..
SWIM (500yd)
Tony nears swim Exit
Being in the relay division we started with the last swim wave. I lined up next to our opponents and when the horn went off I dove in, no more straggling from the back of the pack.. I tried to hang onto our rival teams swimmer, but she was just too darn fast, but nonetheless, I felt like I was having a good solid swim and the first turn buoy came quickly, I was powering through the swim as best I could… Surprising there was little traffic only in the last hundred yards did the folks start piling up.
But I managed to take nice clean lines to most buoys and I would say it was my best open water swim all year. Fast with good navigation… . A large inflatable arch made sighting easy and a little bit of contact near the shore, but I kept motoring until next to swim out. I was out of the water second to our rival team, but rushed through transition to limit the losses. I high tailed it to T1 and passed off the timing chip to Jose.
BIKE (10-miles)
Jose rides past first lap
Jose took off and it was clear from seeing him at the half-way mark on the bike that he was flying. His recap was that he felt good and strong on the bike and was able to ride through all the riders in front of him. Being a flat and fast course Jose was able to knock out several 24+ mph miles segments ,although near his threshold and after two strong bike loops came back into transition with about 35 minutes race time elapsed.. now the only question is would that be enough of a lead for Christine to hang on to first.
RUN (3.1 mile)
Christine starts run
Christine, took off fast on the run , I looked down at the clock and it was about 37 coming up to the turn, mile, but rival runner Bob E. was less than 3 minutes behind at the start of his run, and came barreling out of T2 and right away it was pretty clear Christine would have a fight on her hands.. Bob is the faster runner, and while Christien put up good fight, there simply wasn’t enough of a buffer for her to hold him off.. In the end we came in second loosing by a minute and a half..
Christine “congratulates” Bob on their victory
It was a fun relay race, while not as close as last year’s , we managed to hang until about the last mile before the strong charging runner form the flying Dutchman sealed the win for them, thats what makes triathlon such a fun sport , every second and event count! …..congrats to them, and we’ll just have to improve next year. .
| Team | Swim (500yd) | T1 | Bike (10mi) | T2 | Run (3.1mi) | Finish |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Flying Dutchmen | 07:18 | 01:40 (0:08:58) | 28:45 (0:37:43) | 00:39 (0:38:22) | 21:32 | 0:59:57 |
| Two & half men | 08:25 | 01:26 (0:09:51) | 25:46 (0:35:37 ) | 00:37 (0:36:14) | 25:10 | 1:01:27 |
Photos
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