Athletes barely missed rolling thunder storms to race in good conditions at the Elite Endeavor’s/ Bikesport Ann Arbor Triathlon on Sunday, June 7 at Half Moon Lake in the Pinkney Recreation Area near Ann Arbor, Michigan. The 1/2 mile swim, 14 mile bike and 5 mile off road trail run on the Potowatami Trail was contested by nearly 500 total athletes between duathlon and triathlon categories.
As storms passed to the north and south of the venue athletes at Half Moon Lake enjoyed improving conditions. Contenders for top overall male and female titles were spread over wave starts creating suspense after the first finisher, Joe Deighan of Mongo Multisport sponsored by B.D.'s Mongolian Barbecue, stopped the clock in 1:20:54. Could anyone from subsequent waves beat Deighan’s time?
A titanic battle in the women’s race pitted some of the best U.S. and Canadian age group triathletes against one another on the Potowatami Trail. It became a case of experienced ultra-distance Ironman champions versus younger shorter distance specialists. As it was, the shorter specialist prevailed when Blair Kniaziew won in 1:31:05. Ironman A.G. winner Laura Sophiea donned the colors of the Mongo Multisport Team and took an elegant 2nd place overall just ahead of a soon-to-be married Mindy Houser racing for Mark Allen Online on a new Cervelo P3. Ironman sensation Amy Gluck rounded out the top spots for the women.
When the dust settled in the men’s race it was X-Terra champ and all-around nice guy Ryan DeCook who used his extensive off-road running experience to best the on-road tri specialists on the Poto trail. It is a credit to 2nd place and former winner Joe Deighan that his run split was a scant 1 second slower per mile on the run than X-Terra specialist DeCook. Matt Gervais was one more second behind (per mile on run pace) for third with young sensation Matt Inch continuing to confirm his elite status again this year.
In the women’s 25-29 age category Emily Jarrett out ran Sarah Demerly who has been focusing on cycling for a run at the USA Cycling State Time Trial Championships in two weeks. While Jarret’s run blasted Demerly’s, Sarah Demerly’s bike split would have been third fastest in the 30-34 *men’s *category.
Matt Wehrman bested the always strong Matt West in the men’s 30-34 in 1:23:04, a commanding victory over private pilot and nice guy Matt West.
A very competitive men’s 40-44 age category was wrested by Gary Greib by only 2 seconds in front of favorite Kraig Schmottlach. Greib erased a moderate swim with strong bike and run splits to steal the men’s show over Schmottlach, an always strong Jon Bennett and the gregarious Mark Savedes, on return from his tour of South Africa that including a campaign at Ironman South Africa over the winter along with some charity work.
Ann Demko won a tight battle in the women’s 40-44 outspliting Nora Longthorne by less than 10 seconds.
One more commanding performance of the day was the untouchable Jim James. His 1:27:35 victory in the men’s 45-49 category ruled by nearly *six full minutes. *John Battista is always elegant in his perfromance and looked to be dressed in formal attire for his composed second place in the category as he emerged from the trail run spotlessly clad in a dashing white race ensemble remeniscent of a James Bond entrance.
Peaking of ruling an age category, Janet Chappell nuked the women’s 50-54 category with an eight minute win. Ric Straub, an economics professor at the University of Michigan Dearborn, added value to his net race worth by winning the men’s 55-59 by three minutes in 1:33:07. Staub also looked to be in excellent form as he prepares for his 2009 race campaign.
Karen McKeachie bested her age category by over a quarter of an hour to win the women’s 55-59 in 1:40:16. Her 13:44 swim split was five minutes faster than the next best in her age category in only 1/2 mile.
A selection of other great age category performances included John Stover who is such a strong guy he usually wins- this time by 6 minutes in the men’s 65-69.
Overall the day was strong despite shaky weather and a bottoming out of a tough Michigan economy. Between the economy and the weather- and one competitor driving to the wrong race venue by mistake (?) participation numbers shook out to about the level of previous years, but showed no significant growth.
Results for the Elite Endeavors/Bikesport Ann Arbor Triathlon are here:
http://www.eliteendeavors.com/...ri/aatri_results.htm
