Well the old guys…and gals…had their day at the AARP 50+ Championships which was held as part of the Naperville Sprint tri on Sunday. The competition was very good and, as predicted, I did get a bit of a beatdown, despite going faster than last year. Took 4th in the AG, 6th overall in the over 50 field. What was most impressive was how fast the 55-59 (and up) were, with our own 57 year old Michael Barrett (MPB1950 on the forum) putting on his Speedo and running his lean self to 2nd in that AG and victory over this 51 year old with the draft horse legs.
Notable performances were also turned in by some names folks may know. Bob McKeague…the oldest finisher ever at Kona…ran a remarkable 1:30 for the course at age 82. Jo Anne Della Torre won the womens 50 and over with a great 1:11…Mike and I only finished about 2 minutes in front of her.
In the other age groups, Chris Leyba from Rich Ducar’s The Bike Shop in Glen Ellyn ran a stellar 1:02 to win the 35’s and Gabriela Baranova…an XTerra athlete name that people should watch for…won the women’s overall in 1:08, putting some of us old guys in our place.
Well run race for an urban setting, despite a raging thunderstorm coming through just 3 hours before start time, put on by the same folks who do the New York Tri and the new Hy-Vee Race in Des Moines. Nice race, nice day.
Congrats to you too, Mark. Your so called “draft horse legs” allowed you to blow me away on the swim and bike and made it hard for me to catch you on the run.
Nice touch on the Speedo theme. Subtlety is overrated.
BTW - No one has ever called me “lean” before. I like it.
Multiple winner Dave Irion wasn’t there this year though. I would guess he’s more focused on IMOO. After his great showing at Muncie, I’m thinking he’s going to do very well.
I had a good experience with an Endure It guy yesterday. The last water stop on the run was at about the 2.25 mile mark. I reached for a glass of water but fumbled it. That’s what happens when you are running sub 4 minute miles. About 30 seconds later a guy with an Endure It racing jersey catches up to me and says two things:
“Nice bike split” (I had passed him, albeit gradually); and
“I noticed you missed the water at the last stop, do you want some of my Gatorade?”
I said no thanks but thought that was a very classy thing for him to do. All I could think of to say to him was “good sportsmanship.” Maybe he saw my age on my calf (57) and was worried I would dehydrate and die or something.
He had a 32 on his calf in case any of the Endure It people who know him want to pat him on the back for this nice gesture. I was impressed.
I agree, it was a very well planned and run event. Most of the local over 50 top guns were there. Congratulations to Richard Rodgers 50-54 and Bob Theodore 55-59 for taking the top 2 spots. Great competition for the remaining 50-54 podium spots, draft horse legs or not it was not at all easy to reel in Mark Mannebach, or top swimmer Glen Rolbecki in the final mile.