Wright Triathlon Club Race Report

Club Scores well at East Fork Lake Triathlon

Eight club members joined for the East Fork Lake Triathlon, near Cincinnati Ohio, on 18 July. Our small group posted well in both the Sprint and Olympic distance events. Our numbers would have been greater at this event if the Muncie Half Ironman had not been the day before. Five of our club members went to Muncie. Of this group only Alicia Dixon made the trip to join our larger group at East Fork. So back to East Fork, first looking at the Olympic distance, Kurt Jackson led the charge with an 18th overall finish. On the sprint distance course Fred Corville finished 16th overall. Age group awards included Alicia Dixon 1st, David Hardwick 2nd, Mike Allen 3rd, and Brian Gaughan 3rd (Sprint). Of special note must be the fact that Alicia did something that few of us can fathom. She competed in Muncie on Saturday and then came out to join the group and score the first place at East Fork. I remember all of my attempts at back-to-back events have been usually been a failure. So way to go girl! Rounding out our team scoring at East Fork were great efforts by Brad Elstad and Lynn Streetz.

About the race, the weather started overcast keeping the temperatures cool for most of the race. As the race ended a rain storm came in pouring down on us and soaking us to the bone. However, this rain actually felt quite good. Other main factors of the day were the hills on both the bike and run courses. The one hill that I now call the beast had a 10-12 degree incline at about mile 14 into the Olympic bike course. This hill called Short-hill Road was about ¼ mile long. To get up it some people tried to gut-it-out by ziz-zagging. Several riders went into the ditch. Mike Allen included; fortunately no injury. Lynn Streetz, took a bad fall when trying to get back on her bike after the hill. (Got scraped up) I chose to get off my bike and try to run it up the hill. Regardless, the hill was a real force to deal with. Then because of the hills and rain combined there were several accidents that resulted in additional grass and pavement injuries. When I was on the run portion a biker coming in to transition lost it on the slick pavement and careened into the ditch right in front of me, missing hitting me be only a couple of feet. Besides all of the accidents there was a good deed accomplished during this race by Mike Allen as he assisted a biker who had a flat tire, losing some time himself as he assisted. In summary, the East Fork Course was slower than other Olympic courses of the same distance. But for the most part it was a fun day for all.

Note: Club scoring for this event not yet available. See our results page for complete stats.

DH

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