Archive for the 'San Diego County Triathlon Race Reports' Category
San Diego’s busy weekend of endurance sports
August 17th, 2008 Categories: Aquathlon and Duathlon Race Reports, San Diego County Bike Rides, San Diego County Community News, San Diego County Triathlon Race Reports, San Diego County run routes, Triathlon Club of San Diego Race Reports
SAN DIEGO– Well we are in the heart of the thoroughbred season currently running at the Del Mar fairgrounds, but this weekend was all about endurance junkies. Young and old!!!
Saturday, the Triathlon Club of San Diego hosted 170 triathletes at Glorietta Bay for our monthly San Diego Running Institute race series. Behind the scenes, the race was experiencing some hiccups as TCSD race director Cory Osth, timing guru John Hill and big time race volunteer, TCSD VP Dave Huff were both absent. This left TCSD member and co Race Director Karam Gill with a pretty large task. The beauty of the tri club is that it only took Karam one email to round up a solid group of 
volunteers and the race went off perfectly!!!
A couple notables at the race were Triathlete Magazine President Mitch Thrower as well as Brennan Lindner of Generic Events and founder of the Playa Del Run series.
The bay was perfect, no one crashed on the bike and everyone was greeted with a wonderful breakfast buffet, croissant sandwiches, parfaits with Kashi granola and fresh fruit, taken care of by Denise Pitre and her crew. If you are not a member of TCSD, you are missing the VERY BEST part of the San Diego Triathlon scene.
Y-TRI youth triathlon
While the grown ups were doing their thing at Glorietta Bay, tri club member 
Troy Cundari with ZEAL Optical, was putting on the first annual Y-TRI youth triathlon.
The race featuring approximately 80 kids, took place within the grounds of Mt. Carmel high school and was open to kids ages 8–13. The kids 8–11 did a 75 meter swim, a 1.5 mile bike and a one mile run while the 12–13 year olds did a 175 swim, a 2.5 mile bike and finished off with a one mile run.
Look for another larger edition of this race next year.
Playa Del Run Solana Beach
The ZOOT Playa Del Run series rolled into town for the second time this year. The six race Aquathlon, swim/run, series kicked off in San Diego’s Mission Bay on April 27th 2008.
Sponsored locally by Solana Beach’s own BnL Bikes, this race features a 1000 meter ocean swim followed by a 5K run. Starting at the newly redesigned Fletcher Cove beach, the weather was perfect with some surf, but not too much. As always Triathlon Club of San Diego volunteers were on hand as swim buddies to help those get through their first ocean swim. Every week TCSD hosts a swim at Fletcher Cove Friday mornings, so there was a lot of local knowledge working to help newer swimmers.
Personally the best thing about this race was seeing ZOOT sales representative and former TCSD beginner coach Sonja Johnson Doherty. Back in April, Sonja was hit by truck on a training ride and shattered her lower leg. Because of the work of great doctors, a great healthy, fit and positive patient and a whole lot of hardware, Sonja was swimming today and has been back on the bike. The run is still in the future, but it was FANTASTIC to see Sonja back competing and wearing that ear to ear grin!!!
AFC Half Marathon
I told you it was a weekend for endurance junkies and the America’s Finest City half marathon closed the weekend. 
This 13.1 mile run starts with a nice downhill from Cabrillo National Monument and finishes with a strong uphill into San Diego’s famous Balboa Park. Along the way runners race along the San Diego Bay and briefly visit sites such as the Embarcadero and the Star of India.
Now in it’s 32nd year, make sure that you do this race at least once.
Well that’s it. Tired?
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Camp Pendleton Sprint Triathlon not to be missed
August 10th, 2008 Categories: Aquathlon and Duathlon Race Reports, San Diego County Triathlon Race Reports, Triathlon Club of San Diego Race Reports, What to do in San Diego
SAN DIEGO– The Camp Pendleton Hard Corps race series features some great events. There are of course the two Mud Runs, running races of various distances, a duathlon, international distance tri and a bike race. But the best race of all is the Camp Pendleton sprint triathlon held on the Navy based home of the Swift Intruders.
What makes this event so unique and I mean one of a kind unique, is that the event is that the majority of the race takes place with in the ‘secret wall compund’ that houses the hovercraft. When you travel on hwy 5, you can not help but notice the towering cement walls and wonder just what the heck is going on in there.
The transtion area is set at the base of the landing ramp used by the craft 
for entering and exiting the ocean. This landing ramp also is the worst hill of the whole course and you climb it twice when leaving transition on the bike and run. So for your first event, know it doesn’t get anymore difficult than that.
The swim is an ocean swim and during the summer you should expect some surf as we see a predominant south swell and this area of San Diego county is usually a couple feet larger than most areas south. This day the surf was 2–3 with an occasional 4 foot set waves. The only real challenge was a large 7–8 foot deep trough and then a sandbar again which is where the surf broke again. This caused some funky current conditions. When the surf was down, there was a bit of a north current, but once the waves came the current turned and pushed north. Another thing you can count on is a 
perfect 68–70 water temperature.
The bike route is a very easy out and back with no real hills at all. Truly the only ‘hills’ are an overpass to cross hwy 5 and a rise out of a storm wash. Do they slow down your effort? Yes, but they really are not a climb. When you make your turn on to Las Pulgas, it does seem as though it is a constant elevation gain, so do not let your necessary extra effort discourage you as once you make the turn it will be time to drop down a couple gears and let the legs go!!
Coming back in to transition the prevailing thought for me was, “dang, now we have to run up that ramp!!” It really isn’t that bad. Just short quick turnover and get it over with. The run course is contained within the Intruders compound and you run through and around numerous hovercraft as well as the hangars, cranes and other machinery used to maintain the fleet. It really is pretty cool to be there amongst the workings. Additionally, with all the distractions and the winding unmarked course, you never really know where you are, so you don’t know if you are hurting or not. What I mean by this is, if you see a mile a marker, you gauge your effort and how your legs feel towards what is left. Sometimes this a negative mentally when you calculate that if I feel this way now, I am bummed with ‘x’ number of miles left. I guess it could be surmised as ignorance is bliss!!!
Now that the run is winding down, you come around the corner of the last 
hangar and there is the finish line. What distinguishes it is not so much the balloons and banners, it is the parked hovercraft that you cross thorough with Marines waiting for your bib and chip. That’s another thing about any of the Hard Corp races. Being on the base there are so many ‘voluntold’ Marines out there helping to make all the events GREAT. It makes these events a great opportunity to thank those guys for what they do and they really do appreciate it.
As for results, local Ironman Champion and Carlsbad resident Michelie Jones rode her bike over to make sure she got in her warm up and won the womens 
field in 1:17:15 only beating me by about 15 minutes ;-). The Triathlon Club of San Diego had a great presence at the race and had two club members, Philippe Krebs and Shane Byusse place 2nd and third overall. Funny thing, Phillipe beat Shane by three seconds, but was in a later wave. Wonder how both their times would have been if they were on the course together?
I would have to say that this race in my opinion should sell out as fast as the Mud Runs and should certainly sell out before the International. As a sponsor of both of these races my inbox was flooded with requests for entries because the races sold out. make sure you sign up early and if you can not race, call it a donation to the guys who are out there supporting our country everyday. The money from the races goes towards Marine Corps Community Services. It is a small amount of money for what these guys are doing. Especially given the current situationS our military is involved in.
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Carlsbad triathlon course preview
July 8th, 2008 Categories: Real Estate News, San Diego County Triathlon Race Reports, Triathlon Club of San Diego Race Reports, What to do in San Diego
CARLSBAD– The 27th annual Carlsbad Triathlon will be taking place this weekend on July 13th. This race is in the top 3 of the longest consecutive running triathlons in the country.
I went out yesterday and shot a few clips identifying some key points of the bike course and run course. The swim course is pretty self explanatory and offers no real surprises. The surf and tides forecast for the weekend call for light surf and the tide will be high at the start of the race. The main thing to remember with the swim for athletes new to the ocean is to TRY to relax. The ocean is a great medium to swim in so make it your friend!!!
The first thing you are going to face coming out of the swim and leaving T1 is the hill that will take you out of the Tamarack state beach parking lot to the coast highway. You need to make sure you have selected a proper gear prior to the race as mounting at the base you will not have time to build any speed. I have seem people almost crash struggling to get up this hill.
Next out on the bike course, you will find a pretty flat nice road. Just south of Palomar Airport Road you will find the only ‘hill’ on the course. It is at the Encinas creek crossing just before the campground. While it is short, it will put a hamper on your effort so be prepared to hit this hill twice. Once on the way out and then on your second lap. One nice thing through this stretch is the city has 
repaved what used to be a very bad road.
Remember this is a two lap bike course. Your first turn around comes at La Costa Avenue just after crossing the Aqua Hedionda lagoon jetty. Remember to use caution as you move over from the right lane to the center divide to make your ‘U’ turn. There will definitely be some fast riders coming up and diving into that turn. Once you have made your turn try to get over to the right as soon as you can to allow others to pass.
The second ‘U’ turn comes at Solamar Drive which comes about 2/3 of the way back to the transition. It is just south of Palomar Airport road. If you were to look at the course on a map, it is a paper clip. When you approach this turn you will need to move in to the left traffic lane, again carefully, as the right traffic lane is reserved for the cyclists heading back for T2.
The run course is also pretty flat with a turnaround almost even with the smokestack of the power plant. The biggest thing to keep in mind with the run course is you leave T2 on the flat boardwalk. At the end of the boardwalk the course goes up a 
short steep rise at Pine Avenue. While this is short it will certainly spike your heart rate as you are already coming out of T2 with some anxiety, urgency, anticipation and an elevated heart rate as it is. If you have spectators coming to the race, the best place to spectate for the run is at the top of this little rise as you will be going pretty slow and they can identify you coming up the hill. From there they can easily get to the finish to see you cross.
Have a great race!!!
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Local triathlete JP Theberge wins World Championship Gold
June 15th, 2008 Categories: Aquathlon and Duathlon Race Reports, Real Estate News, San Diego County Triathlon Race Reports, San Diego county Real Estate News, Triathlon Club of San Diego Race Reports
SAN DIEGO– Former triathlon club of San Diego member, CAF athlete and 
Carlsbad resident J.P. Theberge won the Gold medal for Team USA at the Vancouver Triathlon World Championships competing in the Athletes with a disability division. JP had his right leg amputated in 1997 following a motorcycle accident in San Francisco.
With the conditions on race day being downright ugly, the triathlon was turned into a 3k-40k-10k duathlon and it took JP into the second run to catch and pass eventual second place finisher Martin Falch of Austria.
Once in front, JP had an auditory advantage over Martin.
“The Austrian had a prosthesis that made some sort of hissing noise, so I could hear him behind me,” Theberge said. “I knew I had to keep up my intensity to keep that noise from gaining on me. He had beaten me twice before so I was motivated, especially since my wife and kids were watching and my in-laws flew in to spectate.”-North County Times, 6/15/2008,Rick Hoff
Rounding out the top three was another American, former New York police officer Tommy Koehler.
If you see a handsomely tan 6’0 man running down the coast highway betweenLeuacadia and Carlsbad, chances are that’s JP. Give him a shout and a wave he’s earned it!! Congratulations JP!!!
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Dean Karnazes is on a Mission
May 30th, 2008 Categories: San Diego County Community News, San Diego County Triathlon Race Reports, San Diego County run routes, What to do in San Diego
SAN DIEGO– Last night the Triathlon Club of San Diego hosted the public premiere of the Dean Karnazes film UltraMarathon Man at the La Paloma theatre. As president of the club, Bob Babbitt of Competitor magazine, sent over the idea about a month ago. I knew this would be a special night about a great athlete and told Bob he had the club on board. The idea was then sent to Dean and Journey Film filmmaker JB Benna whom both jumped at the idea and the plan was set.
We were able to sell out the club’s first 100 tickets, the theatre holds about 390, in about a day so we purchased 150 more and in no time the theatre was sold out. As the planning went on through the normal process, Dean decided to throw in a twist. He was going to run from San Francisco to San Diego, culminating with doing the San Diego Rock N Roll marathon. 
During his introduction he dead panned that he did because with the of gas it was so much more cheaper and the only he could afford to get here!!!
The run Dean did though was to try out a vision of a race he has planned. The multi stage race that would raise awareness of, not only the importance of fitness, but also on the importance of California Missions to our state’s history and much needed revenue to help maintain these icons.
My hope is that this endeavor will evolve into an ongoing yearly event. My vision is that there would be a competitive
division, for those looking to race to each Mission Tour de France style, though most of the participants would run or walk between Missions as the challenge (and adventure) of a lifetime. Many of the Missions are in a state of disrepair and in dire need of restoration and refurbishing. This could be a way to help revitalize the Mission system, while simultaneously promoting health and physical wellbeing in a State where childhood obesity and adult inactivity are rampant. Participants wouldn’t have to run or walk between all twenty-one Missions. They could choose the ones that appealed to them the most, maybe two or three, and could spread it out over a number of rest days, if so desired.– Dean’s Blog May 16,2008
As a native Californian I think this would be a great idea. Right now most elementary schools study the missions as part of their curriculum. Would it not be special to also hold running events for these young minds and the community on the mission grounds and or the area?
To see more about Dean’s current events you can go here. Also, his book UltraMarathon Man is also a great read. How strong is Dean’s pull? We had
runners who flew down from Cananda to see the film and get to run with Dean as well a gentleman who flew in the day of the showing from Chicago to see the film and then run the marathon!!
If you would like to buy your own California Mission Bell, they are being cast from the original molds used to reline the El Camino Real from 1906 to 1913.
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Double amputee cleared to compete in Beijing
May 16th, 2008 Categories: San Diego County Triathlon Race Reports, San Diego County run routes, Triathlon Club of San Diego Race Reports
OLYMPICS– I just love asking my friends if they brought their legs. It always seem to get a inquisitive look from bystanders. The best ones occur at the airport when I am picking up athletes competing in the Challenged Athletes Foundation triathlon, a charity a support and love. I’ll go to pick up a bag and want to know just how many legs I am lugging around because a bag full of walking, swimming, running and biking legs can be quite cumbersome. Invariably the stares shift from the athlete to the bag.
When I first read the article about Oscar Pistorius, a double amputee South African sprinter who was hoping to compete in the Beijing Olympics, who was denied participation, I could understand, not necessarily agreeing with, the fear and reasoning. The International Association of Athletics Federations’s has a ban on technological aids like springs and wheels and I could see other athletes not understanding the impact, positive of negative, of not using ‘legs’.
The question became, without all the muscle, bone and connective tissue to build, strengthen and maintain through training and competition, do the
carbon fiber blades give him an unfair advantage and act as a spring. While the governing body look into this question, the dilemma was summed up by one council, Robert Hersch, as “an extension of our general principles that competition should be between athletes and not manufacturers,” he said in a telephone interview. “For example, we’ve specified what you can or cannot do with the javelin. We haven’t yet looked at prosthetics, but we are looking now. We’re looking for fairness. We haven’t prejudged.”-New York Times, July 11, 2007.
In January of this year, the IAAF, ruled that the carbon legs did give Oscar an unfair advantage saying, ‘An athlete using his prosthetic blade has a demonstrable mechanical advantage (more than 30 per cent) when compared to someone not using the blade.’ – Daily Mail January 14,2008
Well today it was reported that the Court of Arbitration for Sport has given Oscar their blessing;
“The panel was not persuaded that there was sufficient evidence of any metabolic advantage in favor of a double-amputee using the Cheetah
Flex-Foot,” CAS said. “Furthermore, the CAS panel has considered that the IAAF did not prove that the biomechanical effects of using this particular prosthetic device gives Oscar Pistorius an advantage over other athletes not using the device.”
This now gives Oscar the chance to compete as long as he meets the qualifying times he can compete. He has posted a time of 45.46 for the 400 meter sprint, but needs a 45.55. The exception to this, is that the South African team can place him on the relay team without him having to meet a qualifying time.
Look for the movie soon.
Oscar winning actor Tom Hanks is reportedly interested in bidding for the rights to a movie documenting Pistorius’s career, desire to compete in Beijing and extraordinary life story.
The film draws similarities from Hanks’s Forrest Gump role, where Hanks was a runner while his best friend struggled after losing his legs in Vietnam.
Although Pistorius is yet to hear from Hanks, his sole focus at present is his career and “my move to Hollywood can wait”.
However, Pistorius is quick to point out that he’d like to see the “rugged, good looking Colin Farrell” play him in the movie, while “the most beautiful woman in the world”, Rachel McAdams would be the prefect choice as his leading lady.-News24.com, May 15, 2007
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Goodbye Dave Martin
April 25th, 2008 Categories: San Diego County Triathlon Race Reports, Triathlon Club of San Diego Race Reports
SOLANA BEACH– Tonight I said goodbye to triathlon club of San Diego member Dave Martin. As president of this great group it has been a very busy and emotional day for me. I came in to the position with the club when last June our president, Jim McCann, passed away unexpectedly.
Dave like many of us lived life to the fullest. When you look at the ocean as it was this evening, so serene and inviting, it is hard to imagine the tragedy that took place here in Fletcher Cove earlier. There 
were several heros swimming with Dave that showed great courage to do what they could to get him back to the beach. Unfortunately the encounter with the estimated 12–17’ great white caused to severe an injury.
The triathlon club hosted an open house at BnL Bike in Solana Beach so that it’s members could get together and support each other and those that were so closely effected by this tragedy.
As triathletes, we have to remember that while the ocean is home to 
creatures that have the potential to be dangerous, it is also our playground. Like a bike ride or a nice run, there is not a problem in existence that can not be solved during a good swim and not having to do flip turns every 25, makes it that much nicer.
I understand the prudence behind closing the beaches and giving the experts a chance to understand the situation, but we need not be afraid. This situation is as unfortunate as it is rare. This is supported by the media circus surrounding this event. From the small local North County Times to CNN my phone and email were flooded all day and evening with request for information and interviews.
We live in paradise and Dave knew it. As we watched the sun go down today as a group I could not help but think of the importance of trying to pack as much of life into each and every minute of our day.
Goodbye Dave.
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Shark attack off Solana Beach’s Fletcher Cove
April 25th, 2008 Categories: San Diego County Triathlon Race Reports, Triathlon Club of San Diego Race Reports
SAN DIEGO– This morning during a group swim, it appears one of the swimmers was fataly attacked. While shark attacks are EXTREMELY rare in the waters off the San Diego coast, we all know this is their home.
Out of respect to the family, my friends and the other swimmers that made up the group I will wait to post more information.
UPDATE: Here is an article from MSN.
As many of you know the victim was triathlon club member Dave Martin. There really is nothing more I can add that has not already been put out there.
As badly as I wanted to ‘scoop’ the media, having known all the information since early this morning, I opted for the high road and wanted to show respect to our frien Dave by respecting his family’s wishes.
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Two time offender ONLY gets 10 years in cyclist death
April 23rd, 2008 Categories: San Diego County Bike Rides, San Diego County Triathlon Race Reports
Tucson– I picked up a free periodical titled Tailwinds from the Calavera Community Center yesterday. It is based out of and primarily on the Tuc
son mountain biking scene. As I was thumbing through it and wondering why it was here in Carlsbad this title caught my eye; Callous Attitude Gets Killer of Cyclist Near Maximum Term.
The story is about Melissa Arrington, barmaid and stripper, who while driving 
drunk, .156 blood alcohol, on a suspended license from a previous DUI conviction struck and killed a cyclist riding in a bike lane. However it was her attitude towards her actions that prompted the judge, why he didn’t give her the full 11 is beyond me, to give her 10 years.
In a recorded conversation with a male friend she laughed about “taking out a tree hugger, a bicyclist, a frenchman and a gay guy all in one shot”.
The man she killed was Paul L’Ecuyer who was a counselor and human rights worker. He was riding in the bike lane when struck.
1o years just doesn’t seem enough.
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Earth Day for the triathlete
April 22nd, 2008 Categories: San Diego County Triathlon Race Reports, Triathlon Club of San Diego Race Reports
SAN DIEGO– Today after my swim I had a ‘light bulb’ moment. Since today 
is Earth Day, I should write an entry based on things we can do or use to be more earth friendly. Unfortunately, it’s a little too late to research that post, but what caused the light to come on? A swim chamois.
I wish I could say that I thought this through, but see I always forget to bring a towel. Additionally I ride when I can to the pool so I prefer to travel light. These two reasons led me to buy the chamois and it’s been great. I can wring it out, throw it in its container and leave it in my bag. No smell, no forgetting a towel. Today though, the eco benefit presented itself.
According to SDGE, the average household does 400 loads of laundry a year. Another source states that the average washer uses 40 gallon of water. Now without counting the energy used to heat the water used in the washing machine, the energy use of the dryer and the soap, I figure I am saving about 2300 gallons of water and if you read my blog you know water is a big concern of mine. This is based on 1 load a week of towels I would use if not using the chamois. Again there would be additional savings of electricty, natural gas and chemicals which is a cleaner environment and more money in your pocket.
If you have any enviro friendly suggestions that pertain to the active lifestyle please post them in the commment section.
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