From Ron Patrissi:
Sunday [June 18] was the Oh My Goddard triathlon at Goddard Park in Warwick, RI. This event has both a Sprint and an Olympic on the same day, at the same time and share parts of the same course. I was participating in the Olympic. This would be my 4th time doing this event. The weather was cloudy and humid.
The Swim:
The swim was in Greenwich Bay. The beach faced north and the water was flat and calm with almost no current. The water temp was comfortably cool, but by no means cold. Good for swimming in the wetsuit. The course was triangle-ish. Two turns at the yellow buoys, with red buoys to mark the long stretch between the two yellow ones. I was in the first wave, 45 and older. It’s always amazing to me how many people think they will win the race if they get to the first swim buoy before anyone else. I think I must have been in 25th place by the first turn at the yellow buoy. But then, in the next 5 minutes, people started disappearing. Visibility was challenging and I had a little, “V” line between the first and second turns, mostly because the red buoys were closer to shore than the two yellow buoys and I couldn’t see the final turn for a bit. Wearing the tinted goggles was mistake. Probably cost me 20 seconds or so. Still, I came out of the water in a good position to race.
Swim time: 25:00
T1
Ok, so my feet had some scrapes from training and I stubbed the little toe of my left foot on the couch two days before the race which led to my decision to wear socks. So, this is probably 20-30 seconds slower than I would have liked….
T1 time: 1:38
The Bike:
The 20.3 mile bike course was flat and fast and I knew I needed to be aggressive to have a good race. The conditions were dark, wet and humid, but not raining. I had to keep wiping condensation off my visor so I could see. However, I was ready to be out of the water and riding fast. This was my first race on my new bike and I think I passed 4 people before I left Goddard Park and started heading toward Quonset. This year I passed Chris Doppke, swimmer extraordinaire, around mile 5-ish. Chris told me I just moved into fifth place. Just then, I also passed Bob, race bib 249. Bob and I played leap frog for the next 5 or so miles until Bob, while 20 yards in front of me missed a turn. I instantly started yelling, “You missed the turn!” I did it 3 times. He never heard me. Heck, now he’s on his own. I turned and said good bye to Bob. A few miles later, there was a section of the course that went to the end of Allen Harbor Road, and looped back toward Davisville road. On my back I saw Bob. Luckily, by my guess, he only lost two minutes or so because of his mistake. I did talk to him after the race and he was in good spirits. He still won his age group. (-: As for me, I had the second fastest bike leg of the day (I’ll take it) and headed into T2 in 4th place.
Bike time: 54:04
T2
Ok, my socks were already on, so this was much better.
T2 time: 00:57
The Run:
I ran out of T2 at almost the same exact time as another racer in my wave. I wanted to take it easy for the first quarter mile or so as it was uphill-ish and on trails and wet and humid. I think that was a mistake. Bob, (a different Bob) got a 10 to 12 second lead on me. At first, I didn’t think this was a big deal. There was a lot of race to go. But time passed and that lead didn’t shrink. The trails were muddy and had lots of puddles. I almost fell twice. I have no idea if Bob felt the battle. I didn’t want to push too hard and blow up, but he was so close I believed I had it in me to take him. But every time I sped up, so did he, as if he just knew. I thought this could be a battle for third overall, but around the 4.5 mile mark I was passed by a young guy in wave that started behind mine. Ugh, I thought. I knew I didn’t have the foot speed to keep up with that guy, and even if I did, he was still two minutes ahead of me on the clock! So I kept my focus on Bob and just tried to stay with him. We literally ran the same pace in the same spots for 5.5 miles and I never did close the gap. I guess 5th place was the best I could do this day.
Run time: 43:04
Overall:
Overall it was a fun day! Lots of fun people and a great course. I did not meet my stretch goal of making it onto the overall podium, but I did win my age group which got me on a different podium and $75 worth of Trimmom bucks for a future event. Also, I really did try to help Bob when he went of course, but hey, I’m racing here! Not going to chase you down…. Congratulations to Derrick Jakoboski for an exceptional race and coming in first overall, and to John Kiang who secured 3rd in his age group (both in the olympic), and to Jordan Frank for winning his age group and Tina-Marie Lohela for coming second in her age group both in the Sprint distance, and to Russell Carrey who finished his first triathlon ever by completing the Sprint in excellent time and Ian McLean who finished his first Olympic distance, both of whom I will need to talk to about their transition time….. And especially to Chris Doppke for being a good sport and stopping to help Shane [Petrites]when he fell and injured himself on the bike. There are times, when racing is not that important!
Overall time: 2:04:43