A fast field showed up for a highly competitive Beneroya Research Institute SeaFair Sprint Triathlon. Course records were set by both Dave Messenheimer and Heidi Grimm. Almost 1200 people raced and finished on this absolutely beautiful Seattle day, and more than half of them were women! You can find many more photos of this on Jill's msnSpaces site.
Last year the swim was a bit long, so overall times have come down by about two minutes. However, the fast times in the ladies division were due to the huge influx of talent that did not race last year. The top six ladies: Heidi Grimm, Erin Ford, Tracy Orcutt, Heidi Keller-Miller, Robin Secrist and Anne Jensen did not do the race last year. Kelly Molaski and AmyJo Turi, who last year finished 3rd and 4th, this year placed 9th and 11th, respectively, even though this year they both raced about 2 minutes faster. Both of these ladies may move up 2-3 places when some of the timing issues are worked out.
To the right is Squatch, escorting Chris Tremonte on stage to collect his award.
In the men's race, Dave Messenheimer was flying through the course on Sunday. His time of 57:33 was a full four minutes faster than his 1:01:35 second place finish last year. Upon receiving his award Dave mentioned that he has moved to Colorado Springs and is vying for a spot on the US Olympic team. Dave was followed across the line by our friend Chris Tremonte, 59:43. There was quite a sprint for third as Guy Crawford, blueseventy, was racing to catch Michael Gordon. Michael responded and held his position as they finished with 1:00:10 and 1:00:12.
In the ladies race, Heidi Grimm (Armed Services Triathlon Champion, pictured left), quickly erased a 37 second deficit in the swim with a 30:56 bike, followed by an 18:07 run. This was enough to set a course record with a 1:02:35, and place over a minute between her and Erin Ford, who finished second with a 1:03:46. Tracy Orcutt came in with a strong 3rd place finish at 1:06:07.
From Tricoachjill, Brian Guarraci competed in his second triathlon. Check out Brian's race report. Also competing were Stephen Fry, in the kids' triathlon, and Jill. Brian had a very strong race, finishing 13th of 120 in his AG with his 1:11:53. With the revised AG standings, with the Elites pulled into their own separate category, Brian moves up to 8th in his Age Group.
Jill was able to improve upon her time from last year and capture 3rd in her AG with a time of 1:11:09. Jill achieved a PR for the race, as well as the swim and run. Jill finished 10th overall, and 9th in the Elites. Five of the top 10 women came from the Masters Division!
Stephen accomplished his goal of winning his AG (9-10 years old) in what was likely his last kid's race. In a few weeks he will move up to his first sprint tri.
Above, Jill and Brian.
To the right, Jill and friend, Ben Graetz. Ben took third in his AG with a smoking time of 1:05:40. Ben has also recently been selected to join the Australian National Triathlon team.
Jill and Squatch, left, as Jill accepts her 3rd place AG award.
Squatch gets the kids tri started, below.
Stephen Fry and good friend Jeffrey Briones gave it all they had for the final sprint. Stephen placed 4th overall and first in the 9-10 AG. Jeffrey placed 5th overall and 2nd in the 11-12 AG. Stephen's 10:11 time was only 15 seconds away from the fastest overall time.
