It was a scorcher on Sunday, July 23rd, at the Lake Stevens 70.3 World Qualifier event.  Several local area triathletes participated and had some very significant accomplishments.      Congratulations are in order for Doug Thompson, Brian Guarraci, Chris Tremonte, Patrick Magee,  Jessica Zahn and Wendy Kahn.  All of these athletes have put together excellent race reports, which you can access from this page. Chris Tremonte won his AG with a 4:29:31 in what he described as his toughest race.           Doug Thompson had set out a goal to complete this race in 6:15 or less, and he crossed the line at 6:14:36.  This was almost 45 minutes faster than his time from the prior year.  Doug was well supported at the race by his wife, Cindy, daughter Paige and her boyfriend Nick.  For a very interesting a thorough description of the day, be sure to check out Doug's race report.                   Brian Guarraci, competing in his third triathlon, had a great day in the heat.  Brian finished the race with a very fast 5:27:00, and that included a walk/run strategy due to his knee injury.  Brian also acheived a major goal by qualifying for the 70.3 World Championship race!  Congratulations Brian.   Be sure to check out Brian's race report as well.                      Patrick Magee also executed well against his plan and achieved his goal of a sub-six-hour finish.  He has come a long way in the past three years, and has also written an excellent report of his day.       Wendy Kahn finished strong in her first half Ironman race.  Her goal was to beat the 8 hour cut-off, and she came well under that with her time of 7:21:02.  Wendy has written a race report here.  Jessica Zahn also put on a great race, finishing at 6:33:57, and providing some extra motivation for Doug, who promised to wear a Skort at his next race if Jessica beat him across the line.  More details to be found in Jessica's report.  Pictured to the left are Danielle Walters, Jessica and Wendy.