It’s a potential good news, potential bad news sort of thing for the local running and multi-sport community. During the past several years, Mark DeCotis, editor of FLORIDA TODAY Communities Sports sections, (photo at left at Moss Park Duathlon 2005) has given lots of coverage to the sports we love.  He has also given several of us involved in the sport a chance to learn how to write and shoot photos for the paper. His patience, support, generosity and mentoring has gone above and beyond for myself, Barry Jones, Kathy Ojeda and, most recently, Fiona Wright. He will be sadly missed.

Now as a writer in the daily sports section, Mark will continue to provide kick-ass coverage of motor sports and will also be filling the huge void left when Barbara Caywood retired. Miss Barbara provided years of great coverage of the high school cross country and track and we look forward to seeing that again. The potential good news is that with Mark in the dailies, they now have someone on staff who is passionate about multisport (he has completed several duathlons, road races, centuries and a triathlon) and don't have to spend any of the very little freelance money they have.  This means we may see more multi-sport and running coverage there!

The potential bad news is that we don’t know if the new Communities sports editor will be as willing to give space to our fave sports and their athletes.

Let’s keep our fingers crossed on both counts.

GOOD LUCK MARK!

Showing just how much triathlon has exploded in central Florida, the third annual Orlando Triathlon at Baldwin Park taking place  on Sunday sold out early this week (except for a few charity spots).  The weekend event includes a .47-mile swim, 13.4-mile bike and a 2.5 mile run and 49 locals have signed up including a boatload from Harris Corp. competing in the Corp. Challenge division. Complete list of entrants at http://buttar.com/events/2007/07.01.07.OrlandoTri/entrylist.htm

The weekend also includes an aquabike consisting of a .47-mile swim and 13.4-mile bike and a duathlon boasting a 3.1-mile run, 13.4-mile bike and 2.5-mile run.  One lone local, Greg Cross, is registered for the du.

Good luck to all!

One of the things I’ve always loved about multi-sport is that many of its athletes aren’t afraid to give new ideas a whirl. Some of you probably remember when roadies laughed at our aerobars……until…..Greg LeMond (photo: copied from www.greglemond.com ) smoked Frenchy Laurent Fignon’s supposedly unbeatable lead in the final 1989 Tour de France time-trial on a pair of the then funky-looking things, nailing down the win. (Cool video of that race at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyvwtOQYQ-E )  Funny how many roadies started slapping on what the race commentator called “unique and controversial”….Huge strides in athlete nutrition, tech clothing, wetsuits, etc. have all come about thanks to folks willing to step out and try something a bit off the beaten path. 

Here’s another thought: one day soon we all may be racing with videocams attached to our helmets or clothing.  Don’t laugh. Rob Downey, a Melbourne Village triathlete and five-time USA Triathlon All American has done just that and the first video he sent was pretty amazing. Not only do you feel like you are right there in the middle of the Sunday Sonic ride but you can get a feel for how and why we need to keep lobbying for safer roads and for all of us, runners and cyclists, to pay attention.

Hats or helmets off to Rob and hopefully we’ll have some of that video here soon!!!

Below Rob provides his written review of race number four of the Family Fitness Weekend sprint triathlon series that took place on Saturday. Still photos of the race were provided courtesy of Rob and his webcam.

The fourth race of the Exclusive Sports Marketing Sprint Series (ESM) brought triathletes to the rural countryside, northeast of Tampa. It was a beautiful morning Saturday on the campus of St. Leo University, Pasco County . Athletes had a clear lake swim of about .3 miles in glass smooth conditions.  The 10 mile bike course provided several rolling hills providing riders good reason to rise from their saddles on the climbs while cruising at 35+ mph on a few downhills. Having racked our bikes, the run took us around the University campus in cross country fashion with plenty of grass sections. Though billed as a 5K, my 20:09 time tells me the course was probably closer to 3 miles.

All three legs of the event were a pleasure, though my usual lackluster swim put me behind AG winner Bill Troy by three minutes after exiting the lake. My good friend is in top shape so I knew the 'road hunt' would probably prove futile. Though gaining :59 on the next legs,' the swimmer' ultimately finished by a wide margin of two minutes leaving me in 2nd place. My one consolation was finishing ahead of last year's 2006 AG Series Winner, Danny Glenn.

This was the first time I used my new toy 'The Draft Cam' on the back of my helmut. Despite having eyes in the back of my head, the pocket sized video camera proved a few people were not intimidated and decided to draft off me anyway! The USAT judge was intriqued with the play-back but according to USAT rules, penalties can not be awarded by such evidence as I expected. His advice, ‘next race, put a sign on the back of your jeresy, 'Smile, Your On Camera'!

Rob’s 1:02:59 finish was the fastest of those from Brevard. Other local finishers included Willy Moolenaar, 1^st 65-69, 1:30:09; Loran Serwin, 1:10:59; Chris Sorensen, 1:23:58 and Christy Zieres, 1^st Athena, 40+, 1:12:55. Dorothy Wells also grabbed first in the 45-49 age group of the duathlon.

Ed Donner (left, at Clermont last summer) kicked out a great race in Texas yesterday at the Buffalo Springs Lake Triathlon 70.3 (Half Ironman) finishing twelfth in the 30-34 age group in 4:57:07.  His splits included a 33:04 1.2-mile swim; 2:12:14 56-mile bike with an average of 21.3 mph and a 1:40:33 half-marathon (13.1-mile) run with an average pace of 7:40 per mile.  Donner’s time was also faster than that of another Ed – Eddie Branigan, this year’s Pineapple Man winner – who finished in 5:14:26.

Pretty amazing when you realize Donner is just entering his second season in the sport and that the bike course included eight hills with grades ranging from 2.9 to 8.9 percent.  The run also coughed up three hills with grades of 10-14 percent.

The race was a qualifier for both the 70.3 World Championships in Clearwater in November and the Ironman World Championships in Hawaii in October. Chris Leigh, of Lyons, Colorado won the race in 3:55:03. Natasha Badmann, last year’s winner as well as six-time Ironman Hawaii female champ, took the ladies race in 4:19:07

Two time zones away from Donner and about 50+ degrees colder than Florida, Dana Artz (left, in Clermont last April) raced her way to a 6:19:30 at the Pacific Crest Half Ironman in Sunriver, Oregon.  The town’s name may sound warm and inviting but participants were greeted by frost on their windshields and a 63 degree swim. Bend, Oregon, fifteen miles away reported the lowest temperature in the continental U.S. that day of 31 degrees.  And although the bike and run courses were drop-dead gorgeous, not a flat spot was to be found during the bike.

Temps were a little warmer for the police and firefighters who competed in their games in Sarasota over the weekend. In the triathlon, Doug Monda and Mark Casey both won their age groups.  Monda turned a 1:12:39 in the 35-39 division (on left, receives award) with Casey pulling a 1:09:41 in his age group for the quarter-mile swim, 13-mile bike and three-mile run. John Mellick clocked a 1:22:17 and Paul Drinkwater a 1:35:23.  Cyclist Steve Fernez grabbed the state’s cycling top spot.

Farther south, the first race of the Key Biscayne Triathlon Trilogy kicked off at Crandon Park.  Locals kicking the line after the quarter-mile swim; 10-mile bike and three-mile run included Sean Black, 56:06; Rick Buck, 58:46; Patrick Nieto, 1:27:32 and Jared Torres, 1:10:47.

CONGRATS TO ALL WHO RACED!

Bet ya can't get that song out of your mind now, huh? :)

Ron Abel went to yesterday’s Suntree YMCA 5K to help his friend, Ed Springer, break 18 minutes.  Not only did Ed go 17:53, but once Ron was sure Ed was going to meet his goal, he took off to chase down Jonathan Brown and Dillon McGee.

“They started to pick it up as I closed in on them,” said Abel, this past season’s Space Coast Runner Runner of the Year male runner up. "I sprinted hard the last 400 meters."

No kidding.

Abel put 10 seconds on Brown and 11 seconds on McGee, taking the win in 17:38.

On the ladies’ side, Kara Niedermeier (did we spell it right) went to the race with the intent to cheer on some of her Up & Running training buds. 
 

After all, the Divine Mercy athletic director who is off for the summer, took the last two weeks off from running as she visited her family in Ohio.

“My friends talked me into doing the race,” said Niedermeier, who was the female runner-up for the past season’s Runner of the Year series.

Duluth? Who wants to go to Minnesota?
 

If you run marathons, you probably do, as Grandma’s Marathon, known for its cool temps, great race management and fast times, closes out early.

Those locals getting in this year and finishing yesterday include Tegan Litt, Rockledge, 4:38:02; Juan Posada, Rockledge, 4:12:23; Gina Rall, Merritt Island, 4:38:02; Robert Rall, 49, Merritt Island, 4:55:53; Dick White, Cocoa Beach, 4:18:27 (photo left where Dick leads a conga line during a wine-tasting party to honor his birthday) and Marlene White, Cocoa Beach, 4:44:22.

Completing the Garry Bjorklund half marathon that accompanies Grandma’s was Indialantic’s Wolfgang Jensen who posted a 1:42:10. Pretty good for a guy who had a partial hip replacement late last year!

Congrats to all!

Scott Meder ran away with the 40-44 age group win at the USA Triathlon regional sprint championships at the Singer Island Triathlon last weekend in Riviera Beach.

Coming out of the quarter-mile swim just one second back from first place, Meder went on to hammer through the 10-mile bike course in 25:42, averaging 23.4 miles per hour for the fastest age group bike split. He then also grabbed the fastest run split, covering the 5K run course in 18:28. 

No easy feat when you realize the athletes were forced to run and bike across the a ‘fun-sized’ causeway.

Meder’s 59:06 win whupped the rest of his division by more than two minutes and was good enough for 20^th overall.

Others finishing the sultry, south Florida race included Tom Daly, 1^st 65-69, 1:11:45; Randy Hierbaum, 1:04:15 and Greg Savage, 1:14:14.

Roger Travis (center in photo at left taken by Barry Jones during the 2003 Eye of the Dragon 10K) won the 45-49 division of the corresponding duathlon.

Congrats to all!

Congrats to several locals who trained hard and then made the trek to compete in last weekend’s Coliseum Rock N’ Roll Half Ironman (1.2-mile swim, 56-mile bike, 13.1-mile run) or sprint distance (.5-mile swim, 15-mile bike, 3.1-mile run) races in Macon, GA.

Locals pictured on the left (left to right) included Teresa Williams, half, 7:35:06; Loran Serwin, sprint, 3^rd 50-54 AG, 1:39:37; Christy Zieres, 6:24:55; Linda Buckles, 3^rd Athena (150+ lbs.), 6:20:54; Sue Stidham, 7:28:21.