This was by far the toughest field I've ever raced - and probably one of my best performances - yet it was good only for a not very enthusiastic 10th place. Just to give you an idea of the talent of the field, the top-10 results were as follows:
1) Joe Maloy (2014 ITU US Champ, 2016 Olympic hopeful)
2) Hunter Kemper (4x Olympian)
3) Cam Dye (3x LifeTimeFitness series winner; arguably the best olympic-distance no-draft triathlete of the past few years)
4) Ben Collins (world-class oly-distance and 70.3 no-draft triathlete)
5) Tommy Zaferes (Team USA ITU triathlete, 2014 USA SuperSprint Champs runner-up, 2016 Olympic hopeful)
6) Eric Lagerstrom (Team USA ITU triathlete, 2013 USA SuperSprint Champ, 2016 Olympic hopeful)
7) Javier Gomez (arguably the best and most versatile triathlete of all time; 4x ITU World Champ, 2014 Ironman 70.3 Champ, 2013 Xterra World Champ, 2x HyVee Champ, etc)
8) Jason Pederson (Team USA ITU triathlete, 2016 Olympic hopeful)
9) Luke McKenzie (2013 Ironman Kona World Champs runner-up, 2014 Ironman Kona Worlds 15th place)
10) Davide Giardini (who?!)
1) Joe Maloy (2014 ITU US Champ, 2016 Olympic hopeful)
2) Hunter Kemper (4x Olympian)
3) Cam Dye (3x LifeTimeFitness series winner; arguably the best olympic-distance no-draft triathlete of the past few years)
4) Ben Collins (world-class oly-distance and 70.3 no-draft triathlete)
5) Tommy Zaferes (Team USA ITU triathlete, 2014 USA SuperSprint Champs runner-up, 2016 Olympic hopeful)
6) Eric Lagerstrom (Team USA ITU triathlete, 2013 USA SuperSprint Champ, 2016 Olympic hopeful)
7) Javier Gomez (arguably the best and most versatile triathlete of all time; 4x ITU World Champ, 2014 Ironman 70.3 Champ, 2013 Xterra World Champ, 2x HyVee Champ, etc)
8) Jason Pederson (Team USA ITU triathlete, 2016 Olympic hopeful)
9) Luke McKenzie (2013 Ironman Kona World Champs runner-up, 2014 Ironman Kona Worlds 15th place)
10) Davide Giardini (who?!)
It was awesome to catch up with my Hawaiian brothers Tim Marr and Sam Corace, the best triathletes on the Islands, and who inspired me to pursue my triathlon dream.
The day pre-race was a bit different than usual, as I had to fulfill my work duties at the BioAstin Astaxanthin (Nutrex Hawaii) booth for the majority of the day, in my role of Brand Ambassador and Demo Rep in Boulder, CO. Here below me and Timmy working hard. Definitely NOT a bad boss!
Luckily, I still had time in the morning to get a quick shake-out.
On race-day Sunday, I had a solid front-pack swim - 4th - with the fastest swimmers in the sport, and edging out Gomez by a few secs.
I had a quick transition, which put me right out of T1 with Dye, trailed by Collins and Gomez. Collins went down on the first turn, which left me hanging behind Dye, who put the smack down from the start. I was committed to staying with him, but I was lacking the "pop" needed to push the 400+ watts (!!!) he was laying down.
Didn't enjoy the very technical course, which featured very narrow sketchy sections (promoted drafting) on crappy roads, and and way too many U-turns. Hats off to Dye, who rides like a freaking mad-man in any conditions. Dude's crazy!
Didn't enjoy the very technical course, which featured very narrow sketchy sections (promoted drafting) on crappy roads, and and way too many U-turns. Hats off to Dye, who rides like a freaking mad-man in any conditions. Dude's crazy!
I was out of T2 in the front-pack, with Dye off the front, and Collins and McKenzie just up the road. The ITU guys went out guns out from the start. It was pretty cool (?!) to have Gomez run by me after a bit. I ended up running with McKenzie just up the road of me, but didn't have enough to pass him. I still need to drop a good 2' minutes off my 10k time in order to be competitive on the run in these pack-riding races where it's hard to get away on the bike (unless you're Cam Dye).
After Oceanside I stayed in San Diego working for Nutrex Hawaii with Tim and Mariane Marr. It was a good time to hang out the boys for a few days and enjoy the perfect Cali weather and the oxygen-rich sea-level!
I'm stoked to have a few new sponsors on board for the 2015 season (details to come).
