Vineman Intern'l Report
an...@sjsu.edu
compete in the Vineman International Triathlon which is one of the 2
qualifiers for the Junior World Championships in Cancun this fall. For
Age Groupers it is one of the top races and attracts the top athletes from
Northern California. There is no pro division but exceptions are made to
past winners of the race so this is how I got in. I was able to race in
the 2nd wave behind the juniors.
PRERACE DINNER Pete and I, Tom Monica and Maria Hartz, Brigid Kranz, and
a few GGTC members had dinner at some Italian cafe in downtown Santa Rosa
(the name I can't recall, Cafe Alonzo or something similar).... big
mistake! We waited for an hour for our dinner to be served, it was
expensive, the portions were meager, and Pete had some foreign object in
his pasta which was a cross between uncooked pasta and a fishbone (we
never figured out what it was). The waitress was polite (did anyone get
her number??) but she held firm when Pete laid on the guilt trip in an
attempt to sport a free meal.
THE RACE The juniors had started when I was just getting into the water.
My cap broke so I had to hunt down another. There was no place to warmup
in the swim but I guess it didn't really matter because we were done in no
time. A slight current against us on the way out was the only obstacle on
this completely calm swim. I was at the turnaround buoy before I knew it
and I knew something was amiss. Hit the beach in 12:30 or so with a 30-40
second lead or so on my wave. I never looked back and hammered the first
few miles of the winding bike course along the river. Soon we were on
some pretty bad roads chewed up by the winter storms and this was the way
it was for most of the undulating rises and descents before we it smooth
roads again a few miles from the run start. Fortunately for me I was
given a low number and only had to travel down a few racks in the
transition. At this point I had passed all but 3 juniors, including
Stanford Boy Josh Dapice who had bad luck in Columbia but at this point
was leading the race. I started the run with my legs feeling good and
speedy, but my stomach was feeling pretty bad. I had swallowed some river
water and had a few Gatorlode's on the bike and couldn't figure out what
was doing me in. Fortunately, I was able to hold off cramping on the run
and finished in 1:44:17. I had the junior ahead of me scared since they
would only take the top 3, and I was only 10 or so seconds behind at the
end. The top junior did a 1:46 but the age groupers were faster,
particularly the 25-35 guys, including Pete Kain, Don Weaver, Jim Musac,
etc.
NOTES Pete's nightmare the day before (when he saw his run transition was
100 yds behind the front racks) became a reality the next day when he came
off the bike in front of Weaver and started the run 30 seconds behind. He
closed it to 10 sec. by the end but it was not enough. Congrats to Josh
for placing 2nd and earning a free trip to World's again as well as an
Olympic training camp... not bad for the "Cabin Boy" BTW top junior girl
was NCAA swimmer/runner ace Stanford Girl Amanda White (Josh, get on
it!)... Consolations to Dave Roberson who doesn't like to race this
"short shit" but raced anyway in prep for Buffalo Spgs IQ (Ironman
Qualifier)
Andrew Kelsey