The 2011 Sully Super Sprint triathlon race report

Today I raced in one of my all time favorite triathlons, the Sully Super Sprint Triathlon in Alpine Texas. It's an extremely difficult 3 mile run, a 15 mile bike, & a 360 yard swim. Some of my favorite fellow competitors showed up, Rob Lovett, John Gordea, & Bobby Gonzales. I think I end up have more fun visiting with them than I do racing!

Bobby Gonzales absolutely crushed everyone at this race- no surprise there. He finished in 1st place overall with an astonishing time of 63 minutes.

A guy I've raced with for a couple years by the name of Brooks came up to me, shook my hand & told me I'd been his golden carrot. He told me we race in the same age group & one of his goals has been to beat me. He said that he can usually run faster than me but that I always bike well enough to finish the race ahead of him. Apparently he is now my golden carrot because he didn't just beat me, he mopped the floor with my butt!!! I'll have to check the official finishing times tomorrow, but I think he finished 3rd place overall male & came in somewhere around 5 minutes ahead of me!!! This guy got fast! He'll be a force to be reckoned with!

A guy by the name of Rob Lovett raced today, he is now in his 2nd year of racing triathlons. We've had some amazing neck & neck finishes. Last month he beat me soundly at the Presidents day duathlon. He had finished almost 4 minutes ahead of me on the run & then put even more time on me on the bike. Today I was able to finish the run 20 seconds behind him. I was able to make up a good 12 seconds in the transition to the bike & passed him about half a mile from the bike start. I had a lead on him of about 50 meters at the halfway point, but that didn't last long, he passed me just a few minutes later & he was able to get about 100 meters ahead of me by the end of the bike. I made up a lot of time in the 2nd transition, he was no more than 20 yards ahead of me when he entered the water. I knew last time we had raced that I was a much faster swimmer, but that was 10 months ago. I knew if his swimming had improved at all from our last race it would be doubtful if I could catch him because of the very short swim. This races swim is only 360 yards. Somehow I was able to bridge the gap & pass him on the 4th lap & was able to put a 30 second lead on him by the finish.

I finished 5th place overall male with a time of 77 minutes 10 seconds, which was a little over 3 minutes slower than I was able to do at this race last year.

I really love this race. It's held in one the the most beautiful towns I've ever seen. For such a small triathlon the race directors go all out. There are volunteers at every turn & corner of the race so an athlete never has to worry about getting off course or lost. The awards ceremony is always held quickly, the shirts are top notch performance tees, the race packet has a few goodies in it like Honey Milk post workout drinks, & the medals are top notch, there's free food post race, & there's free post race massages!