Last Sunday's Ventura Triathlon is the primary source of charitable donations for the Dina LaVigna Breath of Life Primary Immunodeficiency Fund.  Proceeds from this year's event go towards improvements for the Los Angeles Children's Hospital with over $750,000 raised to date.  It is a fast, flat and scenic 1.5 kilometers swim, 40 kilometers bike, 10 kilometers run located at San Buenaventura State Beach.  This year it was on the USAT's 2009 Regional Championship Series bringing some very fast folks and they all seemed to fly past me. This was my first tri since pre and post surgery late last year so it was a test to see where I stand for the AZ IM.  And no I can't get my money back but Liz promised me I would be ready in time.

I think everyone in the SB Tri Club competed in this race excepting those coming back from Coeur d'Alene.  Therefore, since you were all there, I thought it more interesting to include the E-mails sent to me today from Fred Kass, Doug Black and Olita Layton. They sum up their experiences with the following:

Sandy, Here’s my report: With Jack Bianchi’s coaching, I cut more than 20 minutes from the overall time compared with last year’s Ventura race, in large part because I improved my running by more than 1:30 minute/mile.  Thanks to all the Tri Club members for always being so supportive.  Fred 2:35:28.7

Fred has coached me with my swimming but I think I liked him better when I could catch him on the run!

Ventura was my first Olympic three years ago—and you know what they say about your first J. Since I am relatively new to triathlons, each one seems to present a new “adventure”. I’ve done the “God please let me finish” Ventura. Then there was the “ I have a new bike, screw the run” Ventura. This one will go down as “have fun with what you got” Ventura.

 

On the few triathlons I have been able to attend (I hate calling them races) I have always been able to attain a new PR—of course I have never done more than two of any event. Today, about half way thru the bike I realized this was not going to be a PR for Duggy J. That is when I really appreciated having 70 of my closest friends with me.

 

Two things I really appreciate during triathlons. One is when some stranger  in the crowd yells “go Santa Barbara!”  The other is when I see someone from the tri club yell “go Doug” or if they don’t know my name they will just look up with a big smile and say “way to go Santa Barbara”.

 

Today was one of those days that being part of the Santa Barbara Tri Club made the triathlon especially fun---and I had a BLAST!!  Doug Black 2:54:36.8

 

Doug and I have been very good friends for many years and he is the one that started me in triathlons.  I have yet to forgive him.

 

Hi Sandy!
I LOVE Tri For Life! This was only my second Olympic triathlon, but my second time at Ventura since I did the sprint last year.Positives first: Great atmosphere! Tons of teammate support! FAST swim conditions with easy sighting on the swim course. It was a beautiful day with the smell of ripe strawberries on the bike side loops! Was expecting a strong wind, but turned out to be relatively calm on the bike. The best family style barbecue after a race I have ever experienced (and not just because I was hungry)! Our race tent was the coolest in a nice shady spot! Dave and Liz were voted longest annual participants and we found out there was an encounter with cupid at Tri For Life as this is where they originally met seven years ago!Only a couple negatives, number one being the state park road no passing zone, which seemed unsafe when there's a scared wobbly junior biker ahead of you and everyone is yelling at them to hurry up while others were passing illegally out of impatience. Second being a challenging sandy run from the swim to transition area, but that adds to the character of the race. Lastly,  no transition times with the chip timing? I'm guessing both transitions were included in the bike time, which would explain why some thought the bike splits seemed slow.Definitely more positives than negatives. Count me in for next year! Olita Layton 2:38:48.7

 

Thank you Fred, Doug and Olita for your contributions.  I think they gave a comprehensive report on how it felt last Sunday.  There were about 70 participants from the Santa Barbara area and it would be web space prohibitive to comment about all.  It is also difficult to single out a few but I must.  I will start with a little bootlicking to my SB tri boss and President Dave Groom.  He came in first in his 60-64 age group with an amazing 2:16:19 and was firing on all three events.  I know Liz trains him very well, even in triathlons, but I think his success is from his training partner, me!  Yes, he has been drafting off me for a long time now.  Next we have Kyle Visin 1:58:04 3rd M25-29 and 7th overall!  Jon Clark 2:12:09 came in first in his age group M45-49, Joe Sullivan 2:12:01 execelent time for 3rd M55-59, Joe Howell 2:26:47 right on Dave's tail with a 3rd M60-64, Jayna skinned knees Jones 2:21:36 very fast 2nd F30-34, Andrea Stouffer 2:27:46 a nice 2nd F40-44, Rosie Thompson 3:18:32 cruised a 3rd F60-64, Mariann Thomas 2:26:15 good 2nd F45-49. Sprint Course:  Carl Parker 1:06:20 3rd M30-34, Jack Bianchi 1:21:37 charging back with a 2nd M65-69, Rowena Spence 1:11:43 1st F30-34 and Desa Mandarino 1:15:53 burned up the course with a 3rd F35-39. Matt Trost 1:03:58 3rd in his age group M40-44 an impressive 7th overall.

The Santa Barbara Triathletes pull down an even dozen podium spots in a very tough field.  The following are the rest of our groups in last name order, males then females and by ascending age groups directly taken from the results web site.  I hope I got everyone with no mistakes, however by the end I had a severe case of carpal pasteing syndrome:

Smith,Garrett 2:29:37.0, Nowakowski,Mark 2:33:35.9, Schultz,Joshua 2:08:49.5, Chan,Corey 2:10:56.9, Rosvall,Fredrik 2:20:52.2, Ho,Ricky 2:25:17.2, Russell,Greg 2:44:46.9, Hudson,Taj 2:10:55.8, Garcia,Thomas 2:19:17.0, George,Jason 2:23:51.8, Bailey,Jeff 2:27:17.2, Klein,Sven 2:37:09.2, Riley,Andrew 2:13:40.0, Herzog,John 2:17:54.0, Weis,Karl 2:25:21.6, Nelson,John 2:10:46.3, Black,Doug 2:54:36.8, Hubbard,Sara 3:33:43.4, Schultz,Karen 2:23:31.8 Newell,Catherine 2:49:26.0, Powell,Brooke 2:53:57.3, Covington,Lindsay 2:22:12.1, Groom,Liz 2:32:39.9, Layton,Olita 2:38:48.7, Bailey,Beth 2:39:37.8, Berndt,Tamara 2:47:09.3, Aller,Kristen 2:56:12.3, Aghayan,Cyndi 2:39:45.4, Cholawsky,Elizabeth 2:47:04.2
SPRINT COURSE:

Monts-homkey,Aric 1:38:16.5, Robinson,Michael 1:08:54.7, Heindl,Eric 1:28:32.6, Martin,Tim 1:18:11.0, Konoske,Richard 1:14:00.2, Polomski,Mark 1:25:25.3, Evans,Ray 1:19:18.0, Elledge,Dennis 1:33:10.0, Teichman,Irwin  1:31:30.5, Bahnson,Margarita 1:22:51.2, Nuding,Amelia 1:26:29.8, Robinson,Julie 1:17:20.0, Rybnicek,Tara 1:24:11.6, Matthews,Laurie 1:28:44.0, Konoske,Michelle 1:15:54.5, Clark,Susan 1:16:41.9, Polomski,Pamela 1:33:39.4

That's it gang, lets get ready for Strawberry Fields or Vineman or maybe a couple of brewskis and a beach chair at Ledbetter?

Sandy

A Good Credit Score is 700 or Above. See yours in just 2 easy steps!