On February 18th 48 years ago, 15 people decided to combine the 2.4 mile Waikiki Rough Water Swim, with a bike ride around the eastern part of O’ahu Island, followed by a full marathon on the same day, with the intention to see who could best combine long distance swimming, cycling and running and be named “Ironman”. Three years later, the event was moved to the Kona coast on the Big Island and began its growth to its current state. The Waikiki Rough Water Swim still takes place (in August this year) and some of our club members have participated. Biking around the island and running a marathon are on your own though.

The February club meeting was held on the 26th  at Rusty’s Pizza. Our guest speakers were a suite from USA Triathlon. USAT Foundation head Jason Rizzi started and talked about what it takes to promote elite American athletes and get them the resources they need to race. He also described programs to encourage triathlon participation particularly among younger folks. Next, Parker Spencer, High Performance Coach for USAT described some of the aspects of preparing the athletes for racing, and introduced two USAT support triathletes. Reese Vannerson from Texas is collegiate athlete with a very promising future, and Ericka Akerlund is a pro triathlete from Montana and Colorado who competes in the US and international triathlon events, usually in Olympic distance draft-legal events. She was anticipating competing in the world championship in Abu Dhabi this month, but obviously this is not happening now, The event has been rescheduled for November. Then Ironman triathlon legend Mark Allen, who is acting as an ambassador for the USAT fund raising effort talked about his history in the sport, and how when he was still beginning at the elite level, a corporate sponsor made a huge difference in how he was able to pursue the sport, and eventually overtake the achievements of his contemporaries like Dave Scott, and eventually win six straight Kona Ironman championships.

May 3, Harbor Cove Beach, Ventura, CA
Various distances including Olympic and Sprint tris
https://runsignup.com/Race/CA/Ventura/2022CalTriVentura

April 26, Los Cabos, BCS, Mexico
https://www.ironman.com/races/im703-los-cabos

Club Event September 13, 2026
https://www.ironman.com/races/im703-santa-cruz

The memorial ride for Doc Flanigan took place on the 22nd to celebrate his life and his management of the Monday night bicycle time trials. A good number of folks, maybe 80, showed up for the celebration. A few memories were shared, and it was announced that the Baker brothers would take over management of the time trial. Then we all set for a leisurely-paced group ride along the 10-mile time trial course. The monthly time trials have started now.

View site

Doc Flanigan MONDAY NIGHT TIME TRIAL
Next Event April 13, 6:00pm Lake Los Carneros Park
10 mile self-timed bike time trial

View the MNTT Site

May 1-3, Laks San Antonio, Bradley CA
Many distances including half-ironman, and also gravel triathlon,
trail runs, and the beer mile (maybe)
https://www.wildflowerexperience.com/

We will meet at 5pm at Deckers Retail Store, 6601 Hollister Ave, Goleta, for a fun 5k run.

Local wellness companies will be part of these events, and some amazing raffle prizes!

The 9-Trails race took place on March 9. Club athletes Karen Peabody and Stephanie Boshers competed, Karen in the full 35-mile and Stephanie in the 17-mile fun run. Everybody reported very hot temperatures and much suffering but both finished in respectable times. Stephanie reported being inadvertently knocked off the trail by an oncoming runner and being rescued from sliding down the hill head-first by a runner grabbing her ankle. She went on to finish with a tweaked knee.

Full results at https://ultrasignup.com/results_event.aspx?did=131756

Three vintage athletes and a couple of younger ones, represented the club at the March Triathlon Series Cal Poly race on March 7. This is another of the collegiate club competitions like last month’s Kendra’s Race at UCSB. Bob DeLoe, John Nelson, Tony Schreiner and Andrew Walton competed in the Open Sprint race. Scott Grierson competed in the Open Olympic race, but only completed the swim and bike portions because of a nagging injury from Kendra’s Race (Editor’s apologies for omitting Scott and Andrew’s names in last month’s Kendra’s Race report). The day was beautiful and the 10:00 AM start time for the first wave was civilized; we drove up on race morning. The Lopez Lake water was quite cold, maybe 56F, but the air was warm and it wasn’t too uncomfortable. The bike portion starts with a nice little climb out of transition but outside the park the road is very good, with a down-hill out and up-hill back. The second half of the ride for the Olympic course is in the park and a lot rougher. The run is out and back along the lakefront, with the Olympic doing it twice.

Full results (provided by Jerret and Kirstin) at https://timingevolution.com/mts-cal-poly

Bill and Kelly Barrett hosted a mixer and happy-hour at their house this past weekend with Tacos!. It was a lovely afternoon with a nice group of people.

Western states Ironman and Ironman 70.3 races this coming year:

Oceanside 70.3 (3/28) (closed), Los Cabos 70.3 (4/26), Victoria 70.3 (5/24), Hawaii (Honu) 70.3 (5/30), Coeur d’Alene 70.3 (6/21), Ruidoso (New Mexico) 70.3 (7/12), Oregon 70.3 (7/19) (closed), Boise 70.3 (7/25), Calgary 70.3 (7/26), Redding 70.3 (8/16), Santa Cruz 70.3 (9/13), Washington Tri-Cities 70.3 (9/20), California Ironman (10/18), La Quinta 70.3 (12/6).

If you would like to suggest or contribute any content to the newsletter, such as race reports, activities that might interest the club, or want your races listed, please email to newsletter@sbtriclub.com. Tony S