What a Weekend

The Gloucester Fisherman Triathlon has come and gone. More to come ASAP (playing catch up with work today) but check out the awesome coverage that Joey and the rest of the crew at Good Morning Gloucester provided for the 2010 rendition of this year's race!!! Gloucester at it's best!

Time for a quick shout out to the crew:

John Babcock continues to roll. Not only did he win, again, but he shattered Jordan Rapp's course record in the process (by a good 2+ min.) at the Niantic Bay Triathlon

I'll be sure to avoid the races that John enters when I return to racing in 2011 :)

Roll Call at the GFT:

Hands down the most competitive sprint event in the North East region so far this year. I'll let the results/splits speak for them selves

Ladies first:

• BIG props to Kerri Boyle! Former mid packer turned elite age grouper. Keri finished as second OVERALL age grouper! She's one year away from being ready for the elite wave and I can't wait to see the day when she joins that group.
• Maris DiTolla: Currently training for IMWI. Tired legs be damned... she still laid down a nasty bike split and finished 2nd overall in her AG, just outside of top 3 OA amateur status.
• Kat Donatello: Who just last week won the Lowell Olympic distance tri. Today she took 2nd in her AG. Kat's just one month removed from IM Austria yet she's still setting PRs on the short course front.
• Kelli "don't call me a body-builder-anymore!" McDonough: Here's an athlete who goes from pro body builder to top AG athlete in 7 months. That's not supposed to happen! Kelli had another PR day and the aerobic engine just keeps getting bigger and bigger!!!
• Melissa Moeckel: Training for a 70.3 but still holding her own despite the training related fatigue.

Boys will be Boys:

• Props to the comeback kid Craig Lewin who is on the road to recovery after breaking his knee nearly 2 years ago. Craig shared the podium with fellow JRM athlete Jeff Donatello as they took the 2nd and 3rd overall amateur titles. Like Kat, Jeff is just one month removed from IM Austria as well. Looks like the legs are starting to come back around again!
• Nate Buttrick and Spencer Tweed: I recommended that they jump into the Pro/Elite field for experience sake and they both held their own. This was nothing more than a tune up race for Timberman 70.3 in weeks time, but they still managed to place 9th and 18th overall respectively. Not too shabby!
  
• Greg "G-Unit" Guarriello: Not quite the day either of us were hoping for, but sometimes, work comes first and Greg has had A LOT of it as of late. (A LOT of) Lost training time + racing don't mix oh so well, but Greg still managed to hold his own and hang in there on a tough day.
• A quick shout out to my brother who competed as part of a relay team. No TT bike, basic aero wheels and the fastest bike split of the day. Granted... no swim or run to contend with, but I think that it's safe to say that the kid has talent, and A LOT of it. If you know anything about some of the guys (and girls!) that were in the race on Sunday, you know that out-splitting them, any way you cut it, on the bike is an impressive feat.
  

Pics and video to come. I'm exhausted from the effort that went into the race but it's a great event and one that is worthy of the sacrifice. I'll do my part to make it bigger and better in 2011 and beyond.