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Race Result

Racer: Kevin Kunkel
Race: 3Sports Sprint Triathlon
Date: Sunday, July 24, 2005
Location: Richmond, VA
Race Type: Triathlon - Sprint
Age Group: Male 30 - 34
Time: 0:59:40
Overall Place: 17 / 347
Age Group Place: 3 / 32
Comment: Mixed results



Race Report:



I must preface my report with the excuse lines. First, thanks to my wife working at the airport with all the sick folks coming from the far reaches of the globe, I managed to get a nasty cold the day before the race, not to mention I didn't get any sleep the night before since I was running high on Dayquil. Big mistake! Use the Nyquil for sleep.

I made my way down to Richmond EARLY in the morning (4:30). Once down there the folks at Set Up, Inc. had done another marvelous job of having everything set up. I met Brad Payne who did this race before and he gave me the low down. It's a good thing that RATS always wear their loud yellow shirts--that way we can easily spot each other.

The swim was a time trial 300M snake swim in a pool. I was set to go as 113 out of 400+ competitors. The swim went crappy as it always does for me. I got passed by 3 and passed one. Not east to do when there are people going both ways in each lane. Then we had to run about 300M over a rocky field. I wish I would have had some sandals for this. At least they had the kiddie pool at the entrance of transition to rinse your feet off. The guy right before me knocked my bike off the rack so I wasn’t so happy. It didn’t slow my transition that much (:50).

On the bike the course was pretty flat. I would describe it as being similar to the Reston course. This was my first ride, not to mention race, with my new ITU type aero bars on my bike. I did feel comfortable and my speed stayed between 20-27 the whole way. I took it pretty easy because as the Bath County Tri I was toast when I hit the run. I managed the 20K in a little bit over 31 minutes. OK but not great. I want to break 30 in the 20K. Second transition was uneventful. I’ve even got the bike dismount of Mike Tine well in hand now.

The run felt quite easy compared to past races. Maybe it’s the brick runs I’ve been doing—still not enough, or that I simply didn’t kill myself on the bike, but the run felt pretty easy. After the race I regretted that I didn’t run harder. I ran 20:02. For someone who can run 18 flat I should be able to get around 19 for a tri. Am I right?

In the end I got 3rd in my age group—damn “3” again! I think I’m still in 3rd in my age group for the Virginia Triathlon Series. I don’t know really, the guy that was in 4th beat me pretty well. He biked an incredible 29:05. I need to get stronger on the bike. I’ll see him and few of you all at the nest race, the Culpeper Tri on the 7th.