It may not be the biggest triathlon in the area and it is definitely not the easiest, but every year the participants at the Davis Health System Triathlon are as excited after the race as they were before.  This year's race was missing some of the perrenial favorites such as Sid Gillispie, Mary Boyd MD, Jim Severino, and Todd Schoonover, but there was no shortage of speed.  New records were set in the individual overall for the men and the team record was shattered.

For the Elkins Multisport Club, Jeff White was at the front of the pack with an impressive time of 1:01:40, finishing first overall and establishing a new course record. Matt Downs was the next of the team members to finish with a time of 1:06:29 finishing 3^rd overall and 2^nd in his age division.  Eric Anger finished with a time of 1:14:51 finishing 8^th overall and 1^st in his division.  Sam Kirkpatrick was the last of the men from the team that participated finishing in a time of 1:16:40 placing 12^th overall an 1^st in his division. Tonya White was the lone female from the team that participated it the race. She finished 23^rd overall with a time of 1:33:14, with a 1^st place finish in her division.

Results can be found at www.runhigh.com and pictures at www.iplayoutside.com.   Thanks for all the sponsors, volunteers, and participants who made this year's race awesome.

On July 13 three EMC members participated in the 23^rd annual Scenic Mountain triathlon.  I think the best way of describing the difficulty of this triathlon was summed up by Todd Schoonover in 2007.  When asked how he liked the course he said, “even the swim was uphill.”

As the season progresses and more of our club members are out of commission either by injury or personal reasons Jeff White has proven to be our go to man.  He continues to throw down remarkably fast times.  In Richwood he placed 2^nd overall with a time of 1:46:16 besting his 2007 time by 1 min and 39 seconds.  His bike dominance continues with a 1^st place in the bike leg with an average of 20mph!  If any of you have ridden the scenic highway you know how impressive that is.

Matt Downs had a respectable race finishing 16^th overall and 2^nd in the 35-39 age class with a time of 2:01:15 besting his 2007 time by about 9 minutes.  He continues to do well with the swim portion coming in 5^th overall with a time of 11:33. 

The most impressive display was made by Sam Kirkpatrick.  He finished the race in a time of 2:16:50 besting his 2007 time by over 23 minutes!  He accomplished this by dropping his average run pace by over 3 minutes per mile, increasing his average bike speed by 1mph, and decreasing his swim time by about a minute.  Way to go!!

This continues to be a wonderfull event with a pre-race dinner and a post race cookout.  Every EMC member should make this a yearly event.  Nearby Summersville Lake is a lot of fun and has many places to stay.  Check out the race results at http://www.iplayoutside.com/Events/2008/07/10998c.html?PHPSESSID=4901130588378f48e1366ffcb316b1dc

Recently 2 of our members competed in the Med Express Spirit of Morgantown Triathlon.  Offered were both a Half Ironman and Olympic distance triathlon.  Both Eric Anger and Matt Downs opted for the Olympic size.  The course was quite difficult.  Biking on this hilly course with lots of potholes and rough spots in a rain storm made for a gnarly bike portion. The leading male professional wrecked twice on the course and had to DNF.   “I don’t think I’ve seen that many flat tires on a course before,” explained Matt.  When Eric was asked how he liked the newly designed run course he said, “it was bull@#*%.”   He was referring to the newly added “gates of hell” section that took runners through some large hill climbs through town.  Matt placed 40^th overall in a field of 180 with a time of 02:39:24 and Eric placed 1^st in XL3 Male age up to 39 and 107^th overall with a time of 03:06:17.  All in all they both agreed that it was a fun time.  Dinner at Oliverio’s (http://oliverios.sites.morgantowns.com/) is always good and the atmosphere HFP racing (http://www.hfpracing.com/) puts on is top notch and a lot of fun.  Check out the race results at (http://hfpracing.com/results.php?eventid=38&raceid=95)

mpd2008

The Elkins Multisport will start Monday evening rides on April 7, 2008.  We will meet at the Trail Head for the Rails-to-Trails just outside of Elkins in the parking lot.  Plan to ride for 1-1.5 hours.  We will meet at 5:30 pm so try not to be late.  For now, we will plan to ride on the road and will do several loops in the area.  Bring a helmit and an extra tube.  Everyone is welcome!

The Elkins Multisport will meet on Saturdays at D & E pool for lap swim.  A few members have been training at this time each week. 

Despite a long trip and frigid lake temperatures, three Elkins Multisport members officially kicked off their triathlon season at The 2008 Smith Mountain Lake Triathlon in Huddleston, Va on May 3.  Jeff White, Tonya White, and Sam Kirkpatrick finished well in their respective divisions.  Jeff finished 60th overall in a strong field of competitors.  He had an impressive bike leg finishing 29th out of 265 men participants even though he was surprised by the number of hills on the coarse.

Tonya, who said of the lake swim, "it was cold" finished 5th in her division despite a lake temperature of 64 degrees.  Her best event proved to be the bicycle where she finished 79th overall.  She was very excited to get her first triathlon of the year out of the way.

The less than optimal temperatures of the lake did not seem to bother Sam Kirkpatrick.  He finished with a time of 14:02 in the swim leg and finished  10th overall in the Clydesdale division.  When asked about his new wetsuit, he said "I loved it".  Rumor has it that he slept in his new 2XU getup.

Results can be found at http://www.setupevents.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=event_detail&eventID=932.

After much debate here is the link to the Crest performance tri tops.  Get them to Matt by June 1st to have them customized before the Davis Health Systems Triathlon.  Be sure to use your discount code from Trisport.com!

http://www.trisports.com/craft-mens-performance-tri-race-top.html

http://www.trisports.com/craft-womens-performance-tri-race-singlet.html

Jeff White, Sam Kirkpatrick and Tonya White traveled to Mt. Sterling, OH on Sunday June 8^th for what would be their best race so far this season. In the sweltering heat with absolutely no shade to help, Jeff, Sam & Tonya competed in the Deer Creek Triathlon with 199 other racers.

As I watched in the transition area all three were on pace to best their times.  Jeff finished his race with an overall time of 1:12:45, placing him 1^st in his age group and 17^th overall. Sam can in not far behind Jeff with an impressive 1:24:05, placing him second in his group and 61^st overall. Tonya finished out the pack with an overall time of 1:44:31, placing her third in her group and 159^th overall.

Jeff, Sam and Tonya’s next race will be in Elkins at the Davis Health Systems Triathlon on June 21^st.

Results can be found at:

http://www.hfpracing.com/results.php?eventid=36&raceid=166

I stole some very informative videos from youtube.com and put them on the Tips Page.  Check them out.  There are a lot of tips to improve efficiency.  Very short videos and I think all of Dave Scott's series from Activedotcom are included.  Let me know what you think.