2007 Pittsburgh Triathlon |
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2007 Pittsburgh Triathlon |
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Results |
It was a beautiful weekend in Pittsburgh, none better for a summer Olympic Triathlon. It was
as much a reunion weekend as it was a racing one. Alumni from the crew team from years past
convened in their favorite city for a friendly competition. Justin and Zach Samuels,
Paul Raff, Paul Harvin, Jon McCune and Lenny Lucas and their entourage geared up for the 2007
Pittsburgh Triathlon.
The weekend started with an afternoon filled with reminiscing, packet pick-up (which included
buying a new lid for Raff), and a team dinner at the Union Grill on Saturday night for carb loading,
followed by ice cream loading (as Coach Don would say "slow food"). Then for the best part of
the night - a viewing of "Short Circuit" and "American Flyer". In time, "American Flyer" will
become
The morning of, all awoke at the butt crack of dawn to summon the athletic aura and hauled
ourselves down to the transition area to set up shop. The team wager set the trash
talking level to ludicrous speed, way past ridiculous speed. It was time to show the guns
that were gonna be firin'.
With the stretching, trash-talking, and setup out of the way, it was time to race, and that meant time for a heroic walk to the start line for the swim leg. The official spectators, Elena and Kathleen, were secretly rooting for Big Lead Pipes since they had bigger guns.
At the gun, it was a mass of basketballs floating in the water. It was Mccune who pulled away
on the swim, with Justin and Lenny fighting for second in the group behind Jon. The rest of the
pack opted for a less intense swim leg. Out of the water, Justin pulled out (like a good Catholic )
ahead of Lenny and would continue to pass Jon and eventually win the race out of our group. But it
was Jon and Lenny working together on the bike to maintain an exhaustive pace. Eventually Lenny would
pull ahead but Jon still had enough in him to give the run hell.
Though Justin was able to convincingly take first of our group, Lenny, Jon, and Harvin came in the
next three spots to keep the average time down. Zach and Raff finished up the pack, but the averaged
times overwhelmingly led Big Lead Pipes to victory. Justin walked away
with second place in the Clydesdale division, so his efforts were not wasted. With victory comes spoils,
and the spoils were fresh, piping hot pizzas.
Big Lead Pipes ended in victory lane in this mutlisport venture, and it wouldn't be the first time this summer.
