 Locals ready to dive in this weekend
Monterey County Herald - Monterey, CA, USA
By DENNIS TAYLOR
Herald Staff Writer
Defending champion Alexis Waddel of Carmel heads a field of 53 top professional athletes who will converge on the Monterey Peninsula this weekend for the Triathlon at Pacific Grove, which, for the first-time ever, will be a two-day event.
Waddel will attempt to repeat as champion on Saturday, when the pro/elite races take place for a world-class field of men and women. The men's race is scheduled at noon, with the women hitting the water at 12:10 p.m. in an Olympic-distance competition, featuring a 1.5-kilometer ocean swim, a 40K bike race and a 10K run.
Those featured races will be preceded by age-group competitions, which begin at 7:15 a.m.
All sprint-distance races (0.25-mile swim, 12.4-mile bike, 2-mile run) will be contested this year on Sunday, beginning at 7:15 a.m. with junior elite males and females, and continuing through 11 a.m.
"This is an incredible race for spectators because you basically can see the athletes seven times from vantage points at Lovers Point," said race director Terry Davis. "From there, you'll be able to watch two loops of the swim, four loops of the bike race and three loops of the run. That's one of the greatest aspects of this event."
Davis said the decision to convert the Triathlon at Pacific Grove into a two-day show also was, in part, to accommodate the spectators.
"We really try to make this event a family-oriented thing, and we have a whole lot of father/daughter, mother/son, husband/wife types of competitors," he explained. "Often times, one member of the family races at Olympic distance, while others are in the sprint-distance races. When it was all on one day, they really couldn't watch each other race."
He said the race also had outgrown its single-day format to the point where many Olympic-distance competitors were being turned away. With a two-day schedule, more athletes can be accommodated.
"And the third reason is a bit of a Chamber of Commerce thing," he said. "It's a good way to extend the stay of people who are visiting Pacific Grove and the Monterey Peninsula."
Brent Allen, coordinator of the pro and elite field for the race, lists Waddel among the females to beat again this year, but guarantees she'll be among strong company. The women's field includes two-time Canadian Olympian Carol Montgomery, Ironman California champ Kate Major (runner-up to Waddel at Pacific Grove last year), 2004 Wildflower winner Katja Schumacher, 2005 Wildflower champ Samantha McGlone and Floridian Linda Gallo, who ranked second to Waddel last year in the Tri-California Series.
Favorites in the men's pro/elite race will include Canadian Kelly Guest, the top-ranked Tri-California Series athlete in the event; Brian Fleishmann, who resides at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs; Brian Lavelle, spouse of four-time women's champ Becky Gibbs-Lavelle; Maryland's Andrew Noble; top-ranked Mexican Arturo Garza; Oakland's Timothy O'Donnell and Levi Maxwell, who was in position to win last year's race before health problems put him on the sidelines.
The complete schedule and other race information may be found online at www.tricalifornia.com/pgtri/2005/.
Dennis Taylor can be reached at dtaylor@montereyherald.com or 646-4344.
|TRIATHLON AT PACIFIC GROVE|
Saturday's Schedule
Olympic Distance
(1.5K swim; 40K bike; 10K run)
7:15-8:30 a.m.: Boys and men age-group races
8:45-9:30 a.m.: Girls and woman age group races
9:45 a.m.: All relays
Noon: Pro/elite men
12:10 p.m.: Pro/elite women
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