Jumpin' Jumpin'

What am I, two weekends behind on race results? I'll try to sum it up succinctly:

For 30 years, the Columbia Triathlon has been a fixture in Mid-Atlantic multisport. It was the first triathlon I ever competed in and some of the greatest triathletes of all time have come to race here. This year, all that changed when Columbia Triathlon Association, the NPO responsible for organizing the race, folded, leaving the race in a lurch. Ultimately, Ulman Cancer Fund came to the rescue and allowed the race to continue as planned. However, Mother Nature had other plans. A serious deluge in the days leading up to the race caused the bacteria level in the lake to go through the roof, meaning the swim had to be canceled. Rather than change the race to a duathlon (run-bike-run) it became just a bike-run. Still plenty of challenge to be had, we saw some great performances from Brian Benda (30th) and Christa Wagner (27th). David Lee, Chris Scott and Stephanie Granlund all competed, as did Jen Sheely in her first multisport race ever!

With the pro race effectively canceled, Alyssa Godesky had a change in plans. Instead of racing at Columbia, she headed down to REV3's Knoxville race. Coincidentally, this would be REV3's final pro race too. What is happening in triathlon?! The unique distance for this event (1.2 swim, 40 bike, 9.8 run) provided a nice blend of an Olympic and half iron. Just two weeks after Wildflower, Alyssa said she felt good and came out of the cold water in good position before riding and running her way to an 11th place finish.

Elsewhere in the triathlon world, Mike Mashner, who has been dormant for this entire year due to an injury, emerged like a caterpillar from its cocoon to race his hometown tri - the Upper Dublin Sprint. It's a race he knows well; after all, he's won the only 3 editions of the event. But how would he fare this year with severely restricted running since October? Mike legged out a second place finish, which was pretty impressive!

Andy Sovonick won the Run for the Animals 5k, his second race win in the past couple of weeks. Andy's had a great season and is shutting down for a week or two to collect himself before beginning a build to late summer and fall racing season.

Christa Wagner earned that week's Purple Drink Athlete of the Week after running an incredible 44:43 on the challenging Columbia Tri course.

Then it was time for Memorial Day, time to usher in summer. After a week of more rain, the weekend started a little chilly on Saturday but progressed nicely into what was legit warmth by Monday! Took some by surprise I'm sure.

The BRRC Patapsco Trail 4 Miler was apparently more appealing than winning money at the MCVETs 5k/10k, as Graham Peck finished 3rd to Ryan Stasiowski (2nd) and Gabe Rodriguez (1st). Terry Decker raced, following a monster day of training on Saturday, and Doug Ripley finished just behind him. Ryan Dietrich also raced, and so did Mr. Peck. So Patapsco was basically a huge sausage-fest, while MCVETs was a serious clam jam.

Chrissie Ramsey was the OVERALL winner at the 5k, running an unrivaled 17:19. Carly Page was 2nd F in 18:53, and Amy Horst took 3rd in 19:31. PJ Anderer was the lone male in 20:13.

In the 10k, Terence Baptiste finished a respectable 5th in 37:27. Recent Loyola grad and superstar Kiera Harrison took the win in 38:xx, while Amy finished 3rd again in 41:40. Eileen Fleck must be feeling pretty good because she ran, finishing 5th in 42:42. Great to see you out there Eileen!

The Vermont City Marathon took its toll on a number of people, including Megan DiGregorio, who had a rare off day as she finished 22nd in 3:17:59. A race I missed in the email, Jen Sheely ran an apparent marathon PR at the Bob Potts Marathon in PA at 3:29:45.

Monday was Memorial Day, of course, and Ian Clark took 2nd in the Special Ops 5k, put on by the Boston Street Running Company, in a very good time of 16:41. Ben and Kendra Ingram drove out to Bolder Boulder 10k on a whim - Ben ran 34:32 for 71st (out of 50,000+!). A couple others I missed in the email: Diane Heiser ran a 10k PR at the Marin 10k (25th F, 38:52) and Robyn St. Laurent ran the Remembrance Run 5k in Howard County (20:46, 5th).

We awarded this week's PDAW to Amy, who raced twice on Sunday, and had also competed the previous weekend at Bike Jam (a real deal bike race)!

Flexin'

Nate Brigham DEFINITELY knows how to post videos to Facebook.

Nate went Rajon Rondo on the Vermont City Marathon, running a spectacular 2:31:48 to finish 6th in the event on Sunday morning. The morning after Nate's Celtics won their game 7 matchup against the Who Cares, Nate went out and made magic happen. Earlier in the week, with forecasted temperatures expected to be a little warmer than ideal, Nate said his plan was to go out "chill" and just eat the dead alive on the back half. One of Nate's goals this year was to get his swagger back, and sho nuff, he definitely did that. YA HEARD.

Note: eating the dead, or Reverse Zombieism, is not endorsed by TWSS or its affiliates.

Nate's time ranks him 6th on our all-time list now, and is hands-down the performance to beat for Performance of the Year in December. Way to go Nate, and as if there were any question, you earned this week's Purple Drink Athlete of the Week.

Also up at VCM, Jake Marren, who hasn't run a marathon in a few years, ran a spectacular 2:49:11 for 26th.

MCVETs almost 5k and almost 10k were the weekend's big races. Brian BG Godsey snatched up his first W in Baltimore in a while, running 15:42, ahead of Tristram Thomas in 15:57. Then it was all ladies, as Chrissie Ramsey finished 1st, and 4th overall, in 17:14. Liz Laseter and Carly Page rounded out the podium, and then it was Sara Breedlove, Denise Knickman, and Amy Horst. Great time for Carly, easily a PR, and Sara B likely as well.

In the 10k, Tristram was back, and this time he wasn't taking 2nd as an answer. Andrew Jaffe tried to rub elbows with TT for a bit, but Tristram proved too strong, and cruised to the win in 33:43, ahead of Beef in 34:45. Marc Malott was 4th in 35:48. Then it was Meg McNew with an awesome win in 38:04 - even if it was short, still a big time PR for Meg, who races Grandma's Marathon in a few weeks. Megan DiGregorio gritted out a tough race on post-marathon fitness, finishing 2nd in 39:55. Big D took 3rd in 41:47. PJ Anderer ran a solid PR of 43:23 for 25th, noting that last year, Fat PJ ran 10 minutes slower. Kevin Frick finished at 44:18 after running the 5k with his son.

Elsewhere in America on this Memorial Day weekend:

Ben and Kendra Ingram ran Bolder Boulder 10k. Ben was 72nd in 35:12, Kendra ran 1:05:05. Not bad for a race with 50,000 people!

Dave Berardi was 10th (18:04) and Alyssa Doyle 7th (20:34) at the Remembrance Run 5k in Columbia.

Matt Augustin posted a 21:51 5k at Jeremy's Run 5k in Olney - good to see him back in the results! One of our O.G.s.