Coach Karen Mackin participated in the
USA Triathlon Sprint National Championships in Burlington, VT on Sunday Aug
19th. This event was particularly fun
for her as she loves the head to head competition more typical of bike racing
and less typical of Triathlon. It is
common in a non-draft legal triathlon that has multiple waves of racers going
off at different times to loose track of who it is you are competing with and
not really know where you stand until the results are posted. You often don't get to race side by side with
your competition. This race was
different. As Karen came out of T2 and
began her run, she spied a women about 30seconds up the road who was running about
the same pace who's bike was racked in the transition very close to hers (age
groups are racked together). She knew
she was in the same age group, so Karen tried very hard to close the gap. She'd get a little closer, then the women
would open it up again, and this went on for 2 miles. Then with 1 mile to go, a women ran by Karen,
and Karen realized she was also in her race (same age group body marking). In this final mile, the race was on, gaps
were closed, but the order remained, leaving Karen in 4th place (just 6 seconds
from 3rd and 10seconds from 2nd). "It was the closest, most exciting Age
Group Triathlon Racing I've ever experienced!" exclaimed
Karen.
