Nicole Sin Quee and Jessica Purcell made a field trip to Tucson, AZ for the Duathlon National Championship this weekend, and both ladies had impressive and inspiring performances.

The course included a pair of 5k runs on a challenging course, and a 35k ride on rolling terrain between the runs. NSQ was 8th into T1, made up some ground on the ride and though she struggled with the Arizona heat late in the race (and was the medical tent’s “first wabbler”) when she finished she became the 40-44 age group National Champion, and finished 8th overall. She even got a nifty custom National Champion jersey for her efforts.

Not only is Forget the PR 50k one of the best names in racing, it’s also an opportunity for our Ohio chapter (a/k/a) Kevin Motsch to show its strength. The aptly and amusingly named race boasts 50k of trails, including 4500+ feet of climbing. Two years ago Kevin finished in 5:35, while this year he moved up to 6th place, and a time of 4:55:09.

Congratulations Kevin.

Nice work out there today by the team at the NYRR Run for the Parks 4-miler. Jeffrey Dweck lead the way for CCMS with a PR of 25:25 (6:22). In her final pre-Duathlon Nationals tune up Nicole Sin Quee was right on his heels, finishing in 25:34 (6:24), which was good for 2nd place in the 40-44 AG, and 13th overall among the women.

Adele Laboz, Michele Levy and Eli Yedid were also on hand, following coach’s orders to take it easy and have a good time.

Congratulations all around.

To say that it was hot for yesterday’s Boston Marathon would be an understatement. To say that I’m proud of our team for toughing it out despite the conditions would also be an understatement.

Late last week the forecast started looking bad, but they were still “just” calling for temps in the 60′s at the start, and high 70′s or low 80′s my early afternoon.  At that point it still seemed manageable, and runners hoped to put together a fast race. By the time the race rolled around, temps were well into the 70′s at the start, even worse for the second and third waves, and hit the 80′s early on. At that point it became clear that the standards by which the race would be judged were very different than other years.

There’s a new women’s City Coach marathon record, and it’s held by Bonnie Averbuch. She just ran a 2:59:40 at the Rotterdam Marathon. Bonnie ran 1:30:45 for the first half, and then negative split it with a 1:28:55 on the back end. It’s wonderful to see all her hard work and discipline paying off.

Congratulations Bonnie. We’re all happy for you and proud of you.

Yesterday was the 28th Annual Brooklyn Duathlon. Actually, it’s the first time that the NY Tri Club actually called it a duathlon instead of a biathlon, and it’s only the seventh time on this course, but I digress.  Over the years this race has been our traditional season opener, and it has treated us well. Back in the day, it was Chris Bergland’s first multisport victory, and a few years ago our ladies (Amy May, Jeannine Bardo, Yvonne Kingon) swept the podium with a 1,2,3 finish. Yesterday was no exception.

Congratulations to the lovely Nicole Sin Quee for her strong showing at the Race at Roosevelt Island (10k) today. Nicole’s comeback is progressing well, as she was the first Masters finisher, and 6th overall woman, finishing in a time of 41:51 (6:45/mile). Also on hand was the indefatigable Chris Solarz, who finished a close 2nd overall in 34:40 (5:35/mile).

Our Brooklyn crew made the trip to our Nation’s capital today for the Cherry Blossom 10-miler. Congratulations to the ladies.

• Sara Bibi (as part of 16 miles of Boston training) 1:27:52
• Adele Laboz (also doing 16) 1:27:52
• Tami Morano (nice to see our old friend back out there) 1:27:59
• Michele Levy 1:34:45
• Iris Shalam 1:34:45
• Cipriana Cuevas (doing her 10-mile recovery run after yesterday’s 20) 1:36:09

Though I could wax nostalgic about the time the March Madness race was held in April (true story) or the fact that NYTC insisted on calling it a Biathlon until this year, let's live in the present and congratulate yesterday's City Coach representatives at the March Madness Du.

• Fabian Gallardo – 22nd overall (in a field of 373)
• Eli Yedid – followed up last week's PR at the NYC Half with an 8-minute improvement over last year's race.

Congratulations gentlemen. 

Congratulations to Lauri Young, who finished 2nd out of 67 women in the 50-54 AG at today's 13.1 New York race. (Sorry, I simply refuse to refer to it by the official name, 13.1 Marathon.) Lauri finished in 1:53:34, and narrowly missed the AG victory.