Hopkins Vineyard Triathlon Report
We are posting from Camp Sincane North, in scenic Hillsdale, NY. (More on that later.) We have a lot of race reports to file, so let's start with the one I witnessed firsthand. I normally shy away from inaugural events because of the possibility of SNAFU's. In the case of the Hopkins Vineyard Tri, I made an exception, in part because of its proximity to our camp, but also because the Race Director, Tom Wilkas, has overseen the respected Pat Griskus Tri for years. We took a leap of faith and have no regrets.
The race was a sprint, with a lake swim, rolling hills on the ride and nothing but hills on the run. There was a wave start, with NSQ in the final wave and therefore chasing some women who had started 3-minutes ahead of her. Thankfully, Simon and I had a trusty stopwatch, as well as Deanna Culbreath and Mark Pfeffer to help make sense of which women were from what wave, and who was in a relay.
When the dust settled, NSQ finished second, behind Jeanne Theleen, an impressive, aspiring pro from UConn. NSQ was 3rd off of the bike, thanks to a blazing swim split from Ms. Theleen (at age 21) and an almost implausible fast ride split from 53-year old Renee Parker. While Nicole was able to overtake Ms. Parker, the eventual winner continued to open the gap with one of the fastest 5k runs of the day for men or women.
New City Coach athlete Rebeccah Niesen made her return to triathlon and finished 2nd in her age group, and shows plenty of reason for optimism.
The race itself was on a beautiful course, and it was the best post-race spread you'll ever see. Sponsored by our new BFF's at the Hopkins Vineyard, athletes drank wine and were all given commemorative wine glasses. The food was not the usual combo of stale bagels and sample size Clif bars, as there was cheese, crackers, wraps, and all sorts of other goodies. The RD sent a gracious note to all racers, and overall, it was a class operation. Hopefully we'll be back next year and bring more of the team.
More race reports to follow.