Rock Creek Tri Club

Race report from Head coach Frank Byskov about last weekends olympic distance race in the middle of Washington DC:

On a beautiful morning in downtown Washington DC, several thousand triathletes gathered for the race. Unfortunately, the swim was cancelled due to contamination of the river, so the race started with a short sprint from the swim exit to the transition. This is my strongest event, so not the best start to the day. But nothing to do about it, but to refocus on putting in a strong effort on the bike and run instead.

The bike course was rolling, but fast, although it was crowded at times with a few bottlenecks along the way. I have never seen so many people having flat tires, even though the roads looked in decent condition. Without the swim first, there was every opportunity to go fast on the other two legs if the race. I did a fastest ever split on the bike, averaging a bit over 25mph.

Getting off the bike into T2, unfortunately my left leg was numb, so almost fell off the bike. However, within 25 meters it was fine, and then off to the run.

It was a flat run course, so went for a fast split. I did a season best with just over 39 minutes, and feeling pretty good. There was a lot of support along the route, so it was a nice experience.

Overall, I finished 9th, only a couple of minutes from the very top. If the swim had been there, I would likely have improved several spots! Too bad, but it was still a great racing experience, and nice to see that I have added a bit more speed on top of the endurance.

Also racing for RCTC was Damon B, who had a good race, finishing with his best ever running performance.

The race was well organized, well marked courses, and a good post race experience. However, I will probably not do the race again due to the high risk of the swim being cancelled.  It has happened several times in the 9 year history of the race, and is a bit of a downer for all the people that have prepared for the full triathlon experience.