Multisports Orange County (CA)

TEMECULA, CA - The Fleet Feet/Multisports OC gang had a great weekend at the Xterra West Championships at Vail Lake, May 14-15, 2005. Scott White & Louis Bednar headed out early on Thursday in the CruiseAmerica Motorhome to stake out the "Fleet Feet Xterra Base Camp" and the rest of the gang trickled in and out through the weekend. Click here for FULL RACE RESULTS Click here for TEAM PHOTOS FROM THE EVENT Below are the event by event highlights. ======================================================================================= 5K SCRAMBLE Saturday morning was the 5 & 10K scramble events. Some decided to run it to check out the course for the next day. The 10k started 2 minutes before the 5k so Coach Michael Collins had some traffic to get through passing the 10k'ers on his way to an overall win in the 5k. The course was certainly not fast as his winning time was about 5 minutes slower than his regular 5k time. The course started with an extremely steep "wall" climb to start and then went over some steep undulating rollers before dropping down into a creek bed for the last two miles. Most would be happy to run in a flat creek bed except it was all deep sand with several submerged rocks (like the one Rusty found on the Xterra Sport Run) Karen Mastro won her 50-54 age group. Michele Brown was 3rd in 25-29 and even decided to run a 2nd lap for training with "carpool partner" Alli Garland who was taking "baby Brooke" for her first race. 1 Michael Collins 30 - 39 Irvine, CA :21:40 06:59 14 Michele Brown 30 - 39 F :31:43 10:13 26 Karen Mastro 50 - 59 F San Dimas, CA :43:04 13:53 ======================================================================================= DUATHLON: 3k Run - 15k Bike - 5k Run New Multisports OC member Leon Laub drove out for the day to do the Duathlon on Saturday. Leon placed 23rd overall and 3rd in the 45-49 age group despite some bike troubles and a crash. 23 Leon Laub #58 45 - 49 :17:20 1:04:49 :27:48 1:49:57 ======================================================================================= XTERRA SPORT: 750m Swim - 15k Bike - 5k Run Multisports OC "Wimp" Coach, Michael Collins, decided to downgrade from the full Xterra race to the Sport after reviewing the course and finding out he would start in the 4th wave at about 11am the next day in the heat of the day. "I have nothing to prove", Coach Mike said. "I race for the fun of it, and being out there for 3 hours in the heat fighting for the best lines on a single track with a bunch of other athletes I am trying to pass or get passed by, doesn't sound like much fun. I can't even fathom trying to do the second lap with that massive climb in the hottest part of the day." It looks like he made a good decision, as the 8am start featured glassy swimming conditions and warm, but not horrendously hot, conditions for the one lap bike and run course. Collins emerged from the 750m swim in 1st place by nearly 40 seconds, but gave nearly all of it away putting on his mountain biking gear including: socks, shoes, sunglasses, helmet, camelback and mountain bike gloves. "I have much better transitions in road tris because I don't put all that stuff on. I usually just put on my helmet and run out and can get my shoes on as I ride, but in a mountain race I really need the gloves for safety and I'm too afraid to take my hands off the bars to drink from a bottle. Plus the bottle usually tastes like dirt! If I crash I just try to land on my Camelback so it's like landing on a water bed." Collins left onto the bike with only a 10 second lead but quickly pulled to an insurmountable lead by the top of the first major climb from the lake. "My strategy was to really work the climbs because I'm not so brave on the descents. My heart rate comes down when I descend because my skills won't allow me to hammer going downhill. Also, I learned my lesson at the Castaic Big Blue Xterra where I did not pre-ride the course and crashed 5 times. I rode this course several times and knew where to change gears and what the best lines to take were. I only had to come off the bike once to get up a short steep section right after a deep sand section." Collins CRUSHED the field winning by nearly 10 minutes with the days fastest swim, bike, and run splits. His run split was 10 seconds FASTER than his winning time in the 5k Scramble. 2nd overall was Fleet Feet/Multisports OC team-mate Louis Bednar. "I would have won this race if that P$%^Y would have stayed in the long race!" Louis bellowed shortly after finishing. Louis was happy again upon seeing the medals were all the same size and color, just like a baby with a shinny nickel. Fleet Feet Laguna Niguel elite athlete Jenifer Padilla, competing in her first mountain bike triathlon, won the female division overall with a dominating run performance with the second fastest OVERALL run time including men (just 2 seconds slower than Coach Mike). Rusty Moore came off the bike in 3rd overall, but faded to 15th after badly twisting his ankle during the riverbed sand run. The Fleet Feet "Nutty Professor", Steven Owen, took 3rd in the 50-54 age group. Fleet Feet sponsored Rookie Triathlete, Mike "SPAM" Foster, finished the race despite consuming several Rolling Rocks leading up to the race and breaking his chain during a pre-race ride of the course. Karen Mastro was delighted to win the 50-54 division and not do 2 laps in the heat of the day like Coach Mike. 1 Michael Collins #741 35 - 39 :09:57 :44:25 :21:32 1:15:54 2 Louis Bednar #745 30 - 34 :11:11 :50:00 :23:18 1:24:29 8 Jenifer Padilla #735 30 - 34 1 :12:26 :53:29 :21:34 1:27:29 15 Rusty Moore #680 35 - 39 :13:20 :49:22 :33:04 1:35:46 54 Steven Owen #688 50 - 54 :16:21 1:03:54 :29:11 1:49:26 116 Mike Foster #730 35 - 39 :20:21 1:17:02 :39:29 2:16:52 146 Karen Mastro #623 50 - 54 37 :17:25 1:39:00 :50:29 2:46:54 ==================================================================================== XTERRA WEST CHAMPIONSHIP: 1.5K Swim - 30K Bike - 10k Run This was no picnic course. There were several people who were forced to drop out due to mechanical problems, crashes, and overheating. Among those forced to drop out were Ian Pyott, despite leading eventual winner Conrad Stoltz out of the water. Ian crashed hard on a switch back hitting his head resulting in a concussion and a poorly running bike. He rode a bit further before giving in due to nausea and lack of focus. Jon Clark suffered from overheating and dropped after 1 lap of the run. Warrior of the weekend award goes to David Bourguignon who damaged his rear wheel and derailleur in a crash and CARRIED his bike for the second loop, and still went on to do the run. 83 Michael Cowdrey #439 30 - 34 :20:56 1:41:02 :53:11 2:55:09 129 Gregory Hammond #238 25 - 29 :23:40 1:35:57 1:12:08 3:11:45 203 Kevin Brown #184 25 - 29 :27:21 1:47:34 1:18:33 3:33:28 234 David Bourguignon #183 30 - 34 :25:39 2:19:44 1:00:12 3:45:35 251 Brandy Bounds #105 20 - 24 54 :21:37 2:17:19 1:19:02 3:57:58 255 Gregory Staffon #366 45 - 49 :32:22 2:13:45 1:13:53 4:00:00 308 Steve De La torre #196 20 - 24 :29:55 2:45:49 1:37:25 4:53:09 Click here for FULL RACE RESULTS Click here for TEAM PHOTOS FROM THE EVENT