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McCarty, Wallace race to Bakersfield Triathlon titles
Out-of-towners win men's, women's divisions, respectively, in temps around 100
| Saturday, May 17 2008 8:11 PM
Last Updated: Saturday, May 17 2008 8:49 PM
As if a 1.5-kilometer swim, 40- kilometer bike ride, and 15-kilometer run weren't enough, participants in the 28th Annual Bakersfield Triathlon had to face an additional challenge on Saturday.
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With temperatures near triple digits, competitors had to take to the grueling course at Lake Ming in sweltering heat.
One of the few competitors who actually relished the hot weather was overall long course winner Van McCarty.
"I've always liked the heat, McCarty said. "I grew up in Fresno. I lived there for 25 years before I moved to San Luis Obispo. So I am used to the 100-degree weather. I've always just liked the warmer weather."
McCarty's time of 2:41:19 was 9:01 slower than the winning time of a year ago but was more than three minutes better than second- place finisher Shawn St. Sauveur of Granada Hills.
"We left the transition off the bike at the same time," said St. Sauveur. "I was right behind him (McCarty) the majority of the race but towards the end he pulled away just a little bit. The whole race I could see him just out in front. I just couldn't catch him. He was too fast today."
Michelle Wallace of Carlsbad was the top female long course finisher in 3:24:57.
"I'm stoked because it's always good to win overall, Wallace said. "That was my big goal coming here."
After the race the 32-year-old Wallace, who finished 12th overall, took a dip in Lake Ming to cool down.
"I really liked the swim because it was fresh water and I'm used to swimming in the ocean; so it was really nice," Wallace said. "And then the bike was really nice. The run was hell. It was so hot and the hills were a lot bigger than I expected. It was just really long and hot. It's 20-30 degrees hotter than what I'm used to training in."
Bakersfield's Tina Moffit made it to the finish line less than two seconds behind Wallace.
Moffit's best leg of the race was the 1.5-K swim, in which she had the third best overall time of 24:29.
"It was pretty hot out there," Moffit said. "Even the bike felt hot. Usually you've got the wind so it doesn't feel so hot. The run was pretty hot, but at least I finished."
For the second straight year David Bacus had the best long course finish among local males. Bacus' time of 2:55:51 was good enough for fourth place overall, an improvement of 20 spots over his 2007 finish.
"I met my base goal, beat my time from last year," Bacus said. "So I'm happy on the whole... I was thinking about dropping out a couple of times but there's nowhere to go to when you're out there in the middle of the desert."
Carlos Espinoza-Roque of Long Beach won the individual sprint course race in 1:08:48. Espinoza-Roque came off the cycling portion of the race in third but used a strong 5K run to beat second-place finisher Sal Castro by more than four minutes to the finish line.
"I felt pretty good," said Espinoza-Roque. "The only thing was the heat. It felt hot. There was no water at (aide) stations. It was really tough for everyone."
But the biggest buzz surrounding the short-course race involved 13-year-old Brynn Sargent of Folsom, who finished 12th overall in 1:18:41.
Sargent, who has been competing in triathlons competitively since he was eight, got into the sport when he was six so that he could spend time training with his father Brett instead of at daycare.
On Saturday the teenager beat his 44-year old father for the first time.
"Two years ago was the last time my dad I raced together and he beat me by three seconds," Sargent said. "So this was kind of like my time to beat him...He really pushes me to go harder when he races with me."
Slowed by three knee surgeries and a bad back the elder Sargent finished the sprint course 47th overall and third in his age group of Men 40-44.