US Paratriathlon National Championships at New York City Triathlon--2nd place!

Chatham-Kent conquered New York state this past weekend, with a couple friends taking on the Ironman in Lake Placid (congrats Jim, and bummer a $5 spring ended your day on the bike Tony); then myself and my guide Syd Trefiak taking on the US National Paratriathlon Champs. in New York city. Yup, i'm talking smack dab in the middle of Manhatten. (in photo, Syd 3rd in, looking focused, my back with blue on it).



I will phrase the weekend like this:

-The race was awesome.
-The course was suprisingly more challenging then one would think it could be in the city.
-The organizers rival any Ironman event i've done, due to logistics.
-I was VERY pleased with my race. (in photo:Syd is 3rd in, I am 4th in with blue on my back)

-I payed Syd back a bit for making me hurt on the run in Peterborough.
-Syd and myself agreed to never do that race again!---

We say this not becasue we didn't have fun, but slugging a tandem around the city, 5 blocks this way, 10 blocks that way, 10 blocks home.....it was tiring before we even raced. The major plus for having the Paratriathlon National Championships in NYC is the visibility...you can't really hide a tandem, if you are missing a leg or are in a wheelchair, you get noticed, which is the point.

I was told that attending a "big" race (in importance) like the US Nationals would help my ranking with Triathlon Canada and further my chances of making the 2012 Paralympic Triathlon team. Triathlon is in the regular Olympic games, but we are pushing hard to get it in the Paralympics, and Sunday was a huge step in that direction.

Now the race:
I will forgo the pre-race commonalities that most races have, i've already discussed the tricky logisitics. Fast forward to 7:15am, myself and Syd sitting alongside appx. 42 other Paratriathletes (6 total visually impaired athletes). Now, we sit here on the pontoon until just prior to the start of our wave, as the Hudson river (yes THE Hudson river) has the craziest current i've ever seen. So we all jumped int when prompted and held on for dear life to the rope attatched to the pontoon. When the horn sounded you let go and were instandly 40 feet away, it was that strong.
Syd and I discussed our start, and we didn't want to get caught up in traffic, as this was a straight shot swim, no turns, just straight downriver to the exit pontoon 1500m away. So on the horn i put my head down and gunned it for about 15 seconds and then settled in. My goggles were fogged so i didn't see a thing, just swam as hard as i could until the exit pontoon. What i did notice is that nobody was around. It turns out were came 7th of the 42 athletes out of the water in a 17;00 swim (9 minutes faster then i'd normally cover that distance, thanks current). After a brief run to transition we were out on the bike course---the closed Westside Highway--pretty cool. After a steep ascent to the highway we floored it. I figured most of the day we'd be racing for second place, as Aaron Scheidies the overall winner of the paratri, first blind guy that day, and world record holder as fast as the pros, was ahead of us from the start. Early on i was not feeling so strong on the bike and Syd was going for it. Around halfway i came around and was really pushing hard too; which is right about the time we hit traffic. Not literal traffic, but the waves that went well before us. Many were beginners and didn't ride as the rules would dictate, hence blocking the roads for our speedy passage; it was like passing a parked car on the 401. You fly by them, but it feels pretty dangerous. I know we lost a couple minutes picking our way through the crowd, Syd was hoarse from yelling "ON YOUR LEFT" every 10 seconds, and even i chimed in to help him out. Our 40km bike split was around 1:06, averaging around 36km/h, although i know without the traffic, we'd have gone faster. Hitting transition, we made quick work of getting our shoes on, the tether on, and we were off. Running down 72nd avenue towards central park, i was feeling great, Syd's legs hadn't come around quite yet. By the time we hit central park for the run, Syd came around and we were cruising past everyone. On the bike nobody passed us, and on the run we had less the 5 people pass us I'd say. Central Park? It is beautiful, but suprisingly hilly. As we chugged along my goal was to break 2:20 for the day, doing the math we were going to be close, so i picked it up, and Syd hammered along right beside me. This was the first time we'd run with the tether, but it actually was pretty helpful, although you get lots of "sweaty man touching" as we joked, as our sweaty arms would brush against each other constantly.....ya ewww i know, but you do what you need to do. Flying into the crowded finsih chute, we managed our 10k run in 47:00 and an overall time of 2:18! (photo: me on the left getting 2nd place)

I was pretty darned pleased as was Syd I think.
It turns out on that day we were finished 6 of 42 of the best Paratriathletes in the US and 2 of 6 visually impaired athletes. Only myself and Grant Darby from Hamilton (an amputee) were from Canada. This is exactly what I wanted and needed, a top ranking finish at a "big" event, setting my out as an Elite National Paratriathlete in Canada. I asterick that by saying there are not a lot of paratriathletes in Canada--at least not yet--so for the time being I'm safe in calling myself one of the best, but I'm sure that will change soon enough.
All and all I had a blast and it made me hungry to go out and race against the best Paratri's again; that race almost made me feel at home, part of a group that I felt I belonged to, nobody judged, we all were self deprocating in a jovial manner and we all knew the stares that we got were seen as opportunities to inspire and empower.
What's next on the agenda? I'm not sure, as you see Aaron brings in major sponsor dollars to travel and compete at all these top races, so unless I can find my own sponsor willing to invest in a Paratriathlete, I need to pick and choose and count my pennies carefully. So that may be it for the year, but I hope to get out to the Bulldog Triathlon here in Chatham in a few weeks.

All the best, enjoy the summer, safe training, and good luck to Helen Robertson and Pat Bobian (probably spelled that wrong Pat), at the Steelhead 70.3 triathlon this Saturday.