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Race Result

Racer: Steve Smith
Race: Virginia Duathlon
Date: Sunday, April 4, 2004
Location: Virginia Beach, VA
Race Type: Duathlon - Sprint
Age Group: Male 30 - 34
Time: 1:24:44
Overall Place: 3
Comment: 5K PR, a windy, lonely bike and 2nd run (16:44/7 48:29/6 18:06/11)



Race Report:



Short Version
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My first multisport race of the season, in a fairly competitive field to boot. I finished 3rd overall, four freakin minutes behind the country's best duathlete, Greg Watson. Although I was the second person to cross the finish-line, a good 1:20 or so ahead of the next person, a 40-year old from the third wave, John McGovern, finished 0:50 faster than I did to claim 2nd place. Too bad we weren't in the same wave, I always race better with some competition in sight (and lord knows I wasn't gonna see Watson after the first 2 miles).

Fellow RATS Mike Smith, Chuck Lohman, and Gail Fisher-Lohman made the trip as well. I'll let them tell their stories, but I will say that Gail has some good news :)

This is a good course, but not great. The entire race is very flat, and the bike course is excellent. The run course is on an old airfield, and the concrete is in various states of disrepair. The upside of this is that the race organizers have a lot of room to work with (and it's easy to spectate), the down side is that you're running on concrete with lots of little holes and cracks. Not the most scenic of races, but fun. I don't know if I'd go down again by myself (it's not that great of a course) but it would be a fun race to do with a lot of friends.

Long Version
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... to come ...