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Columbia Multisport Club Dominates National Triathlon Championships

by Wade Meredith on October 17th, 2006

There was only one post yesterday, because I was busy in or around Las Vegas, Nevada this weekend. I went there to participate in my first triathlon. I was participatiing as a member of Columbia Missouri’s Columbia Multisport Club.

For the un-initiated a triathlon is a race that inlcudes a swim, a bicycle ride and a run all in the quickest succession possible. This race was called The Pumpkinman, and it offered two courses for competitors:

Long (aka Olympic/International): 1.5k swim/ 40k bike/ 10k run
Short (aka Sprint): .75k swim/ 20k bike/ 5k run

Transition times from one activity to the next hover between 60 and 90 seconds for the pros, including some in the club. (Mine were 5:07 for the swim-to-bike transition, and 3:40 for the bike-to-run. YOU try to rip off a soaked wetsuit after you’ve just open-water swam 20 yards short of half a mile and run up a hill of broken pavement in barefeet.)

This wasn’t your normal triathlon for many reasons other than it being my first…

The course was called one of the most brutal tri courses (elevation-wise) they’d seen by many of the seasoned triathletes there. Considering that there were many mulitple Iron Man veterans in the group, this should not be taken lightly. For instance, take a gander at the elevation profile for the bike course…

Short Course (View full size here.)

Long Course (View full size here.)

Yes, that’s a 6 mile long, 1200 foot climb at the end of each course. And to say it was flat by any means up to that point would be total B.S. There was almost 3,000 feet of climbing on the long course before the bikers even hit that final hill.

Cresting the top and looking back down the mountain I had just climbed I could see the waters of Lake Mead where the swim had begun. It was an exhilirating experience, to say the least. Not that I had much time to reminisce; the second transition area was immediately after the crest, so it was more of a glance thrown over my shoulder as I was off the bike and onto the soles of running shoes as fast as my burning-legs-of-jello could possibly force my feet into them.

The run course was mostly flat and contained in one neighborhood for the sprinters (which included myself.) The long course was a different story. It veered out of the neighborhood after the short course turnaround point and into the desert over rolling hills of loose gravel and rocks. Anyone who’s ever run on any sort of loose material can tell you it saps your strength, robbing every push of the power to move you forward. Throw in some hills, sunshine and indigenous cacti and you have one beautiful, punishing route to cover on foot.

The Columbia Multisport Club knows the taste of victory well, having won two previous USAT, Division 1 Club Championships in ‘03 and ‘04. They had been stung by a club from Houston in ‘05. Adding insult to injury, the Houston club didn’t even bother to stick around for the awards ceremony that almost all of the CMC members had stayed to attend. Listening in shock to a second place announcement was an experience they were determined not to repeat in the sands outside Las Vegas.

I had been drafted by my sister to compete because every finisher in the race equaled a half point towards victory with 1st through 5th place finishers taking from 5 to 1 points accordingly. My wife, Melynda, is quickly becoming a seasoned triathlete with this being the fourth triathlon under her belt (including one relay) so she was also very pursuasive in my decision to compete. She ended up on the podium herself holding a third place plaque in the air in the Athena 39 and under division, which was one of the divisions swept by CMC. It was my favorite moment of the day.

CMC brought 130+ triathletes to the fight. Compare that to the main rival this year: Los Angeles, California’s Tri Club who had 192 registered competitors at Pumpkinman. And about half-way through the awards ceremony it was becoming apparent just how determined to win CMC was. We were on the podium in almost every category, while completely sweeping more than one. It was not, in the end, a conflict that was going to be won by numbers. My throat was sore from cheering by 2:00pm on race day. CMC had managed to bring 130+ triathletes (and 130+ bikes in a tractor-trailer across the country) to win the national club championship race by more than 55 points!

How I earned my half-point:

WILLIAM WADE MEREDITH

swim - 25:01

I couldn’t find one of me, but this is a great shot of just before my swim wave started. all pics by MyRacePics.com

T1 - 5:07

Bike - 1:12:48

T2 - 3:40

Run - 30:57

Total finishing time:
2:17:31
(This is not good, but I was 3rd to last not last in my division, and I never walked once on that hellacious bike or the run.)

Congrats, CMC. Holy cow, you earned that win. You are an inspiration to me, and it was a pleasure to be among your ranks for my first triathlon and throw my half point into an astounding effort that paid off in spades.

-Pumpkinman’s Official Site
-Columbia Multisport’s Official Site
-USAT’s Official Site

Pictures from MyRacePics.com

Next year’s Championship will be in St. Louis, Missouri and put on by

Ultramax Events.

Technorati Tags: triathlon, race, championshipe, USAT, club, triathlete

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POSTED IN: Announcement, Cycling, Endurance, Event, Running, Triathlon