Triathlon season begins!
The weather was nearly ideal for high intensity sprint racing in Petersburg: 50 F and a 10 mph west wind.  The Wild Cards were represented by Scott and Martin in this 1 hour race, the Pioneer Triathlon in the Abe Lincoln Triathlon series.  The race was chip-timed, and 144 athletes plunged into the PORTA High School pool for the short 300 m swim.  Martin and Scott had to do maneuvering in the narrow lanes, as some contestants did not understand the meaning of ‘line yourself up in the order of estimated swim time.’ We had to swim around them – with two sets of swimmers in both directions in each lane causing massive interference.
We emerged wet into the 10 mph 50 F wind, but in the heat of race, you don’t notice.  Hopping onto the bike, the second leg took Scott and Martin out into the wind, over a hilly course.  As expected, we passed a lot of people, and were not passed.  Scott maintained a 0.2 mph lead: was it the disc wheel, or he’s just in better shape?
The 5 k run to finish of the race was uneventful, but very hilly.  Petersburg is northwest of Springfield, where the ice age actually left some hills standing.  With Schadenfreude, the organizers even named the last long climb of the run “just for you.” Scott finished in 1:02:04 (3d overall), Martin in 1:02:36 (5th overall), beating his previous course record from 2008 by half a minute.  Gotta bring the disc wheel next time!  The overall winner did 00:58:23, with a bike ride 0.4 mph faster than Scott (0.6 mph faster than Martin), but hey, he was a 30 year old baby.
The event was well organized, with plenty of food and swag afterwards, including First Place awards in their age groups (40-44 and 45-49) for Scott and Martin.  Note the exhausted look on Martin’s face in the finisher photo – I sprinted up to 189 beats per minute in the finishing chute (didn’t even know I could reach that any more).
-race reported by Martin