Tri Club in San Diego - Post #2 Victor+Carol

Curtis, Nick, Dave, Victor and Lawrence took the day off from their nocturnal Chippendales gig at the Rio to do the San Diego Tri - way to go boys!!




There were quite a few participants from our club and our community that did San Diego last weekend. We will post reports as we recieve them.



Victor R writes: LV tri club invades San Diego

Last weekend (June 29) the San Diego International triathlon took place in the city by the border. This is one of the premier events in the west coast as upwards of 3000 athletes participated with perfect weather, superb organization and a venue to die for. Pros as well as age groupers shared one of the best race days I've ever seen.

The swim took place in San Diego harbor, calm waters greeted the entrants, water temp was a balmy 74 degrees, wetsuits optional, no sharks!!! The bike course was fast with a few 90 degree turns, a minor hill and some grades towards the turn-around. Wind wasn't a factor but you could feel a breeze heading back to T-2. The run was pancake-flat taking the runners on a trek alongside the harbor ending on the other side by Anthony's Grotto restaurant. Just before the finish line you could see the USS Midway, a WWII aircraft carrier with its many jet fighters resting on deck. That was breathtaking, but not as much as the run itself. The party at the finish was fantastic, live band, several vendor tents, massages, plenty of drinks, food and surprisingly, the results were posted immediately!

I hooked up with my friend and tri club member Lawrence Rossetti, who was responsible for me racing this wonderful event. We rented a van and headed out to SD early Saturday morning. We wanted to get there early and enjoy the festivities, check out the bike course and slide into the pool at the hotel.

We were invited to join other club members for dinner at a little italian restaurant in Old San Diego near Barrio Logan. After getting ready and driving in circles for a while, we arrived at the quaint hole-in-the-wall eatery. The line was humongous, it snaked all the way around the building, I was hoping I didn't have to wait. Lawrence just walked through everyone and I followed, dirty looks everywhere.

Once inside, I was pleased to see that we had a table reserved, Curtis and his wife arrived early and secured a corner of the room. I was introduced to everyone, I had no idea there were so many members racing the following day. At the table sat Nick Gallagher and his lovely wife, Dave and Carol Browning, Curtis Ching, his two daughters and his better half, the waitress was waiting for Lawrence and I, she said: "Gents, what would you like to drink?" The place was packed with little room to even slide back your chair, fantastic atmosphere, the food was incredibly tasty, and best of all, the company!!! After ingesting some tasty appetizers, they main course arrived, you can smell the garlic and olive oil, yes, I was in culinary heaven!!! We all consumed as many calories as possible as they would come in handy the following day. After dinner we all sat and chatted outside an ice cream parlor, the weather was cooling rapidly, we were all ready to retire......

Race morning was a bit overcast, cool and humid. It was impossible to find any one at the start as everyone had a different transition spot, athletes everywhere getting ready. I shook hands with Lawrence and he headed out to get suited up. Two hours later, we all gathered at the finish line and talked about our experience. It was a great event, I would recommend it to anyone as an "A" race, it doesn't get any better!!! The LV tri club was well represented, you could spot our colors from afar and the "better halves" were cheering us on on the run course...........We thank you!!!............

I was asked to gather results from our members as well as other Las Vegas participants, here we go. In the sprint disatance I found only four LV residents: MONICA MACCAUX (25-29) finished with a time of 1:22:28. RUSSELL AARON (20-24), 1:13:30. DONG-KYU KIM (20-24), 1:16:31. MARK KAPLAN (55-59), 1:36:15. In the international distance I found quite a few more LV residents and club members. Let's start with club members. LAWRENCE ROSSETTI, 35th in age group (35-39) with a time of 1:58:32. DAVE BROWNING, 34th, (35-39), 1:58:18. CURTIS CHING, 61st, (35-39), 2:10:30. NICK GALLAGHER, 24th, (45-49), 2:04:17. VICTOR RODRIGUEZ, 1st, (50-54), 2:01:05. The others were: VICTOR LEACH, 52nd, (40-44), 2:11:09. SEAN TRUCHARD, 18th, (45-49), 2:00:59. VANCE SUTTON, 14th, (45-49), 1:58:16. THOM REILLY, 46th, (45-49), 2:14:38. JAMES LOCKHART, 5th, (55-59), 2:04:23. LEXI TEJEDA, 4th, (50-54), 2:23:00. JAMES LAYDEN, place unknown, (30-34), 2:23:09. And finally, TIFFANY VINCENT, place unknown, (20-24), 2:07:33.............

The next event will be the Flagstaff triathlon taking place on July 20. This competition is provided by Eddie Carlin of Mountainman Events which promotes the LV Triathlon to be held on Sep 28. I'm looking forward to Flag and hope to see many members of the club competing in the high loftiness, cool air of northern Arizona. Thanx for reading and I'll see you training.............Victor Rodriguez

Carol Browning Writes:

I could have Dave (#366 above) write a blurb about the San Diego International Triathlon but I thought it might be pretty cool to hear about it from the perspective of a supporting wife. Having done the race last year it was a little bittersweet watching from the sidelines. Even though I was bummed I couldn’t do the race this year for medical reasons, I was very excited to watch Dave and the rest of the tri-club race their hearts out. If you have never done the San Diego race before and are thinking about doing it, I highly recommend it. It is a fun, fast, and exciting event.
First of all, even though Dave and I trained last year with the club, we actually became members this year. It is a very close nit group and would encourage your friends and family to join. It can be a little nerve racking showing up at an out of state event and not know a single person. The tri-club goes out of their way to make sure team members are contacted. The Club organized a pasta dinner the night before the race at Filippis in Little Italy (section in downtown San Diego). There were 10 of us that participated and it was a lot of fun. At least for me anyway… Since I wasn’t doing the event I got to drink plenty of Chianti with Curtis’ (#370 above) wife Jacqui. J J J I guess you can call that carbo-loading! We couldn’t get enough of the mozzarella and tomato salad (the tomatoes must have been void of salmonella because no one got sick – thank goodness! – just thought about that now….)

On race day, it was a very comfortable 65-70 degrees and not a ripple was found on the calm water. The event took place in the Harbor right across the street from the airport. It is always a very well organized event. For all those who are nervous as hell about the swim, no worries, as this year you could ask for a swim buddy. All you needed to do was look for a swimmer with a powder blue cap and they would help guide you through the water. Pretty awesome huh? What is special about these swimmers is once they were done with helping others they would get right back in the water and do it again. We are talking doing anywhere from 3,000 to 4,000 meters each when all is said and done! I want one of those next year!

The transition to the bike was right by the water and the ride was slightly challenging as you road uphill all the way to Cabrillo National Monument. But the cool thing about this is once you made it to the top (oh, and looped twice around the monument), it was all downhill from there back to transition. The run is the best part. We are talking flat, fast and gorgeous scenery to view. You run along the harbor and pass cruise ships and eventually make your way into Seaport Village to the finish line. This is where I got to hear Lawrence (#437) tell me he did not re-fuel during the race as he was still full from the pasta dinner the night before. Are you hungry now Lawrence?

All the tri-members who participated did an awesome job. It was great seeing not only Jacqui and the girls and Serena cheer for Curtis and Nick(#631) (and of course me for Dave) but everyone supported each other. I can’t believe Victor(#753) (or Vincent as I like to call him – for some reason can never remember his name) who had wrecked just a few weeks ago did the race with road rash, bandages, saran wrap and all!! A big shout out goes to all the supporting family members and friends at the event. I thought it was pretty cool to see Serena with baby in tow running and taking pictures of Nick. And a big thank you for Jacqui and Curtis’ girls for waking up early so Curtis could actually get to the race on time! WAY TO GO LAS VEGAS TRI-CLUB TEAM!!