8/21/2022

Miamisburg Triathlon

2.5 mile kayak, 5K run, 10 mile bike race

Scott Orlando

Finish Time:  1:19:12

Overall Place:   2nd Place

Race Recap By Scott Orlando

This was my first time competing in the Miamisburg Triathlon which is a 2.5 mile kayak, 5K run, and 10 mile race and it almost didn’t happen!   The night before the race I was in my hotel room inflating my bike tires and the valve to my back tire tube broke.  At first I thought no problem I always carry a spare tube with me.   when I started to replace the tube I quickly noticed that the valve was too short for the carbon fiber rims and would not work.  Now it was time to panic.   I contacted the race director who I had met earlier at the race site when I was scouting things out and he was setting up.   He said he had some tubes that would fit and that the local bike shop would be on hand to assist.  So again no worries.  I got to the race extra early to address my tire problem.  The bike shop seemed late to show up so I began replacing the tube myself.  The race director left two tubes for me at the registration desk.   The valves were plenty long enough to work.  I tried the first tube and it would not hold any air so I stared again with the second tube.  Again no luck with that tube holding air.  Now I had 20 minutes to race start and was starting to really panic.   The bike shop never showed up so I was in trouble.   Luckily I had found a valve extender in my bike bag and the race director figured out how to install it on the tube that I had.   I was able to use my back up tube with the valve extender and got the tire repaired with just 5 minutes to go before the start of the race.   Funny how a little piece of metal thrown in my bag 4 years ago all of a sudden became the most important piece of race gear I brought!   I quickly set up my bike transition and ran down the street, across the bridge, and down to the kayak start.  My mind was racing and my stress was high but I made it to the start.

I quickly identified the man who seemed to own this race winning it every year.  I thought if I can stay with him I might have a shot to do well.   He had an older Stellar surfski and I brought my Stellar Multisport S18S EXP to race.  I chose this boat over my longer Stellar Multi Sport SR because the S18S EXP has a hatch where my SR does not and I needed it to carry my running shoes.     Thunderstorms threatened all night and morning.  Temperatures were climbing and humidity was 100%.   It started to rain just as we started to kayak.  From the start it became clear that it was a 2 man race with he and I quickly distancing ourselves from the rest of the kayak field. My strategy was to stay with him and push him to see if I could fatigue him.  I stayed right on his stern drafting off of him almost the entire kayak leg.  Near the end I pulled up next to him and we arrived at the kayak exit at the exact same time.  I was actually out of the water before him but he beat me to the timing mat logging a faster kayak split because I took the extra time to switch to my running shoes where he did not.   My run time was slower then I expected.  I believe it was because of the extreme humidity.  I managed to make up a lot of lost ground and made it to the timing mat for the bike transition just a few seconds behind him.  My run split was actually faster then his but I was still just off the overall pace because of my slower transition.   In the bike transition I lost a few more seconds when I started to follow him out the wrong way of the transition area and turned around to correctly exit.  He did not correct and just went off to start the bike course.   He was a better biker then I was and extended his lead.   By the 5 mile halfway mark I knew I couldn’t catch him but saw some good bikers not far behind me looking strong on expensive bikes.  I didn’t want to be passed from behind so I put the hammer down and pushed really hard the last 5 miles to secure second place overall.   I finished with a time of 1:19:12.

The race was really well organized by Speedy-Feet and had a ton of volunteers.  There was a nice selection of food after the race.  All participants received nice t-shirts and finisher medals.  This was probably the flattest course that I have ever competed on for an adventure triathlon.   No awards were presented for overall or any divisions.  In the future I would like to see them offer some overall awards.   Despite the weather and my tire issue I really enjoyed the race and definitely plan to return.