Author Archives: Scott Orlando

8/26/2022 Nancy Wardell Backyard Crusher 5K Canton, Ohio

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8/26/2022

Backyard Crusher 5K

Canton, Ohio

Nancy Wardell

Finish Time:  28:13

Overall Place:  82nd Place / 221

Division Place:  6th Place / 20

Race recap by Nancy Wardell:

Completed the Backyard Crusher 5K in Canton, OH last night! I improved my pace again which I’m very happy about!  I had a 9 minute 5 second pace and an overall time of 28 minutes and 13 seconds which is the best time yet since hurting my knee in May!  I finished 6th in my age group and received a lovely finisher’s beer Glass from Royal Docks and a token for a free brewsky!  Successful run!

8/21/2022 Scott Orlando Miamisburg Triathlon Miamisburg, Ohio

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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.

 

8/20/2022 Loretta Harland, Nancy Wardell, Cleopatra Sirnic Clifford, And Renee Buckus PorchRokr 5K Akron, Ohio

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08/20/2022

PorchRokr 5K

Akron, Ohio

Loretta Harland

Finish Time:  26:48

Overall Place:  169th Place / 393

Division Place:  14th Place / 33

Nancy Wardell

Finish Time:  28:48

Overall Place:  218th Place / 393

Division Place:  27th Place / 60

Cleopatra Sirnic Clifford

Finish Time:  30:03

Overall Place:  243rd Place / 393

Division Place:  18th Place / 33

Renee Buckus

Finish Time:  30:25

Overall Place:  249th Place / 393

Division Place:  33rd Place / 60

 

8/13/2022 Akron Marathon Race Series Goodyear Half Marathon and 10K Akron, Ohio

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8/13/2022

Akron Marathon Race Series Goodyear Half Marathon and 10K

Akron, Ohio

Half Marathon

Jobadiah Christiansen

Finish Time:  1:10:37

Overall Place:  4th Place / 772

Division Place:  3rd Place / 62

Roy Miller

Finish Time:  1:35:34

Overall Place:  80th Place / 772

Division Place:  5th Place / 38

Kristi Gunyula

Finish Time:  1:42:04

Overall Place:  123rd Place / 772

Division Place:  1st Place / 49

Christine Churpek

Finish Time:  1:50:44

Overall Place:  213th Place / 772

Division Place:  4th Place / 49

10K

Asad Khan

Finish Time:  51:26

Overall Place:  180th Place / 1012

Division Place:  11th Place / 42

Veronica Neubert

Finish Time:  52:36

Overall Place:  205th Place / 1012

Division Place:  10th Place / 111

Kevin Christensen

Finish Time:  57:31

Overall Place:  336th Place / 1012

Division Place:  12th Place / 33

Thank you to Cleopatra Sirnic Clifford for volunteering to help at the race.

 

7/28/2022 Ken Frankenbery Windsor 100 Mile Gravel Ride Windsor, Canada

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7/28/2022

Windsor 100 Mile Gravel Ride

Windsor, Canada

Ride Recap By Ken Frankenbery:

This 100 mile/160 km route touches the shores of Lake Erie, Lake St Clair and the Detroit River. Between the lakes, the route passes through broad expanses of farmland and small towns. The route is a mix of gravel roads, rail trails, county roads with paved shoulders, residential streets, paved township roads and multiuse trails.

It was unbelievable that we left directly from our Hampton inn motel in downtown Windsor and within minutes our group of 5 were funneled into a city park with a wide paved bike path that wound its way south through the city.  The route jumped off the paved bike path several times incorporating dirt trails into the loop that eventually funneled back to bike path.  After heading south, the route went on some small local roads before turning East as we paralleled Lake Erie with great views, bathrooms and water fountains to refill bottles.  The route jumped from bike paths along the shore to local access roads before turning North on gravel roads. We made a fast stop at local gas station to refuel. We then passed hundreds of acres of giant greenhouses.   A local rider we road with told us they grew tomatoes, lettuce and cannabis. It was obvious which one’s held cannabis as they had barbed wire fencing and security cameras were everywhere.  We then passed hundreds of giant windmills which should have been a warning to what was to happen when we turned West.  A killer 40 mph head wind!  Luckily gravel roads went West then shifted North, and then back and forth.  This broke up stretches of head wind. Hitting Lake St Clair the route traveled on lake front roads passing giant lake front homes before cutting into a area known as “ The Hillbilly Riviera “.  All I will say is it’s a series of old cottages that looked like you were in rural West Virginia. From there more lake front bike paths funneling into a river front path that followed the Detroit River.  Views were awesome, and more bathrooms with water fountains before turning South into Windsor.  Jumping off the bike path into a industrial parkway had us back at the Motel in just over 7 hours ride time.

A great day and fantastic route!

8/6/2022 Nancy Wardell Millersburg Food Run 5K Millersburg, Ohio

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8/6/2022

Millersburg Food Run 5K

Millersburg, Ohio

Nancy Wardell

Finish Time:  28:42

Overall Place:  8th Place

Division Place 2nd Place

Race Recap By Nancy Wardell:

I completed the Millersburg Food Run 5k this morning and it felt great!  Legs are feeling stronger and I finished the race at 28 minutes 42 seconds with an average pace of 9 minutes and 15 seconds!  Not many people were running this morning, but I finished 2nd in my age group and was thankful for the awesome peaches and giveaways at the race!