7/21/2024
Fairport Harbor Pirate Triathlon
Fairport Harbor, Ohio
Kayak Triathlon
Scott Orlando
Finish Time: 1:21:12
Overall Place: 2nd Place / 39
Division Place: 1st Place / 6
Veronica Neubert
Finish Time: 1:29:30
Overall Place: 7th Place / 39
Division Place: 1st Place Overall Female / 13
Russ Neubert provided Team ER members racing course support and took pictures.
Race Recap By Veronica Neubert:
What a beautiful morning for a triathlon! Thanks to Scott Orlando for the amazing boat! Smooth sailing through the paddle. Felt great on the bike (although it was pretty windy) just felt ok on the run but I remained in first the entire race and I didn’t stop! Proud to say I finished first female overall and 7th place for both genders! Thanks Russ Neubert for all the support!
Race Recap By Scott Orlando:
The Fairport Harbor Pirate Triathlon is one of my favorite races that I have competed in many times. Last year was my best finish at this race placing 3rd overall. My goal this year was to once again place in the top 3. The weather conditions were very favorable for racing with temperatures in the high 60’s and low humidity at the start of the race. The water conditions for the paddlers and swimmers were mostly calm. Because of the calmer waters I was able to paddle my Stellar S18S Multisport surfski. I had also brought along with me my Stellar S16 Multisport in case of rougher water conditions. With the race course heading parallel to the break wall surfskis and other fast unstable kayaks aren’t well suited for the heavy side swell that can easily flip these types of boats. Luckily that wasn’t an issue this year. Because I had the extra kayak at the race I was happy to let Team ER member Veronica Neubert burrow it along with a Stellar full carbon mid wing paddle. The Stellar S16 Multisport that she used ended up being the fastest kayak in the women’s race field which Veronica used to have a dominate performance to win the women’s overall title.
My race started a little slow. I had a little bit of trouble with my kayak paddle getting into the water. I had adjusted the angle of my paddle incorrectly and had to stop and reposition it to the proper angle before I could paddle. This cost me a little time. Once corrected I made quick work of the plastic kayaks in the race field passing all of them. Soon I caught up to the 3 leaders ahead of me all in the same Stellar S18 surfskis that I was paddling. Once outside the break wall the water started to roll and bounce me around. Several times I caught some fast rolling waves that actually turned my kayak sideways forcing me to corrective paddle. A few of the rollers were strong enough to pull me over but similar to driving a car on an ice covered road I started turning into the waves before they hit me which kept me from flipping. Once around the turn buoy I picked up some speed and passed one of the kayaks in front of me. I was now back with the leaders. As we made our way to the beach I was about 10 seconds behind the first kayaker to exit the water and hit the beach at about the same time as another kayaker. I managed to run across the timing mat as the 2nd kayaker to finish the paddle leg and then it was off to the bike leg.
I had one of the fastest bike legs that I have ever clocked at this race averaging 20.5 mph. I had trained a little bit more on the bike for this race than in the past plus I was using a much faster bike for the first time so I think both of these things contributed to the faster time.
Once off the bike I was headed out for the 3.1 mile run. The run starts with a steep hill out of the beach park area. From experience I have learned to take it easy up the hill and for the first half mile of this course. Going out too fast generally results in feeling winded for about half of the race. At this point I was soundly in 2nd place with no site of the first place runner in front of me and no one pushing me from behind. I stayed conservative in the first mile and picked up my pace in the second mile. I could now see the third place racer behind me but pretty far off. I knew from past races he was a strong runner so I picked up the pace a little faster in the last mile. I was happy to finish 2nd overall. They only present a 1st place overall award and no 2nd or 3rd place overall awards so I was presented with a trophy for 1st place in my division for my efforts.
Thank you to Russ Neubert for the course support, to Lake Metroparks for putting on a great race, and to all of the volunteers that helped keep everyone safe and moving in the right direction along the course.
The race was as always well organized by Lake Metroparks. Participants received tech shirts and custom pirate themed finisher medals. The shirts might be coolest design I have ever seen on a race shirt. Awards for overall winners and age group winners were old school trophies. Overall winners also received a 2nd trophy for winning their age groups. Personally I would like to see them offer overall awards for 2nd and 3rd place finishers and not include the overall winners in age group awards. This is the more traditional way of presenting awards at races. I can understand giving an overall winner an age group award if they are the only person in the age group otherwise I would like to see them spread the awards out a little more and eliminate the double awards. They do offer plenty of award divisions which is great. This is a great race and I can’t wait to do it again next year!