Preview of 2011 Triathlon Club Competitions

Team competitions and challenges are something still relatively new to the sport of triathlon in the U.S. But with the increase both in the size and number of triathlon clubs around country event directors have been picking up on the desire of these clubs to compete with one another. The national governing body, USAT, has a National Club Championships competition each year. The 2010 event was held in the Myrtle Beach, NC. Its scoring is a convoluted calculation that takes into account team size, age group placing and even distance travelled to the event. With the team aspect being at the heart of SCE’s formation, we review some local triathlon race series to see what they offer in 2011.


USA Productions
Held in four locations USA Productions offers a generous $4,500 purse spread over nine triathlons this summer. SCE finished 5th at the Morgan Hill event last year. The scoring is loosely based on USAT scoring but adds additional points for best swim, bike and run splits and even points for providing volunteers. With no accounting for team size the challenge resembles more an incentive program than a competition disadvantaging SCE.

**Update 01/11/2011: USA Productions have changed their system and points are now divided by the number of club participants. Game on again for SCE. Details here.

TriCalifornia / Wildflower Triathlon
Wildlflower Triathlon has a Fastest and Overall Club Competition. The Fastest Club competition takes the fastest 3 men and women and adds their total times. Fastest time wins. Santa Cruz Endurance placed 5th in the Olympic Triathlon calculations last year. It is probably the most competitive team competition in the state with big SoCal clubs like L.A. and San Diego well represented. The negative is there is no cash prizes awarded for the winners. The Overall Club Competition is more or less a participation award with some bonus points for high age group placings. Hard to win without a big team.

Threshold Racing
Two Threshold races, Reservoir and Metro triathlons will count toward a team competition. It will be calculated the same way as the Wildflower fastest team competition and the results from the two triathlons combined. There is a large and small club category with $1250 for the winner of each. Last year SVTC won the large club division and the small club category was unclaimed. None of this is advertised on the website yet so I’m relying on the work of the race director but it seems like an attractive goal for SCE.

Santa Cruz Sprint and International Triathlons
SCE finished 2nd behind Monterey Bay Multisports in last years Sprint Triathlon organized by Finish Line Productions winning $150. The fastest combined time of the 5 top finishers, regardless of gender, was declared the winner. The structure of this year’s team competition hasn’t been announced yet.

Santa Cruz Triathlon
$1500 prize pool but only available to large clubs. Participation and performance points for each age group (1st – 5th). Four divisions, according to club size, were represented with Olympic Club, Kain Performance, Forward Motion Racing Club and Pacific Bicycles being declared the winners in descending order of size.

Troika Triathlon
While not in California the Troika Triathlon, held outside of Spokane Washington on August 7, is worth mentioning. It’s a half ironman distance awarding a significant amount of prize money for 1st place ($1000), 2nd place ($500) and 3rd place ($250) clubs and will be based on USAT club challenge rules and regulations.

Please let me know of races and details I may have missed and this blog will be updated.

PRs and Podiums - Holiday Races

Jingle Bell Rock 5K, December 12

1, 2 in both the mens and womens races for Santa Cruz Endurance.

SCE runners on the front page of the Sentinel

Race Report by Steve Yatson

Steve takes 1st place overall

Last Wednesday I threw my run gear in a duffle bag and tossed it in the car on the off chance I’d get to run the Jingle Bell 5k on Sunday. As it happened I woke up at 5:45am Sunday morning and the wife and newborn were fast asleep. It took me less time to sneak out of the house than it did to actually run the race. When you have a newborn and opportunity knocks, you answer.

I arrived on site before the volunteers, which was ironic in the fact that I almost missed the start and jumped across the line just as the gun went off. I was in such a daze and having such a good time talking to friends that I didn’t realize they were lining everyone up.
I went out as planned with a mile one split of 5:43. (I wanted to try a new bit of strategy. I’ve come in right around 19 minutes for the last 4 5k’s I’ve run. I typically hang back on the start and run around a 6:30 first mile. ) I figured I’d go out hard and see if it worked. Dan McKinnon went with me and half way through the race we were running well together.

As we hit the turn around I was surprised to see Samantha Forde right on us. She’s Santa Cruz Endurance and those girls are bad. Any one of them can and will chick you given the opportunity so I dropped a pretty good ego driven surge and hit the mile two split at 6:04. It was then that I realized Dan was falling off a bit so I looked back a few times to see if I could pull him back. He’s just coming off some injuries so he wasn’t quit there yet. I was on a PR pace so I didn’t want to slow at all and I was really hoping to come in under 19:00.

The last half-mile or so of the race was long straight and flat. It seemed to go on forever and as I approached the finish I swear it jumped away from me a couple of times. This it where it hit me hard and I took a mental beating that last half mile. So much for the new strategy of going out fast. It wasn’t until the last 200 yards that I realized I was still in the lead and could actually with the thing overall. It’s not often I get that opportunity. There are easily a dozen guys in Santa Cruz that are younger and faster and I should take a moment to thank them for staying in bed on such a beautiful Sunday morning. 
As I crossed the line I looked at the time and saw the 19 minutes and something. The time didn’t matter, it wasn’t a PR, I’d won my first 5k in 25 years and the event was for a great cause. Dan crossed just after with 13 year old (and soon to be team mate) Andrew Walgren 3rd and Samantha 4th.

Sam Forde 19:59.9(!), 1st OA, 1st AG

Gaylia Osterlund 20:52, 2nd OA, 1st AG

Laura Reyes Durazo 24:41

Miriam McKinnon 27:17

Steve Yatson, 19:16, 1st OA

Dan McKinnon, 19:24, 2nd OA

Carlos Angobaldo, 23:50, 2nd AG PR

Full results here.

Summit Rock Half Marathon, December 11

Race Report by Jenn Betancourt

Age group winners
Laura and Jenn sporting their medals

On December 11, the trails of Saratoga were dominated by SCE’s Laura Reyes-Durazo and Jenn Betancourt (me) at the Brazen Racing’s Summit Rock Half Marathon.   Having taken a two week break from running due to some gnarly hip pain, I was a little anxious at what awaited me and seriously contemplated bumping down to the 10K.  Were my legs prepared for a rugged 13.1mile trail run complete with a 2900 ft elevation gain? I wasn’t too confident.  However, after an entertaining car ride filled with Laura’s ever so encouraging and enthusiastic personality, I was convinced to approach the event as a fun run instead of as a race.   “Don’t worry about your time! Just go out there, enjoy the views and have fun,” she kept telling me.  As we arrived, we checked in seamlessly, took a few pre-race pics and then headed to the start line.  Along with about 150 other half-marathoners, we set off UPHILL into the trails of Sanborn County Park.  The weather was ideal with temperatures in the mid 50s and a misty morning fog that lingered around for the first 3 miles was perfectly refreshing.  The first four miles were brutal and all uphill but aid stations were fully stocked and dispersed conveniently throughout the course. We ran through lush forest and witnessed amazing views accompanied with- you guessed it- more uphill.  

Along the clearly pink-ribbon marked course, we climbed up to the top of summit rock overlooking a thick blanket of white clouds hovering over South Bay, we trampled over mini green apples that had previous fallen from their trees and tested our brevity on the extremely steep downhills, and then finally- the turnaround!  Headed back, there was mutual cheering-on and encouragement from runner to runner and this is what I love most about this sport.  Approaching the finish line, I could hear motivational music (maybe the theme to Rocky? I am not sure) and the crowd cheering  “3rd female! 3rd female!”  At the finish I was greeted with friendly volunteers, a medal and of course….tons of food: apple pie, pumpkin pie, hot chocolate, an assortment of snacks, It’s It ice cream, coffee, bagels, bananas and the list goes on.  I quickly grabbed some food and a sweater and headed down to cheer on Laura as she finished her race, winning her age division and later informing me that this was her first division win! Way to go Laura!! Full results here. As we drove back over 17, we reminisced about the difficulty and beauty of the course, talked about how much fun we had and discussed signing up for PCTR Angel Island and/or Pacifica.  In my head I even entertained the following thought: A 50K at Pacifica! Who’s with me?

Silicon Valley Turkey Trot 10K, November 25

Daniel McKinnon 40:11 PR

Adam Blum 41:17

Gaylia Osterlund 41:25 1st AG

Craig Mace 50:45

Miriam McKinnon 54:35 PR

SCE Places 3rd in North Face Endurance Challenge Marathon Relay

Report by Leslie Haverstock…

The SCE Endurance Team of Jennifer Tavella-Willoughby, Leslie Schaeffer-Haverstock, Aaron Jacobson, and Benoit Pelczar set off to dominate the North Face Endurance Challenge Championships held in the Marin Headlands.  The team participated in the Marathon Relay.  Heading to the race, worries set in that we were in for a miserable day as the rain was coming down at a rapid pace, and when we pulled in to the parking lot to catch the shuttle, the rain was continuing.  Fortunately, come race time at 11:00 am, the rain had stopped.  Benoit was the first racer out on the course.  Knowing that the course had elevation changes over 2000 feet with 1300 feet of climbing, we had expected Benoit in about 45 minutes.  When he wasn't back at this mark, we knew something had gone wrong.  About 51  minutes later, Benoit had returned and let us know that we should go RIGHT at the arrow and not left as he and a few other lead runners had.  With this knowledge, Jennifer took off on the course for her solid effort coming in at 54:51 bringing the team in 6th place.  At this point she was quick to inform Leslie that it was a left at the blue tent and right at the arrow and the course was then a no-brainer.  During this stage, Leslie was able to pick off another relay team and close in on another while finishing in 55:08.  Then, superstar Aaron took over.  Within the first mile he quickly overcame two teams landing SCE in third place.  Aaron finished in 42:56 which was the fasted leg of any individual running the relay.  The entire team agreed that the course was indeed a real challenge.  There were parts that we wondered if it would be faster to actually walk than run up the hills.  Each leg was deemed a "10k" but the GPS indicated that it was 6.78 miles in length.  Initially, we had agreed to keep the details of this race to a minimum as the swag was so incredible.  The event was very well organized, the shirts were so amazing that we elected to not have them screen printed so that we could wear them as is.  We got a couple of water bottles, bags, coupons, samples, North Face socks, and Benoit and Leslie won $50 North Face gift cards.  We would like to thank Dr. Joseph Robb  for sponsoring the team and hope that we represented with a 3rd place overall finish and 1st place mixed team finish.  Now that we came clean on the swag, more sponsors will be needed for next year. Full results of Marathon Relay here.

The SCE Spring Marathon Project

Santa Cruz Endurance will be offering a focussed 12-16 week program leading up to several marathons next spring. This campaign will start January 1 and includes a Thursday night interval workout and a Sunday morning long run, with marathon and half marathon paced efforts. The sessions will be led by running coach Aaron Jacobsen. The project boasts six Boston qualifiers and many experienced marathon runners so the learning opportunities from, not only the coach, but from fellow members of the team are many.


Marathons members will be attending are:

L.A. Marathon - March 20
Oakland Marathon - March 27
Boston Marathon - April 18

SCE Members at the 2009 California International Marathon

The workouts would also serve as an appropriate running base for triathletes on the team. You're encouraged to join us on a kick-off run on January 1 along West Cliff Dve. Details on this Facebook Invitation.

The SCE Spring Marathon Project is free to members.