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KC Metro Daily Multisport e-Zine

Sunday, June 27, 2004

News Look for a complete weekend multisport wrapup tomorrow. And be sure to tell your training partners about our site.

Halfmax Weekend Race Report The five days up to and including Halfmax have been extraordinary, to say the least. Start me up on any of several topics of conversation (weather, venue, races, athletes, kids, et al) and the result will surely be a long-winded discourse. In lieu of a two-thousand word race report, SBR will offer some objective observations and personal notes from what was clearly one of Missouri's finer weekends of racing in a long time.... SBR's readership may have felt left in the lurch both Saturday and Sunday. Web uploads from the race venue posed a problem for both this web meister as well as the tech crew from Ultramax Events. I suppose one of the perils of proclaiming yourself a Daily Metro Multisport e-zine is the frustrating and hopefully infrequent occasion when that title becomes a misnomer.... While baking in the sun last Wednesday helping erect tents at the race site, my thoughts revolved around the potential suffering that lay in wait on those steaming Innsbrook hills. As I assembled bike racks and fencing on Thursday in sweat-drenched attire, my eyes turned skyward searching for clouds and perhaps a light, cooling rain shower. On Friday, my invocation was answered in over-the-top fashion as the heavens exploded on packet pickup day with torrential rain, wind, and a bonus tornado warning. But in its wake, the violent storm front left behind two of the grandest mid-June racing days I can remember. With the air temperature twenty degrees cooler than normal, athletes and spectators alike enjoyed Saturday/Sunday with nearly ideal weather. As a side note, we did take the opportunity to suggest to several out-of-state racers, that the weather was typical of what we experience all summer in Missouri, but they weren't buying any of that.... One of the advantages, if you will, of Mr SBR posing as a somebody at events is the occasional unique perspective it provides. Halfmax found me on my usual perch atop the old Cannondale hardtail scouring the course for photo ops when the distinctive rumble of a Harley met me. Astride that bad boy was Innsbrook's own and tri community pal Charlie Boyce. With a broad grin, he said, "hop on, you're going up in the helicopter." In true Donald Trump-ish fashion, I was whisked off to the waiting chopper and taken up. If you thought Innsbrook was a scenic venue at ground level, from a few hundred feet that feeling intensifies a hundred-fold. I caught glimpses of the cyclists through openings in the treetops as those riders wove their way through Innsbrook's snakelike, wooded roads. The panorama of lakes, greenery, and the race itself was breathtaking. Thanks again CB.... The future of triathlon is often said to be found in at Ironkids triathlons. We needed to check that assumption at the door Saturday when nearly one-hundred kids from six to twelve years of age assembled for the first annual Minimax triathlon. The nature of the "race" was mostly fun and any competitive juices that flowed from it were strictly coincidental. There was no thermometer issue with this event being waterwing legal. We hope Mini becomes an integral part of future Halfmax weekends.... The main event on Sunday brought to town a couple of pros who joined five-hundred age groupers looking to go long. Andrea Fisher and Marcel Vifian demonstrated their multisport talents and spanked a tough course. "Fish" lived up to her nickname with the best of swim split of the day and for his part, Vifian was the only athlete to crack the four hour barrier.... As if it came to any surprise, both pros were extremely gracious and accommodating at the post race awards ceremony sharing their time for photos and conversation.... There was little chance of missing the starting signal for any wave over the course of the entire weekend. The Innsbrook pyrotechnic crew saw to that. A vintage 1800's detonation plunger provided the spark for mini sticks of dynamite whose explosions resounded above the lake. Tried as I might to hold my video camera still, the resultant footage still displayed each telltale twitch.... SBR friend, Rolando Larice, got more race than he bargained for when he witnessed one racer take a rather nasty bike spill. The physician in him couldn't ignore the injured athlete. Putting put his own race on hold for over fifteen minutes and watching any real chance of qualifying for the Half National Championship evaporate, Larice did what he felt was right. However, good things do happen to good people. When race director, Mark Livesay, discovered the circumstances, he awarded Larice free entry into any Ultramax Events race in 2005.... The Quartermax triathlon was supposed to serve as the undercard on the weekend's Innsbrook racing program, but it evolved into a main event in its own right. Adam Zucco from Chicago, a familiar name in past Ultramax Events, set a blistering pace that no one could match, leading wire to wire. When you're the first male out of the water, then hammer out the fastest bike split, and finish with the third best run, the end result is usually the overall title. And that's exactly what he got. If it weren't for the efforts of a couple of female dolphins named Vetter and Haskins, he would of nabbed the top swim split of the day as well. Zucco added the title to his earlier season win at Race For Sight. The women's division had prohibitive prerace favorites Molly Vetter of Columbia and Sarah Haskins of St Louis squaring off once again. Exiting the water within ten seconds of one another, they headed out on their bikes looking for an edge. Vetter managed a mile per hour better average to put a little time between herself and the athletic prowess of the ex-Tulsa Hurricane runner Haskins. Vetter managed to hold off her hard charging rival on the final leg of the race and capture the title by nearly two minutes..... Metro KC triathletes with notable finishes included: Ann Spaulding- Kansas City 2nd F20-24, Joe Fox- Kansas City 3rd M20-24, Marian Smith- Overland Park 2nd F30-34, Hilary Petersen- Leawood KS 3rd F30-34, Jennifer Herrell- Kansas City MO 4th F30-34, Cindy Madsen- Olathe KS 5th F35-39, Skip Rosenstock- Overland Park KS 5th M50-54.

The Halfmax triathlon established its reputation last year as a half-iron distance event with one of the toughest half marathons in the land. Although the 2004 edition altered the run route a bit by eliminating one of the meanest ascents in last year's race, it still presented a very formidable challenge. SBR's chalk street graffiti could only provide a temporary diversion for the athletes from the discomfort they most assuredly felt on the run. Bob Schloegel of Overland Park, Kansas succeeded in producing the fastest age group finish by virtue of his 4:13:31. This lanky triathlete may be deemed a masters competitor because of his age, but a better connotation is that he's mastered the sport itself. Spotting the early leaders more than a minute out of the water, Schloegel combined a strong bike and a six minute per mile half-marathon to bring them back. The race found an intriguing women's champion in Sunny Gilbert. The Boulder, CO resident is no stranger to inclined running, however, she discovered nothing resembling her home turf in the constant ups and downs of Innsbrook's hills. This race was the statuesque Gilbert's first foray at half-iron distance and still her closest competitor finished more than five minutes back.... Notable Halfmax finishers were: Jon Smith- Independence MO 1st M19&U, Josh Gray- Lenexa KS 5th M20-24, Leslie Curley- Topeka KS 1st F30-34, Susan Schapira- Rocheport MO 1st F35-39, John Anders- Wellington KS 4th M35-39, Thomas Fugate- Ft Leavenworth KS 6th M35-39, Diana Fugate- Fort Leavenworth KS 4th F45-49, Douglas Williams- Kansas City MO 3rd M45-49, Bill Love- Olathe KS 4th M45-49.

It's likely that there's no perfect race. If it exists, the condition is temporal. For all of the positives that gushed forth from the weekend at Innsbrook, there were still issues, the most prominent of which revolved around traffic. It would be unrealistic and unreasonable to expect the course to be completely closed to vehicles. After all, It is private property and we're the guests. The run course seemed particularly treacherous at times with a surprisingly large number of cars trying to squeeze between bi-directional runners on steep, curvy roads not much wider than a car. That may be the one irresolvable bug that keeps this from becoming the perfect race. Another issue reared its ugly head that had nothing to do with the venue and everything to do with the racers. State and county roads are very rarely if ever closed to traffic. I've done races with shutdown freeways and they are a treat, but that feature is always a well-publicized selling feature of the event. There were no such roads at this weekend's Max races and thus no reason whatsoever for cyclists to be straddling the middle of Highways M or F. In fact, those cyclists were not only in violation of USA Triathlon blocking rules, they were a menace to themselves and others. This clueless minority should have attended and/or paid attention at the mandatory pre-race meeting, or stayed home.

While I'm certainly no local triathlon pioneer, I can still reminisce over a decade and a half of multisport thrills and chills. That's adequate background for my developing an acute appreciation of the bond between Ultramax Events and Innsbrook Estates and what it brings to the Missouri triathlon community. For you newbies out there, these are the best of times. If each and every KC area triathlete who participated doesn't take the time to send a thank you e-mail to that resort community, I'd be sadly disappointed. Before I sound much more like your mom telling you to write Aunt Betty a thank you note for the birthday sweater, let me say I know most of you are ahead of me on this. information@innsbrook-resort.com

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Television Schedule
ROAD TO THE TOUR	Thru TDF	OLN
USPS DOCUMENTARY	Thru TDF	OLN
2004 TOUR DE FRANCE	July 3-25	OLN
RE-AIR 2003 IRONMAN HAWAII	July 25	NBC
VUELTA Aa ESPANA	Sept 4-26	OLN
PARIS TOURS	Oct 10	OLN
TOUR DU FASO	10/27-11/7	OLN
2004 IRONMAN HAWAII	Nov 20	NBC