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Sea to the Summit Triathlon
New Castle to Mt. Washington, NH, July 11, 1999
Overall Results
5th Annual Sea To Summit Triathlon
Sea Kayak 12 miles; Bicycle 90 miles; Run 8.5 miles
The 5th Annual Sea To Summit Triathlon was held on Sunday, July 11th. Starting
at 6:00 am, 23 ambitious individuals began a 111-mile journey from the island of
New Castle (just off the coast of Portsmouth, NH) to the 6,288-foot summit of
Mount Washington. This group of endurance athletes consisted of 20 men and 3
women from New England and New York. This grueling event begins with a 12 mile
sea kayak paddle up the Piscataqua and Salmon Falls rivers to South Berwick, ME;
followed then by a 90 mile bicycle ride in New Hampshire heading north into the
White Mountain National Forest; and is concluded with a combination road and
trail run to the summit of Mount Washington. The run alone gains over a mile of
vertical in 8-miles!
Exiting the water first was Michael Wilcox of Webster, NY in a time of 1:54:23
followed closely by 4 others within the next minute and a half. After a quick
transition from the paddle to bike, Tom Cross of Stratham, NH was the first
cyclist to leave South Berwick. For the next 90 miles, the cyclists were faced
with relentless head winds of 10 to 20 mph! Ten miles into the ride, Vincent
Kotowski of Worcester, MA overtook Cross. Kotowski dominated on the bike and
held a 6-minute advantage with less than 40 miles remaining. At that point,
Cross had suffered a flat tire, which took 5 minutes to repair. Minutes later,
Gary Passler who had exited the water in 10th place and 3 minutes behind the
leaders, had now moved into 2nd place. Startled by the presence of Passler,
Cross reclaimed 2nd place. Meanwhile, Christine Graham of Concord, NH had
established a comfortable lead on the bike over the female competitors.
Arriving first at the bike to run transition area in Jackson, NH was Kotowski
with a 10-minute advantage over Cross. Less than Two minutes later was Gary
Passler.
The run starts cruelly with a 4.5 mile uphill (1,000 vertical feet) road run
from the Dana Place Inn to the Pinkham Notch Visitors Center. Once arriving at
Pinkham Notch, there is a brutal 4-mile trail run/ hike up the steep and rocky
Tuckerman Ravine trail (4,300 vertical feet) to the summit of Mount Washington.
By the time Kotowski had reached the trailhead, his lead had shrunk to 6 minutes
over Cross and 7 minutes over Passler. At just below the Hermit Lake Shelters
and 2 miles from the summit, Passler had caught up to Cross. Cross and Passler
remained in close proximity to each during their charge up the mountain. Half
way up into the Ravine, Kotowski was overtaken by Passler and seconds later
passed by Cross. For the first time in the history of the Sea To Summit
Triathlon, the top 3 competitors were within 50 feet of each other while less
than 1.5 miles from the finish. Maintaining his assault up the mountain,
Passler slowly started to pull away from Cross and Kowtowski. Once above the
ravine, the athletes were faced with 45-mph winds, 39-degree temperatures, and
visibility of less than 50 meters. Certainly not beach weather, but not uncommon
Mount Washington conditions!
Maintaining his advantage over his competition, Passler reached the summit
marker in 8:51:00. A mere 71 seconds later, Cross reached the summit of the
highest mountain in the north east at 8:52:11, followed by Kowtowski in 8:56:36.
The only finishers within the next 45 minutes were Michael Wilcox (4th place)
with a time of 9:30:36 and Bruce Lander (5th place) of Dover, NH at 9:35:51.
Christine Graham continued to build her lead in the female division and placed
an impressive 9th overall in 10:18:06. Nancy Caffo, 37 year old school teacher
from Rochester, NY finished 2nd among the females in 11:40:00. Donna
Kasianchuk, mother of 4 children and a finisher of 18 marathons, finished in
12:29:30. Of the 23 starters, only 16 competitors completed the journey from sea
to summit. The majority of the DNF
ís (ědid not finishî) were due to fatigue
resulting from the brutal head winds on the bicycle and poor summit conditions.
Results:
1 Gary Passler 44 Amesbury, MA 08:51:00
2 Tom Cross 41 Stratham, NH 08:52:11
3 Vincent Kotowski 32 Worcester, MA 08:56:36
4 Michael Wilcox 34 Webster, NY 09:30:56
5 Bruce Lander 40 Dover, NH 09:35:51
6 Eric Grimm 33 Rochester, NY 09:48:41
7 Scott Weiler 36 Rochester, NY 09:48:42
8 Mark Lutterbein 48 Webster, NY 10:00:37
9 Christine Graham F33 Concord, NH 10:18:06
10 Justin Ellenton 25 Danvers, MA 10:53:30
11 Thad Thorne 35 Center Conway, NH 10:53:45
12 Rick Silverman 43 Ipswich, MA 10:53:48
13 Peter Britton 56 Hamilton, MA 11:16:54
14 Nancy Caffo F37 Rochester, NY 11:40:00
15 Robert Mathes 46 Wolfeboro, NH 12:18:14
16 Donna Kasianchuk F42 Wolfeboro Falls, NH12:29:30
