John Spinney of Williston is just 21 years old but gunned down two veteran triathletes in Sunday's ninth annual Middlebury Triathlon. Montreal's Genevieve Shurtless was the women's winner in the 400-yard swim, 12.5-mile bike and 2.9-mile run.
Spinney was in 20th place after the 400-yard swim in the Vermont Sun Fitness Center pool. He and the rest of the field moved to the Middlebury municipal building where the bike/run was staged. Athletes were lined up on their bikes in order of their swim times. The clock was started at 10:00 A.M. sharp and at 10:04:32 two time defending champ John Parks lead off with a 30-second advantage over Lowville, New York's Eric Virkler. Middlebury's Steve Hare was fifth out but immediately passes two riders to settle into third.
In last year's race, Park's opened up a three-minute lead on Hare on the bike but this year he only extended his 45-second advantage to 1:05. Hare passed Virkler on the second lap of the two-lap course up Rte. 30 across Cider Mill Road and back on Rte. 125.
Virkler started the run third back and Spinney with the day's fattest bike had moved up to forth just 1:24 behind Park's. The run course consists of 6 loops around downtown Middlebury crossing Main St. bridge and the foot bridge 6 times each.
Meanwhile Shurtless had a 16 second lead on Middlebury's Linn Larson after the swim, but expanded that to a full minute over New Haven's Claire Van Buren who had moved up from 6th place. Larson was 50 seconds back in third.
Shurtless outran Van Buren by 1:32 to cruise to a 1:04:19 victory. VanBuren was second in 1:06:55. She was followed by former Middlebury Triathlon champion Jessica Jensen-Moulton of Boston in 1:08:50. Angie DeFilippi of Colchester had the days best run (19:15) and took forth place with a time of 1:09:20.
"With the loop course I had not idea what kind of lead I had so I just went as hard as I could and it was enough", exclaimed Shurtless.
For the men, Spinney immediately passes Virkler and set his sight on Hare who was closing in on Parks. Spinney powered by Hare as the two ran up the hill on lap four.
"Just as I thought I was going to catch John (Parks), Spinney gets me. He's (Spinney) never outrun me before. Then he (Spinney) caught and passes Parks on the last lap and they both picked it up so I couldn't get either of them. That's fun racing", commented Hare.
Parks tried in vain to stay with Spinney over the final 300-yards but couldn't to take second in 57:09 to Spinney's 57:11. Hare jogged in at 57:27. Keene Valley's Brad Hurlburt was forth in 58:13 with Virkler finishing fifth in 58:33. In hot, humid, windy conditions seven men broke and hour while only two did that in better conditions last year.
"The wind was real tough on the bike and I felt the heat on the run. I think everyone but Spinney did! He's got the young legs, I'm 38 and Steve's 42. We've got endurance but maybe our power's off a little",commented Parks.
" I didn't realize I'd won till 5 minutes after I finished. I've been training hard and hoping to win one of these (series races) and now I have. This is great", exclaimed Spinney.
Middlebury's Linn Larson won her 40-44 age group in 1:11:31 and was sixth overall. Also from Middlebury was the female 20-24 winner Heather Stroud in 1:15:16 and the days final winner Adrienne Cohen in 2:10:34. She received the biggest cheer!
"My goal was to finish. It wasn't that hard and I had fun. Next time I'll go a little faster", commented Cohen.
Middlebury's John Elder had the days third fastest swim and placed sixth in the men's 30-34 group in 1:19:02. William Roper of Middlebury was third in the 40-44 group in 1:15:59.
The next series event is the Vermont Sun Triathlon on Saturday, June 26th at Branbury State Park on Lake Dunmore. The race is open to teams and individuals. For more information on the 600-yard swim, 14-mile bike and 3.1-mile run call Vermont Sun at 388-6888.
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