December 2023 Newsletter

Happy Holidays from VT Tri!

Our student-athletes have been hard at work studying for exams and finishing up projects this month. Great work by everyone to close out the semester strong! Most importantly, congratulations to Evan Donohoe on graduating last week with a degree in Computer Engineering!

CLASH Daytona

At the start of the month, sixteen of our Hokie triathletes trekked down to Daytona Beach to compete in CLASH Daytona. We had nine people race the sprint distance and seven compete in the USAT Long Course (Half-Ironman Distance) National Championships. 

Sprint Distance Race

We got our first taste of racing around Daytona International Speedway in the sprint on Saturday December 2nd. They sent our athletes off with a bang (literally) and VT Triathlon wasted no time getting to the podium. Jonathan Ravid and Drew Conboy placed first (1:05:02) and third (1:11:27), respectively, in the men’s 20-24 age group. 

Everyone had great races on Saturday. The weather was perfect, and our athletes crushed their swim goals in chilly Lake Lloyd. We knew those hard Wednesday swims were going to pay off eventually! Transition was flat, short, and carpeted, making for some quick times. After T1, our racers set off for 5 laps and biking and 1 lap of running on the Speedway. The ducking and weaving between age groupers on the later laps made it really feel like we were in NASCAR. We also had four first-time triathletes. Congrats to Jack, Julianne, Sam, and Yash on completing their first sprints! Sorry guys, your next race is not going to be that cool…

USAT Long Course Nationals

The Half-Ironman race on Sunday December 3rd was also the USA Triathlon National Championships for that distance. We had seven Hokies compete, including four first-timers in this distance: Anna, Evan, Jackson, and Tommy. 

Again, VT Triathlon put on a stellar performance. We went out smooth on the swim, although Anna and Tommy were still 1st and 2nd out of the water in their age groups. The bike course was a flat out and back, but the alternating head- and tailwinds made it tough for the racers and had our spectators worried at first. Nonetheless, our bikers were quick back to T2, where the sun came out and it got HOT. Some relief came under the grandstand, but the Christmas music had us ready to relax with some hot cocoa instead of run another ten miles.

After pushing through a scorching run, Anna Sullivan placed first (5:07:46) in her age group to become Female 20-24 Long Course NATIONAL CHAMPION! Congrats Anna, we were all so excited to see your hard work pay off! On the men’s side, Tommy finished in a blistering 4:16:22 to claim second in the 20-24 age group. Hugh, Evan, and Cason also finished top 18 in the age group, automatically qualifying them to race as part of Team USA at Long Course World Championships next August. Click here for our full results from CLASH Daytona.

Fundraising

In November, a big group of Hokie triathletes worked concessions at the men’s and women’s basketball home opener. We raised over $1000 selling hot dogs, popcorn, and other stadium goodies. We also hosted a fundraiser at Chipotle, arguably the best place to fuel up after a long workout. Finally, huge thanks to Chase, Drew, Hugh, and Jackson, who took time out of their Thanksgiving breaks to sell a ton of drinks at the football game against NC State. 

Going Forward

Most of our athletes are taking these next couple weeks easy to get some much-needed recovery and spend time with family and friends. After New Year’s, it’ll be back to business as usual, with practices sent out to be done at home until we return to Blacksburg around MLK weekend. We look forward to getting in some aerobic work and base building this off-season. Our first race of the spring is the Azalea Sprint on March 10th in Wilmington, NC. 

As usual, our main goal for next semester is a great performance at Collegiate Club Nationals. This year, Nationals is being held in Mission Viejo, CA on April 13th and 14th and will include Olympic, Draft-Legal Sprint, and Mixed Team Relay (MTR) races. Our athletes are super excited for a trip out west! Check out more info on the race here.

That’s all for now! Enjoy the holiday season!