November 2023 Newsletter
Racing
Last month, we competed in the Mid-Atlantic Collegiate Triathlon Conference championships. The event was split over two weekends, with the Olympic distance race at Pleasants Landing on October 7th and the Draft-Legal Sprint at Smith Mountain Lake on October 14th.
Pleasants Landing
The Olympic distance conference championships was our main competitive focus of the fall season. After six weeks of training and taper, our athletes showed up big time. As we arrived at the race, a large storm rolled in, causing the swim to be cut in half due to dangerous water conditions. Nevertheless, we pushed through, with four of our athletes (Anna, Ann-Sidney, Tommy, and Jonathan) finishing top 25 in the swim.
Soon after we got out of the water, the weather began to clear up. Spencer McGehee took full advantage of this to earn himself a new team record of 58:06 on the bike leg. Tommy Doubleday was close behind, hustling his way to a team record in the run leg of 36:11.
Virginia Tech finished 4th overall out of 9 teams, led by Anna Sullivan’s 7th place finish (2:11:49) for the women and Tommy’s 20th place finish (1:49:48) for the men. Click here for full results.
Blue Ridge Draft Legal Sprint
The Blue Ridge Draft-Legal Sprint was the second and final race of our conference championships. At a traditional race, bikers are required to keep ten meters between themselves and the next bike, except to pass. This prevents any advantage due to drafting, where the rider in front “punches a hole” through the air and makes it easier for the rider behind. In draft-legal racing, this rule is thrown out the window, creating very fast, very close, and very exciting racing.
We had four athletes race take on the challenge and race draft legal for the first time: Jonathan, Tamir, Kelly, and Jackson. It was another rainy race, which made it tough to take advantage of drafting on the bike. We still finished out our fall season strong, with both Jonathan and Kelly achieving team course records! Click here for full results.
Fall Season Results
This season was one of our best in recent years. Virginia Tech Triathlon finished 3rd out of 10 teams in the MACTC, bested only by Queens and the Naval Academy. We couldn’t be happier with this result, which is a big improvement over last year’s 5th place.
Click Here for Official Season Results (Individual and Team)
We also had 12 people complete their first triathlon with the team. It was awesome to see so many of our new members come out and race! While participation is not mandatory, we are always excited to travel with a big team. It is a great way for our athletes to track their progress and show off all their hard work. Almost everyone that raced this fall went a best time in at least one distance of triathlon!
Fundraising and Team Events
Virginia Tech Triathletes were hard at work this month raising money to cover our future race travel. We raised over $5,000 working concession stands at home football versus Wake Forest and Syracuse. That was a lot of hot dogs to sell… Great work by all our volunteers! If you’re in town, you can find us selling snacks and refreshments at the men’s and women’s basketball on Monday November 6th and at the football game on Saturday November 18th.
On Monday October 23rd, we hosted a fundraiser at Panera Bread in Blacksburg. Thank you to everyone that came out and bought some soups and sandwiches! Also, to celebrate the end of the season and get in the Halloween spirit, our athletes headed to the Hexed Haunted House in Elliston, VA. Some of us definitely got more scared than others…
Upcoming
With the fall season finished up, we’ve got our eyes on the beach and some half-ironman racing! Virginia Tech Triathlon will be travelling to Daytona Beach, FL to compete in CLASH Daytona on December 2nd and 3rd. This is going to be a great way to close out our fall semester. We have 8 athletes racing in the USA Triathlon Long Course (Half-Ironman Distance) National Championships and 11 in the sprint distance race. If our Long Course racers finish top 18 in their age group, they qualify for the World Triathlon Long Course Championships in Townsville, Australia next year. Good luck everyone!