Subject: RE: Fast 13 yr old in OLY tri smilford - 2009-06-08 4:28 PM Even on a flat fast course, a 13 year old doing 22mph for a 40k in a triathlon is pretty un-worldy. Not the mention a solid 10k after. It's not totally out of the question, but I do quesiton a few things. Young kids can suprise me with how fast they can go. The course is rolling, smooth and rough pavement (probably equal of both ). As far as placement, there were no other 10-15 year olds in the race, so no comparison there. His bike split was 80/236 overall for the men. If he were competiting in the 16-19 AG he would have been first on the bike by over 14 minutes. If he had competed in the 20-24 AG he would have been 6th of 14. Interesting to note, of his 15th place overall finish, 9 of the men who finished ahead of him were in the elite category. So technically he was the 6th place overall age grouper to finish. Since he qualified for nationals, I wonder if we will see him compete there. I guess that is the best place to see how he stands up to the best competition. Edited to add: in the 2008 Greenville Sprint triathlon (August 2008 ) he did the 400m swim in 5:40 (2nd fastest time ), did the 15 mile bike in 42:43 (21.1 mph on a hilly course ) and did the 5K in 18:19. This was on wet roads, as the tri started late due to a thunderstorm. Edited by SuzanneS 2009-06-08 3:58 PM
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