Race Coverage

An Act of Contrition....

Friday, 28 September 2012 02:10

By Hank O'Hare

Stuff About One Last Tri - MTN already posted partial results for One Last Tri, which took place back on September 16. The event endured a major timing snafu, for which the service provider later explained his situation and apologized profusely for the problems, and though results have finally been generated, it's still not clear whether they are trustworthy.

While race organizers are totally bummed, fearing that many of their participants left the event with frowny faces and negative reviews, the actual vibe at the event wasn't an unhappy one. Quite the opposite. It appeared that most of the entrants enjoyed the experience and and understood that, "these things happen occasionally."...

As it turns out, the first place trophy for women was given to the wrong girl, a result of the moronic announcer assuming--when one assumes they make an "ass" of "u" and "me"--that the waves were launched according to the original schedule. They were not. Most wave intervals were tightened significantly, thus when Leanne Bronson, who started in the 6th wave, blasted across the finish line in 1:27, Mr. Moron announced that she had overtaken clubhouse leader / 1st waver Heather Lendway, whose official time was 1:14:27. He had assumed that she (Leanne) started 15 minutes after the bikinied Ms. Lendway, when she actually hit the water only 7:10 after the first wave. (Mr. M was not involved in the swim start process. He was positioned outside the bike corral awaiting the swim finishers.)

So, sincere apologies to Heather, who has won her last two tris and enjoys drinking lots of hard cider and has good taste in earrings (photo above), and any others who might be carrying negative feelings. As we said earlier, these "timing things" happen occasionally and should not dissuade anyone from returning to future editions of this event. Remember the Apple Duathlon in 1999? Almost everyone went off course. In 2000, though, Apple flawlessly hosted the USAT Duathlon National Championships.

Preliminary Results are posted on the event organizer's website.