Race Coverage

Another National Title For Parish!

Sunday, 14 April 2019 23:10

By Usatriathlon.org

GREENVILLE, S.C. — More than 500 run-bike-run specialists crossed the finish line Sunday at the USA Triathlon Duathlon National Championships in Greenville, South Carolina, as athletes competed for national titles and World Championship spots in two distances. 

The Non-Drafting Standard-Distance National Championships kicked off the day, with athletes covering an 8.45-kilometer run, 39-kilometer bike and 4.5-kilometer run on a rainy morning at Lakeside Park. 

Patrick Parish (Minneapolis, Minn.) was the overall men’s champion. The 34-year-old broke the tape with a time of 1 hour, 43 minutes, 23 seconds. Thirty-six-year-old Meghan Fillnow (Charlotte, N.C.) took the women’s overall championship, winning with a time of 1:57:54...

Ryan Giuliano (35, Oakwood Hills, Ill.), who finished third in Saturday’s Draft-Legal Sprint Duathlon National Championships, was the leader after the first run, but Parish used a strong bike ride to give himself the lead heading into the final run. Parish’s second run was just enough to edge hard-charging Lee Piercy (Folsom, Calif.), who finished four seconds behind in 1:43:27, winning the age 45-49 title.
Giuliano took third place, winning the 35-39 title.
“I had a bad race here last year. So, just winning my wave, I was like, ‘Alright, that’s good.’ But, I saw this guy (Piercy) at the U-turn at the second run and I knew he was in the second wave, and I was like ‘that can’t be right. He’s way too close,’” Parish said. “But, I was more worried about Ryan Giuliano, who was running me down. I used to run against him in high school in Illinois, and I’m pretty sure he was faster than me back then. So, I was like, ‘I know this guy can run and he was looking pretty good,’ so I was like ‘it’s not over till it’s over.’”  READ MORE

ED. According to our records, Patrick Parish has won seven national titles in his multisport career.