Article published in the Santa Cruz Sentinel, 25th September, 2017
Clear, sunny skies and glassy waters greeted hundreds of competitors at the 35th annual Santa Cruz Triathlon on Sunday.
The event was focused for amateur triathletes but the race managed to attract elite competitor Stephen Kilshaw of Victoria, Canada to the Olympic distance event. And despite not resting up for the event, the 32-year-old won in 1:53:28.
He finished ahead of Santa Cruz local Jack Calhoun (1:57:10) by almost four minutes followed by Vince Donofrio (2:03:45) of San Francisco in third.
The competitors swam 1.5k around the Santa Cruz wharf, rode 40k on a bike to Davenport and back, then finished with a 10k run to Natural Bridges and back along West Cliff Drive.
Kilswhaw was in the Bay Area to train with his triathlon coach Muddy Waters to prepare for the Louisville Ironman triathlon in three weeks.
“I was here to blow out the carburetors a little bit. We did a good solid ‘Muddy’ ride of about 100 miles yesterday” Kilshaw said.
There was no prize money awarded on Sunday but age category winners received a souvenir towel and overall winners got a Plantronics headset.
The fastest woman of the day in the Olympic distance race was 43-year-old Mill Valley resident Shawn Connell-Clarkson who finished in 2:22:28. She recently returned to California from Bermuda and was surprised by the colder water temperature.
“It was a beautiful day. I love coming down here and then going to Betty’s Burgers as a reward,” Connell-Clarkson said. “I did not expect to win. I have won this race before, a few years ago, and that was a shock too.”
Anna Guzman, 28, from San Jose was actually the first woman to cross the finish line in 2:24:23 but placed second overall with a slower elapsed time than Connell-Clarkson, who started in a wave behind her. Alexandra Yakovleva, 32 of Palo Alto, finished third in 2:32:21.
And despite triathlon participation reaching a plateau in the past few years, the Santa Cruz event, which is one of the longest running in California, had one of its most successful runs last year.
“Last year was our best year ever. The race sold out and we gave $64,000 to local high school and collegiate athletic programs,” Race director Jennifer Murray said. “I know there are a lot of races for triathletes to choose from and that the neighbors and businesses on our race course are affected by many, many events. I really appreciate the support and understanding the Santa Cruz Triathlon receives. As cheesy as it sounds, what we do really is for the kids.”
This year, the combined events attracted a total of nearly 1,200 competitors, which is the max capacity. In the past few years, other multi-sport events have been added to the classic Olympic distance race to keep total registration numbers up including a shorter Sprint distance triathlon that features a.75k swim, 20k bike and 5k run.
Most of the competitors were satisfied with the organization, but with a congested field some expressed frustration with people drafting, especially among the more competitive athletes.
Drafting is where competitors gain advantage by riding directly behind others, which is cheating under triathlon rules and athletes are penalized with a time penalty of two minutes. According to race timer Greg Richards of SVE Timing, 20 penalties were handed out by officials on Sunday.
Finishers were awarded with a unique wooden medal that doubled as a drink coaster with a bottle opener on the back. One proud recipient was 25-year-old Santa Cruz native Cecilia Carrillo after she attempted the Olympic triathlon portion of the race for the first time. She completed her first triathlon of a shorter distance this year in the spring as part of the Santa Cruz Triathlon Association’s Nu2Tri program.
The program introduces new people to the sport with mentors, coached workouts and clinics. Carrillo continued to train during the summer with the friends she made at the club after the program ended.
“I went to the SCTA workouts. (I’m) pretty faithful. I’d say about six to ten hours of training a week.” said Carrillo, who was satisfied with her result of 2:59:01. “It was amazing. A solid race.”
After the athletes crossed the finish line in front of the Dream Inn, they made their way down to Depot Park to recover, socialize, receive awards and make goals for 2018.
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