Things kicked off on the 19th in Fernandina Beach where the first of three Jacksonville sprint triathlons was held. Shannon Coates in the women’s 20-24 age group took top honors with a :54:25 time. The following week Coates’ top competition Lauren Switzer was second in the prestigious Morton Plant Meese sprint triathlon in Sand Key (Clearwater Beach) in 1:21:33. While Jacksonville is noted for being a flat and fast sprint, MPM has three major bridges to navigate during the 13 mile bike stage. As July rolled around the two former FSU star athletes (Coates, track and Switzer, soccer) were in a major point’s battle with Coates up 225 to 170. New member Stephanie Pilkington finished her first race on June 20 at Marineland, St. Augustine and took first in the age group.

 Another big battle for the top spot was in the men’s 50-54 age group. Here training partners Alan Cox and Alex “Steve” Steverson are locked in an epic battle for the gold medal. The two traded the top two finishes at Jacksonville and Freedom Springs in Marianna on July 5. Steverson won the Jacksonville sprint in: 59:29 with Cox second at: 59:37. Cox then returned the favor in Marianna winning in 1:00:32 with Steverson second at 1:00:37. After the dust settled Cox led his buddy by 180 to 174 in the point’s race. Jay Herring is third with 115 points and Lee Scarboro fourth with 110 points. Also in the hunt are David Parker, Rob McNeeley and Gary Parsons. finished her first race on June 20 at Marineland, St. Augustine and took first in the age group.

The Bowman’s, Ann, Jeff and son Alex continue to lead their respective age groups as the top family in the club. Ann finished second at Freedom Springs in the 40-44 age group giving her 239 points; second behind overall points leader Stephanie Liles (265 points). Jeff competing in the 45-49 age group copped first overall at the July 5th race and third place in the July 11th rugged Chattanooga Riverfront Olympic event and his 370 points is tops among all GW Tri Club competitors this year. Son Alex has garnered 96 points in three youth triathlons and leads the 10-11 Boys age group.

Another interesting battle is brewing in the 45-49 female age group where Robin Safley is holding on to a 170-168 point advantage over Robin Gibson, who got a first in Jacksonville, sixth place at MPM and a third at the Beaches Fine Arts race in Ponte Vedra. Tammy Thompson is in third place with 140 points. Thompson came back from Clearwater with a fourth place age group finish.
Loranne Ausley and Lisa Cox are also in the mix.

Other GW Triathletes who did well during this stretch of the season were Charlie Johnson in the 30-34 age group where he took top honors in Clearwater in 1:06:04 and leads last year’s Triathlete of the Year Grady Smith by 130 to 90 in the points race; Sandy Holt in the 25-29 female division where she finished third at MPM in 1:19:22; Frank Geraci 25-29 males who finished 5th in Jacksonville in :58:35; Tom Perkins and Bryan Desloge in the over-40 Clydsdales division who copped first and second at Marianna; under-30 Clydesdale leader Steve Padilla took second at Ponte Vedra and Terry Presnell was second in Marianna and leads in 60-64 age group

April - June 2010

Following Jeff Bowman and Kemeny in the men’s scoring are Steve Padilla 140 points, Allen Cox and Lee Scarboro, 110 points, Alex Steverson and Jamie Hanuka, 100 pts, Colby Allen, 95 points, Grady Smith 90 points and Charlie Johnson 80 points.

Behind Liles, Ann Bowman and Coates in the female division are Robin Safley, 170 points, Seeley Gutierrez, 150 points, Lauren Switzer, 130 points, Sandy Holt, 115 points, Karen McBroom, 113 points, Karen Munoz, 95 points and Tammy Thompson 80 points.

In the quest for top honors in age group competition the men’s 50-54 and women’s 45-49 feature some of the top individual battles. Cox and Scarboro are tied atop the 50-54 males. Right behind in third place only ten points out of the top spot is Steverson. Four other GW members are also battling for a top three finish in this group with Steve Parker, Rob McNeely, Jay Herring (Jacksonville) and Gary Parsons within 20 points of each other.

In the 45-49 female division Robin Gibson (75 pts.), Loranne Ausley (69 pts.) and Lisa Cox (66 pts.) are within striking distance of second place in the age group.

Smith and Johnson are 10 points apart in the 30-34 male age group; Padilla and Hanuka are separated by 40 points in the U-40 Clydesdales while Bryan Desloge leads Allen Secreast by just six points in the O-40 Clydesdales. In the men’s 60-64 competition Rob Cunningham is ahead of Terry Presnell by 20 points. In the male 45-49 age group, Michael Weyant trails Jeff Bowman in second and is ahead of Mike Boll by 20 points. Tony Guillen leads Sean Hudson in the men’s 40-44 age group by a slim four points.

Other age group leaders include Allen in the U-19 males, Frank Geraci in the 25-29 males by 26 points over Chris Warfel, Gutierrez in the women’s 30-34 group, Holt in the 25-29 female age group, Liles in the 35-39 female age group, Ann Bowman in the 40-44 female age group, Tim Warfel in the 55-59 male age group and Vicky Verano just ahead of Fran Gilbert in the Athena division. In single competitor age groups George Desloge and Bob Keller are participating in the 65-69 and 75-79 male age groups.

Gulf Winds Triathletes Shine at Grand Prix Events

Led by its USA Triathlon All-Americans Seeley Gutierrez, Stephanie Liles, Chuck Kemeny, Grady Smith and Jeff Bowman, the Gulf Winds Tri Club fared exceptionally well in major events during the last month.

Gutierrez, the GW Tri Club K-Swiss female ambassador, started things off on April 18 winning her 30-34 age group at the prestigious Oschner Half Ironman race in New Orleans. Her time was 4:44:59. Kemeny took 1st in the 35-39 age group at the Ford ROHTO Half Ironman at Walt Disney World on May 16 in 4:16:15.

Shannon Coates, recovered from a calf injury suffered on the run at Oschner and captured 4th at Disney in 4:57:53 in the 20-24 age group.

Competing in the Elite class, Liles took 7th in the women’s division at St. Anthony’s Olympic triathlon in St. Petersburg on April 25 with a time of 2:17:27 and then followed that up on May 8th with a first place finish in the 35-39 age group at the Gulf Coast half ironman in Panama City in a time of 4:54:16.

Smith, the 2009 GW Male Triathlete of the Year, opened his 2010 triathlon campaign with a 5th place finish at Gulf Coast in 4:32:28. Bowman won his first race of the year on April 24th in Mexico Beach taking the Beach Blast sprint title in 1:09:59 in the 45-49 age group.

Also at Beach Blast, newcomer Lauren Switzer captured her second first place of the year in the 20-24 age group at the Olympic race in a time of 2:15:55. Ann Bowman took the Beach Blast female overall top honors winning the sprint title in the 40-44 age group in 1:20:49. Teammate Karen McBroom was second to Bowman in 1:26:32. In the 45-49 age group, Lynne Roberts notched second with a time of 1:44:16. Mike Boll in the men’s 45-49 and Lee Scarboro in the men’s 50-54 age groups also won firsts in the Olympic division. Boll finished in 2:19:55 and Scarboro in 2:21:59. Rob McNeely was second in the men’s 50-54 sprint in 1:28:20. Karen Munoz took top honors in the 50-54 sprint duathlon race in 1:38:55 and husband Phil Munoz third in the 55-59 division in 1:39:08.

Besides Liles and Smith’s finishes at Gulf Coast, Robin Safely took a third in the 45-49 age group in 5:40:06, Rob Cunningham notched a 7th place finish in the men’s 60-64 in 5:57:58 and Steve Padilla was 5th in the Under-40 Clydsdale division with a time of 5:58:57.

The Bowman’s also took top honors at the Beast of the East sprint triathlon on May 1 in Hiawassee, GA. Jeff won the men’s overall with a time of 1:23:28 and Ann took top honors in the women’s division with a time of 1:38:45. In the 25-29 age group Chris Warfel was first in 2:05:42. Tim Warfel was first in 1:47:21 and also took a third place at the Turtle Crawl on May 15 at Jekyll Island.

In the 60-64 age group Terry Presnell was first at the Beach Fine Arts race in Ponte Vedra Beach on May 15. His time was 1:30:45. Jay Herring was 2nd in the 50-54 age group in 1:10:31.

Several Gulf Winds triathletes also traveled outside the home state to compete in major events. Lisa Cox finished the grueling Escape from Alcatraz in 18th position in the 40-44 age group in 3:32:59 on May 2 in San Francisco; Sandy Holt and Charlie Johnson competed in the very challenging Ironman St. George (UT) on May 2 finishing 12th and 15th in times of 13:09:22 and 10:59:52 respectively; Allen Cox and Steve Steverson carried the Gulf Winds banner to Galveston, Texas to compete in the Hermann Invitational 70.3 finishing 7th and 14th in times of 5:24:25 and 5:30:58 in the men’s 50-54 field and Bob Keller qualified for the world duathlon championship in Scotland with a third place finish at the USA Triathlon championships in the 75-79 age group in Richmond on April 25.

Gulf Winds athletes also dominated the relay division of the Gulf Coast Triathlon 70.3.  The Male relay team of Michael Weyant, Jeff Bowman, and Stephen Cox took top honors for the 3rd consecutive year with a time of 4:10:07.  The female team of Heidi Thompson and Shannon McNees handily won the Female relay in a time of 5:16:19.  In the Mixed division the team of Sandy Holt, Charlie Johnson and Lisa Cox finished 5th with a time of 5:03:47.  And finally the Masters relay team of Robert Palmer, George Palmer and Sean Hudson took the overall honors with a time of 4:59:16. 

Ford Ironman Florida

The following club members completed Ironman Florida on November 7. Stephanie Liles and Shannon Coates qualified and will be competing at the Ironman World Championships in 2010 as they earned their slots at Ironman Florida this past Saturday. Shannon also took first in her age group, Stephanie took third in her age group and Sandy Holt won 4th.