Athlete Race Report - Sunfish Triathlon 2015

Sunfish Triathlon – Meridian, MS – 7/11/15

This weekend the GCTT made its debut at the Sunfish Triathlon in Meridian, MS. This mid-July race typically brings HOT temperatures and this year’s race was no exception. Even the water temperature was a balmy 92 degrees.

This also marked the 29th running of the very popular Sunfish Triathlon, attracting a fast field of participants from all over the Southeast. The race started with a 1/3 mile swim in beautiful Lake Bonita followed by a 17 mile bike through some very deceiving hills. The event finished with a steamy 5k run around the lake.

A great feature of this race was the $100 cash prize awarded for the fastest participant in each of the three disciplines so even before the starting gun went off the competition was heating up. Rob, Allen, and Sam would all be chasing the swim split since Joey would not be competing (according to Joey it was Rob’s for the taking). Matt was planning to crush the field on the bike. In the absence of Eric the run split would also be up for grabs by the runner who could survive the heat with a swift run. When all the dust settled Sam would take home the cash for the fastest swim edging out Rob by only 21 seconds. Matt narrowly missed the top bike split by the tiniest of margins (8 seconds). The run split was taken with a blazing fast time (albeit questionable, story for another time) of 16:44 by an unknown from Louisiana.

Even with a stacked field the team placed 7 members in the top 22, and 4 in the top 11! Allen would yet again cross the finish line first and take the overall win with a smoking fast time of 1:10:52. This race along with Heatwave marked Allen’s second top podium finish of the year. Johnny grabbed the Grand Masters Title to keep his hot streak going. Doug rebounded from his Texas injury by taking home the Senior Masters trophy. Several others also took home hardware.

Full team results are as follows:

1st – Allen Stanfield, Overall Champion
6th – Sam Hudson, 1st AG
8th – Caleb Earhart, 1st AG
11th – Johnny Harrison, Grand Masters
16th – Rob Felty, 1st AG
21st – Matt Storr, 5th AG
22nd – Kevin Self, 5th AG
30th – Doug Jones, Senior Masters
64th – Terry Bailey, 3rd AG

Awesome job of racing in what proved to be a very fast field!!! Complete results along with video of each participant crossing the finish line can be found here.

Post-race activities included frosty beverages and pizza as well as the always “healthy” Popeye’s fried chicken. A good time was had by all! Next team race will be the all popular Sandestin Tri on August 22nd.

-Kevin

The giant industrial size fan provided the best spot to hang out post-race.

No Matt that is not your plate.