Triathlon season ends with 2 island races

GALVESTON — Two triathlons held concurrently at Moody Gardens on Sunday brought Galveston County’s triathlon season to an end as professional triathletes Matty Reed and Becky Lavelle powered their way to victory in Galveston’s first 5150 Triathlon and Texans Connor Barry and Chelsea Estes won the Lone Star Sprint Triathlon.

The 5150 distance, named for its combination of a 1.5-kilometer swim, 40 kilometers of cycling and a 10-kilometer run, has become an official distance of the Ironman organization.

The Galveston 5150 was the 12th and final American race in the 2011 series, now the largest triathlon series in the world.

Reed, the 2008 national champion and an Olympic competitor, built a 2-minute lead on the bike course that he maintained to finish in 1 hour, 49 minutes and 56 seconds.

“The swim wasn’t what I wanted,” Reed said. “I had two guys in front of me and couldn’t get around them. My plan had been to stay with the first swim group but it didn’t happen.”

Reed was able to drop the two lead swimmers, Tommy Zaferes and Dylan McNeice, in the early miles of cycling.

Jordan Jones, who finished the race in second place with a 1:52:11 time, logged the fastest bike time of the day, averaging 26.6 miles per hour.

Reed’s race strategy relied on building up an early lead because his endurance had not fully returned after completing an Ironman triathlon in Kona, Hawaii, two weeks ago.

“I knew I’d be tired on the run because of Kona so it was important for me to get out ahead,” Reed said.

“Half way through the bike, I pulled ahead and the wind conditions were perfect for me.”

The cyclists first headed west into the wind, then returned with a tail wind.

“With the wind, I could push a big gear the whole way back. A flat bike course like this is all about power.”

The race was more of a nail-biter among the female triathletes. Top finishers Lavelle, Abby Geurink and Amanda Felder Derkacs finished the swim in a tight pack.

Lavelle eventually edged ahead on the bike but Geurink and Felder Derkacs dueled all the way to the finish line.

“I felt pressure all the way through,” Lavelle, a 2008 Olympic alternate, said. “My swim was decent, but I lost a little time so I had to really push it on the bike.”

With the Olympics looming during the next triathlon season, Geurink plans to spend the winter adding more strength training to her regimen.

“My plan is to do strength training to add power for the bike,” she said.

Lavelle’s offseason plans do not include Olympic preparation.

“Being an alternate was enough. I don’t like that kind of cycling with drafting; and besides, I’ve got a 16-month-old daughter at home,” she said.

The Lone Star Sprint Triathlon featured a 0.4-kilometer (704 yard) swim, 20 kilometers of cycling and a 5-kilometer run.

First-place finisher Barry turned in the day’s second-fastest run to finish the distance in 1:04. The 17-year old Barry was one of five triathletes under the age of 18 among the top 10 finishers.

Estes, a Houstonian, was the only woman among the top 10 overall finishers with a time of 1:09:27. Estes, a former collegiate swimmer and junior college national champion swimmer, led the women’s field throughout the race, though third-place finisher Meredith McCord closed much of the gap by averaging 22.9 miles per hour cycling.

Second-place finisher Abigail Artley overtook McCord in the final miles of the 5K run to finish in 1:10:35.

A total of 377 triathletes competed in the 5150 Galveston triathlon and 288 in the Lone Star Sprint Triathlon.