2010 Preview
Ah… at least for a few hours, it smelled like spring was in the air in Ohio, and that can only mean …it’s triathlon season in Ohio 2010 style! This weekend was also the annual HFP Training camp at Hilliard Aquatics, and we got a preview of the Wheelie Fun HFP Race team for the upcoming season.
On the planning side, plan to put some miles on the car as well as the bike this summer, as there isn’t a race you’ll want to miss. The slate of races looks great, with some old favorites on the calendar as well as some exciting new races in venues we’ve not seen before.
New for 2010 is an addition to the Triple T - the American Triple-T North Carolina, a new July 4th weekend race the JCC Independence Triathlon, the Trek Women’s Triathlon Series in Central Ohio and one of the most exciting additions, a complete series just for the ladies, the “Girls Tri Too” Series. Featuring a beginner friendly format and a non-competitive feel, these races are the natural extension of the Women’s Only races from the series championships last year, and as such will have the best pictures of all the races – as the smiles from these ladies having this much fun light up any venue.
Add in the established and almost always sold out Wheelie Fun Tri/Du series all over Ohio, the HUGE Great Buckeye Challenge, and one of Triathlon Magazine’s Top 100 races in the US – the already sold out (sorry!) American Triple T, and we’re set for one fantastic 2010. If you haven’t put your calendar together for this season – don’t dally long. Online registration is already open and people are taking advantage of the early bird discounts AND the multi race options. Get online and get a spot reserved in transition NOW!
As far as the Wheelie Fun/HFP Racing Team goes, it’s a similar story – a few new additions that should be fun to watch, and some old standbys that we’d be lost without. From the new side, roughly 20% of the team is “new meat” and really earned their spots in the red/white/blue line up. Two Team HFP rookies and one vet will miss the first races of the season because they’ll be at the US National Collegiate Triathlon Championships. Billy Krebs of Ohio U, Daniel Toberman from Miami, and Ross Hartley from OSU head to Nationals next week and it will be so great to see all those Team HFP Racing jerseys flying around the course. Good luck boys! A new HFP Lady managed to finish top 3 in her AG in every race she completed last year until her employment forced her to move to New Jersey (Seriously – did she get combat pay?) but she’s back now and promises to be in a Champions Jersey by season’s end – welcome home Erin! Perennial podium posers Randy Lehrer, Gregg Slayton, Brian Barker, Cheryl Chaney, Scott and Andrea Meyers, Mark Lemmon, Andy Britton, and a host of others means that BOTH the rookies and the Newbies will be looking to prove themselves at every race. Now THAT sounds like fun.
Team HFP Training day is an annual event where the Team HFP crew gets together to put names with faces, swim, run, eat, and reconnect with the old friends we haven’t seen since the Toyota Challenge last year. It was fun too, if somewhat humbling. Beginning with a full hour of pool drills in lane selections ranging from “Fast” to “Fowler” (thanks for that!) we were all exhausted by the time the LSD run commenced. (That’s Long Slow Distance for you that were worried). An HFP tradition, albeit a cruel one, is to conveniently “neglect” to tell the Team HFP Newbies that they do NOT have to run the entire loop, but it is broken up into 3 levels and they can choose whichever one fits their current training level. Several newbies took the bait, and they were the ones who sat at the table eating crackers and drinking flat Sprite instead of pizza after the run. Seems that 6.5 miles running with gazelles like Shannon, Slayton, and Lemmon can put a hurt on even the young pups. I laughed through both my salad AND my pizza while we watched them get their color back. Cruel – yes; funny…well only to us I guess.
You can get more info on any HFP Racing event at www.hfpracing.com, and I suggest you do it early. Get your training on and get registered for as much as you can handle this summer – ‘cause both the races and the people are fantastic as we start HFP Racing 2010!
See you on race day!
Rich
