Clash Daytona Hosts USAT Long Course Nationals

Peter Boncelet finished fourth in the men’s 65-69 age group in the duathlon. Photo: Clash Endurance

I spent the weekend announcing at Clash Daytona, which also served as the USA Triathlon (USAT) Long Course National Championships. The event takes place at the iconic Daytona International Speedway (DIS). And, yes, I know “iconic” might be the overused way the speedway is always described, but it really is apt. The site of the famous Daytona 500, the most prestigious race in the NASCAR series, DIS features a 2.5 mile (4.023 km) oval and a grandstand with up to 125,000 seats. The track has a lake in the middle, making it an ideal venue for a multisport event.

Clash likes to pack the weekend full of races – beginning with Friday’s Jingle Jog with over 1,000 participants. There were two sprint events (including a duathlon and relays for both) on Saturday morning, a kids race on Saturday afternoon, the one hour “Test Track” that allowed athletes to ride around the track, and then a Redline Relay bike race that featured over 20 teams racing around the famous oval for three hours. All told there were almost 3,000 participants in all the weekend’s activities.

This was the sixth time Clash has put on an event at Daytona International Speedway – it began as Challenge Daytona before race owner Bill Christie decided to create the “Clash” series brand. In all the years of racing at DIS, this was the first time organizers were forced to cancel the swims. The water temperature was cool enough on Friday (about 60 degrees Fahrenheit), but dipped down to 56.8 on Saturday morning. USAT’s rules (following the World Triathlon standards) use an “adjusted” water temperature that’s determined by adding the water and air temperature, then dividing by two. When Saturday mornings air temperature of 42.1 Fahrenheit was added to the water temperature, the adjusted water temperature (49.45) was well below the minimum adjusted level of 54, which meant Saturday’s sprint triathlons were run as a bike/ run race. Athletes started the bike in a self-seeded time-trial format.

Celebrity Racers

Chris Nikic finishes. Photo Clash Daytona

No one was more disappointed that the swim was cancelled on Saturday than three-time Olympic swimming gold medalist Brooke Bennett. Bennett’s previous triathlon career ended when she was 12. After she crashed on her bike at a kids race, her swim coach, worried another crash could force her to miss valuable training time, put it to her simply: do you want to go to the 1996 Olympics as a swimmer? It was probably a good call – Bennett won her first Olympic gold medal at the Games in Atlanta, winning the 800 m freestyle and beating legend Janet Evans in her last Olympic race in the process. Bennett would win the 800 again at the Sydney Games four years later, setting a world record. She also won the 400 m at those games.

Despite only having ridden her borrowed bike a couple of times, and not having a swim to start her race day, Bennett managed a 1:18 finish, good enough for eighth in the 40-44 age group.

Daytona International Speedway’s event manager Bryan Elliott also raced on Saturday in honor of his Army Captain brother Alan, who was killed while training last year by a drunk driver. Elliott did the race on one of Alan’s bikes.

On Sunday Chris Nikic (that’s me interviewing him at the finish line), the first Down Syndrome athlete to finish an IRONMAN, was there to race on behalf of his 1% Better foundation.

Liz and Summer Lopez (above, photo: Clash Endurance), the mom/daughter equivalent of IRONMAN and Boston Marathon legends Dick and Rick Hoyt, were also on hand on Sunday, racing to “promote the importance of not texting and driving after Summer was significantly injured at the age of 18 years old while behind the wheel.”

National Champs

Photo: Clash Endurance

While the air temperature was a bit warmer on Sunday morning, the adjusted water temperature of 52.75 was still well under the USAT minimum standard, which meant that Sunday’s triathlon was also run as a bike (56 mile/ 90 km)/ run (13.1 mile/ 21.1 km). Once again the race was started in a self-seeded time trial format. The Aquabike competitors went off with the triathletes – their race consisted of the 56-mile bike.

The duathlon wasn’t affected by the changes, with the athletes starting with a 3 mile (4.8-km) run, then joining the triathletes for the same bike and the final 13.1-mile run.

The cancellation of the swim didn’t affect the qualifying slots for next year’s World Triathlon Multisport Long Distance Championships in Pontevedra, Spain. There were 18 slots available in every age group for the worlds.

Tommy Doubleday won the overall men’s long-course triathlon and took the 20-24 national championship, finishing in 3:22:59. Doubleday was pushed to the limit to take the title – he ended up just 15 seconds ahead of Scott Ludford, who was also in the 20-24 age group. Cole Kynoch took third overall and the 30-34 national championship. Kynoch had the day’s fastest bike split of 1:59:38.

Renae Tadrowski rode into transition with a lead of two minutes over Andrea Richardson in the long-course triathlon championships, then continued to pull away from the field on the run, taking a convincing overall win and the 20-24 national title in 3:42:33. Richardson would win the women’s 35-39 title in 3:51:33. Ireland’s Helen Perry took third overall in 3:59:19.

You can find the full results here, and we’ve posted all the national champions below.

John Marquez won the PC Open category. Photo: Clash Endurance

Long Course Triathlon National Championship 

Overall Male: Tommy Doubleday, 3:22:58 

Overall Female: Renae Tadrowski, 3:42:33 

Clydesdale Overall: Kevin Nichols, 4:01:44 

Clydesdale 39 & Under: Kevin Nichols, 4:01:44 

Clydesdale 40-59: Mark Dailey, 5:19:00 

Clydesdale 60+: William Jankowski, 5:27:44 

M16 & Under: Jack Guthringer, 4:59:40 

F16 & Under: Fransesca Delpresto, 4:28:51 

M17-19: Joe Guthringer, 3:48:32 

F17-19: Kory Johnston, 4:38:19 

M20-24: Tommy Doubleday, 3:22:58 

F20-24: Renae Tadrowski, 3:42:33 

M25-29: Sam Hartle, 3:26:35 

F25-29: Hannah Nelson, 3:59:41 

M30-34: Cole Kynoch, 3:25:23 

F30-34: Helen Perry, 3:59:19 

M35-39: David Martin, 3:35:54 

F35-39: Andrea Richardson, 3:51:33 

M40-44: Chandler Carranza, 3:45:30 

F40-44: Michelle Christine, 4:09:47 

M45-49: Janda Ricci-Munn, 3:31:04 

F45-49: Emily Rollins, 4:03:19 

M50-54: Peter Christensen, 3:35:26 

F50-54: Rachel Crunk, 4:04:52 

M55-59: Doug Covington, 3:43:03 

F55-59: Jody Dushay, 4:21:09 

M60-64: P.J. Arling, 3:55:31 

F60-64: Terri Bower, 4:57:24 

M65-69: Ronald Gierut, 4:05:31 

F65-69: Nancy Peters, 5:48:39 

M70-74: Robert Smartt, 4:24:53 

F70-74: Suzanne Mink, 7:00:01 

F75-79: Barbara Mathewson, 6:04:05 

Long Course Aquabike National Championships 

Overall Male: Jared Gentile, 2:01:52 

Overall Female: Felicity Joyce, 2:12:16 

Clydesdale Overall: Ben Naylor, 2:23:06 

Athena Overall: Erin Byrge, 2:21:16 

Athena 39 & Under: Melanie Mosher, 2:48:07 

Clydesdale 40-59: Ben Naylor, 2:23:06 

Athena 40-54: Erin Byrge, 2:21:16 

Athena 55+: Leslie Battle, 2:58:43 

M17-19: Kieran Dolan, 2:11:47 

M20-24: Zachary Baker, 2:27:11 

F20-24: Samantha Joray, 2:41:24 

M30-34: Alex Brown, 2:10:42 

F30-34: Sarah Hess, 2:19:11 

F35-39: Caitlin Williams, 2:26:33 

M40-44: Jared Gentile, 2:01:52 

F40-44: Jared Gentile, 2:01:52 

M45-49: Eric Dyner, 2:10:39 

F45-49: Wendy Fejfar, 2:15:54 

M50-54: Neal Henderson, 2:08:15 

F50-54: Jennifer Rogers, 2:26:57 

M55-59: Blair Saunders, 2:05:14 

F55-59: Gayle Galletta, 2:23:51 

M60-64: Niel Semmel, 2:05:19 

F60-64: Lori Selby, 2:26:09 

M65-69: Phillip Gormley, 2:21:49 

F65-69: Kris Messner, 2:56:28 

M70-74: Duane Fritchie, 2:27:35 

M75-79: Peter Hackbert, 3:41:31 

F75-79: Andrea McCarter, 4:06:55 

Long Course Duathlon National Championship 

Overall Male: Conrad Goeringer, 3:51:50 

Overall: Female Kirsten Sass, 4:15:31 

M30-34: Mason Schlange, 4:40:12 

F30-34: Andrea Nunez-Smith, 4:32:48 

M35-39: Conrad Goeringer, 3:51:50 

F35-39: Martha Hincapie, 5:20:40 

M40-44: Mike Mason, 4:06:36 

F40-44: Karoline Muehlfellner, 4:43:14 

M45-49: Stephen Eles, 4:06:37 

F45-49: Kirsten Sass, 4:15:31 

M50-54: Robert Binkley, 4:20:51 

F50-54: Sue Pelican, 4:41:12 

M55-59: Alan Graff, 4:33:45 

F55-59: Barbara Wiggins, 5:13:05 

M60-64: Paul Greenberg, 4:25:41 

F60-64: Karen Prewitt, 6:24:18 

M65-69: Bob Brown, 5:37:33 

F65-69: Mary Humphrey, 6:26:06 

M70-74: Charlie Hanus, 6:28:50 

F70-74: Susan Felicissimo, 7:36:57 

M75-79: Ron Wightman, 6:10:36 

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