Matt Mason Memorial "Cowboy Up" Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

This was a time trial start and I happened to be second in line. Everyone was being shy about being up front to start, but I had no problem with it. After the 2-3 second delay I charged into the water and almost immediately passed the first guy. For the first two minutes or so I was officially leading the race. Just as I was reaching the first buoy though, which was placed the farthest out of the three, I was passed by three or four guys like I was standing still. It wasn't even a battle, just a quick "see you later." I couldn't even hang on to draft. I wondered if I was swimming that slow and having an off day.

Good swim otherwise. No sun in my eyes, calm water, and no traffic ahead of me so I had to do very little sighting. At the end the water was so shallow that I had debated on when I should stand up. I probably could've walked the last 100m. Instead I kept swimming through a forest of seaweed, some of which got tangled up on my watch.

Hindsight being what it is, I probably could've expelled a bit more energy to get a slightly better time.

Standard issue here, except I was plucking out seaweed from my wristband. Slight uphill at the bike mount made hopping on the bike a small challenge.

13 OA
3 AG

Very few, if any true flat sections on this short bike course. No major climbs, but you're either going up or going down in short bursts, which made it difficult for me to settle my breathing and heart rate down. I passed two fellas that passed me on the swim but I couldn't get near the others that were in front of me.

The main road in and out of the park was not ideal for biking. Lots of hard bumps and cracks, which I seemed to notice more coming back into T2.

I failed to keep the hammer down as I approached transition. I kinda coasted in. That resulted in me getting passed at the end.

I thought I moved pretty good here, but obviously there were those who moved faster. I'll chalk that up to me stopping to put on socks.

43 OA
7 AG

This was work! There is something about a hard 5k that makes time go by slowly to where you're constantly looking for that first mile marker to show up. I caught one guy on the run, but I couldn't make up any more time on the rest of the leaders in front of me. However, I kept the motor running hard throughout. Finally, after 2.5 miles I felt like I settled into a comfortable groove - just in time to make my push for the finish. Like last year, they handed out American flags to run with as you made your way down the finishers shoot.

Nada. Ran a faster split than last year.

Stood around the finishers chute and cheered on some buddies who were finishing. Then spent an hour or so chatting until we could get back into transition. Met a guy who ran Boston this past year. Turns out he lives in the same area of town as me. Since we both run the same routes we're going to try to meet up for a few training runs. Pretty cool.
Surprisingly, it didn't rain at all. Somehow, it didn't rain until 4 hours after the race started and awards were wrapped up.


A great event! The course itself isn't too exceptional, but the volunteers and organizers are top notch. From packet pickup to the awards ceremony it felt like everyone involved in the race went above and beyond what you might at expect at a typical race. I think because the race is in memory of Matt Mason those all involved have a personal vested interest in seeing this race do well, and it shows in their attitude. They genuinely appreciate you're there to race. I enjoyed the prerace prayer, national anthem, gun salute, and Chinook flyover as well.