Bear Lake Brawl Triathlon - Half 70+ Course - Triathlon

Caught the leader at the final turn to home. Drafted off of him down the home stretch and passed him on the run-up to the timing mat. He actually came out of the water first.
The run up to transition was long and in soft sand with the timing mat at the transition.

For the future reference, Taping all my gu's and banana to the top tube has been working very well. Less time stuffing things into pockets in transition. I spend the first couple of minutes on the bike organizing things.

Led out of the swim, and then for 50 miles it was try and stay up front. I saw the 2nd place biker, but then he disappeared on the rollers.
Rolled into T2 thinking I had a comfortable lead, but it was only about 2 minutes.
I was the first biker to pass the aid stations and the 12 year old girls didn't quite have the hand-off down, so I missed my drink at both aid stations.
Fortunately it was cool enough that I got by on the two bottles I had on the bike.
For future reference, I dropped the angle on my rear hydration because I've been sending bottles flying over the rough spots and this helped keep the bottles in their cages....

Ride went pretty good for the most part.

This is where I'm not as strong so I fully expected to be passed. The guy that came off second on the bike was about two minutes behind me.
By mile 2 he had closed the gap down to less than a minute. I just felt it was a matter of time.
Kept my pace around a 7:29 avg for the first 6 miles, and he surprisingly never passed me. At the turnaround I got a good look at what was developing behind me.
The guy in second hadn't lost ground but hadn't gained any either. Two guys in 3rd and 4th had me more concerned... they looked good, and knocking on #2's door.
From mile 6.5 to 7.5 I decided to open it up and hopefully send a message that I wasn't fading. I dropped to a 7MM and even dipped into the 6's for bit. That only lasted about a mile but when I finally dared look back at around mile 9, I couldn't even see anybody.
I was starting to kinda lose it so I slowed down to about an 8MM and just kept glancing back to make sure I was never at risk. The remaining 4 miles I ran between a 7:40 & 8 MM on my way to my first-ever 1st overall finish at that distance.
As it turned out, the two guys in 3rd and 4th passed the guy in 2nd.

The race has a very small local feel. I think it could be a very good race but the RD seems to skimp on things that give it a very cheap feel, which is okay if the entry fee is low but that's not the case here.
Each year he gets fewer and fewer entrants.