Santa Barbara Tri

Winston Cervantes took on the Santa Barbara Tri on August 27 in California. Winston finished the race in 3:55:88 coming in 38 out of 77 in his competitive men's 40-44 age group. Winston's splits were 40:53 for the 500 meter swim, 1:47 bike, and 1:23 for the final run.

Winston reports, "Santa Barbara is a beautiful, beach/surf city. The race weather was perfect. 60's in the morning and by midday at the end of the race, around 80's. The Santa Barbara Triathlon was held by the beach. Swim course was a rectangle, which posed the challenge of sighting while facing the rising sun through halfway of the course. But the most challenging part of the race was the hilly and curvy bike course. Usually, the biking leg was I enjoyed most but not this time. I borrowed a road bike for this race and it felt like it needed more granny gears (which was the case). The run course was along the beach. It was relatively flat but there were a few uphills. I enjoyed the running part because of the gorgeous views, excellent weather, and no cramps!"

"I must add that this race was mostly participated by the local and surrounding triathlon clubs. I was 1 of the 2 only out-of-state participants (in our age group) of 77."

Great job in representing Finish Strong and Texas!

XTERRA Magnolia Hills Tri

Finish Strong Racing Greg Gibbons and Mike Bard finished neck and neck at the recent XTERRA Magnolia Hills Triathlon - a rugged offroad triathlon. Greg finished 25th and Mike 26th for the entire male 39 and under competitors.

Mike was in the lead after the swim posting a 13:51 time compared to Greg's 15:48. Greg edged ahead on the bike with a 1:33:49 versus Mike's 1:35:21, Greg finished the day with a final run in 50:51 (12:43 per mile pace) to edge out Mike who ran the final leg in 55:18 (13:50 pace). If you think these times are slow, guess again! The run and bike courses were on slow, sandy trails.

Congrats to two fine competitors!

Lost Pines Triathlon

Mary Kerschbaum won her age group at the Lost Pines Triathlon held on August 28 in Bartrop. Mary claimed the fastest swim in 1:51 (averaging 2:47 seconds per 100 meters). Mary biked the hilly course in 1:03 (15.1 mph) and ran the final leg in 39:31. Well done!

Ironman Canada

Held in Penticton, British Columbia, Subaru Ironman Canada is the oldest Ironman race held in continental North America. Don Cole was there on August 26 where he represented Finish Strong Racing very well. Don finished in 11:47:42 placing 39th out of 245 in his 50-54 AG and 590th overall.

Ironman Louisville

Team Finish Strong Racing's Tommy Sustala took on Ironman Louisville on
Tommy finished the grueling endurance race in 11:44:56. He swam the first 2.4 mile leg in 55:41, biked the 112 mile route in 5:31:06, and finished the day with the 26.2marathon run in 5:08:24. Congrats, Tommy!

Clear Lake Tri - Olympic

Clear Lake Tris - both Olympic and Sprint - took place on August 27. Five Finish Strong Racing members tackled the Olympic distance of 1500 meter swim, 26 mile bike, and 6.2 mile run under very hot conditions. One member, Kirk Noyes, took on the sprint distance. Finish Strong Racing excelled scoring 25 points for the team!

Scott Peterson took 2nd in his 30-34 AG with an overall time of 2:29:28 for the Olympic race. Scott had the fastest run in his AG 39:54 (6:26 per mile pace) in blazing hot temperatures. Ronnie Delzer took 6th in 2:35:04. Ronnie was not far behind Scott with the 3rd fastest run in his AG finishing in 44:46.

Josh Scott took 2nd in his 35-39 AG with an overall time of 2:29:51. Josh had the fastest swim in his AG finishing in 24:31.

Jerry Palmer raced well in his competitive 40-44 AG finishing in a time of 3:00:10.
His splits were 33:31 swim, 1:24 bike, and 59:05 run.

Will Blackbird won the 50-54 AG with an overall time of 2:46:51. Will had the 2nd fastest swim in 30:53 and the fastest bike in 1:15 (22.2 mph) in his age group.

This was Craig Daniell's first Olympic distance triathlon and he came away with 5th in his 60-64 AG in 3:49:32!

For the sprint race, Kirk Noyes finished 9th in his 35-39 AG in 1:16:25. Kirk's splits were 13:18 swim, 45:42 bike, and 15:33 run.

Congrats to all the triathletes! Any pics?

Tri Girl

Our girls ruled at the recent Tri Girl race on August 14! Finish Strong Racing's Chelsea Estes won the overall race with a time 1:00:34. Due to the drought, the swim portion of the race was cancelled -- turning the triathlon into a 1 mile run-11 mile bike- 3mile run duathlon. Chelsea finished first in all legs. She finished her first mile run in 6:13, followed by a fast bike of 31:54 (20.7 mph pace), and finishing the final 3 mile run in 20:57 (6:59 per mile pace).

Finish Strong Racing sisters, Katherine and Hannah Barron, performed extremely well at the race taking 1st and 2nd in their age groups respectively. Katherine came in 11th overall in 1:06:35. She ran the first mile in 6:59, biked the course in 32:55 (20.1 mph), and finished the final run in 25:34 (8:31 per mile pace). Hannah was not far behind with an overall time of 1:11:10. Her splits were 6:54 run, 34:57 bike, and 27:49 run.

Kristie Chandler also had a strong finish placing 7th in her competitive 45-49 age group. Kristie ran the first mile in 8:08, powered through the bike in 34:17 (19.3 mph) and finished the day with a 28:10 final 3 mile run. Kristie's overall time was 1:12:58.

Congrats to all the tri girls!

USA Triathlon Youth National Champion!

On August 6, Finish Strong Racing's Lane Barron from The Woodlands won the 11-12 boys division at USA Triathlon Youth Nationals in San Diego on the strength of a division best bike split, averaging 21.1 mph on the 10k bike course. He also used fast transitions and a strong run to edge out Charlie Velez of California and Drew Sotebeer of Colorado by 5 and 10 seconds respectively. This was Lane's third trip to Youth Nationals. This year's race helped erase some bad memories for Lane, as two years ago, Lane had his race come to a disappointing end with a flat tire on the bike course. Congratulations, Lane!

Bridgeland Tri

Chris Normyle withstood hot temperatures to compete well at Bridgeland Tri!
Huge smiles from Steve Hardy, Cindy McManis, and Jackie Lewis post-race!
No pre-race jitters for Manuel, Irasema, and Rodrigo Abascal!


Finish Strong was well represented at the recent Bridgeland Tri held in Cypress, Texas on Sunday, August 7. Finish Strong Associate Coach, Derek Yorek, won the race with a phenomenal finish! Derek won the race in 57:22 with his final run in 18:37 (5:01 per mile pace).

Here's highlights for the Finish Strong Racing athletes.

Placing in top five for their AGs:
Rodrigo Abascal, 1st in his 15-19 AG, 1:10:16.0
Joshua Scott, 4th in his 35-39 AG, 1:10:18.5
Tommy Sustala, 2nd in his 40-44 AG, 1:06:57.0
Will Blackbird, 4th in his 50-54 AG, 1:14:33.9
Phillip Deprang, 1st in his 60-65 AG, 1:20:14.0
David Holsey, 2nd in his 65-69 AG, 1:30:32.8
Chantal Requier, 5th in her 35-39 AG, 1:16:52.6
Linda Trinkle, 5th in 40-44AG, 1:17:03.7

Brandi Watterson, 27th in her 30-34 AG, 1:31:14.1
Maureen Gibbons, 24th in 35-39 AG, 1:34:30.1
Kim Neveu, 66th in 35-39 AG, 1:55:09.4
Jackie Medina-Lewis, 10th in 40-44 AG, 1:25:31.6
Irasema De Aquino, 35th in 40-44 AG, 1:43:32.2
Cynthia McManis, 8th in 50-54 AG, 1:29:04.4

Jack Ladenheim, 7th in 15-19 AG, 1:28:01.2
Michael Lechtenberg, 15th in 30-34 AG, 1:15:08.1
Stephen Tschirhart, 35th in 30-34 AG, 1:19:48.7
Tim Taylor, 37th in 30-34 AG, 1:20:35.6
Terry Peppers, 43rd in 30-34 AG, 1:21:35.3
Jose Contreras, 66th in 30-34 AG, 1:28:13.1

Greg Gibbons, 6th in his 34-39 AG, 1:10:50.2
David Kayda, 16th in his 34-39 AG, 1:13:53.5

Timothy Monk, 7th in his 40-44 AG, 1:11:40.3
Scott Pinkston, 34th in his 40-44 AG, 1:19:20.1
Manuel Abascal, 45th in his 40-44 AG, 1:21:42.0
Bill Mack, 111th in his 40-44 AG, 1:36:04.6
Louis Neveu, 141st in his 40-44 AG, 1:51:26.4

Steve Hardy, 7th in his 45-49 AG, 1:14:33.4
Bruce Smart, 18th in his 50-54 AG, 1:25:05.1
Chris Normyle, 20th in his 50-54 AG, 1:27:46.9
Kirk Langford, 37th in his 50-54 AG, 1:39:43.6
Mark Tefft, 19th in his 55-59 AG, 1:47:02.2

What a great turnout! Congrats to all!!

Tri Pearl

Finish Strong Racing's Mary Kerschbaum headed to San Antonio on July 31 to compete in Tri Pearl - a 400 meter, 17 mile, 3.3 mile distance triathlon. Mary took 3rd in her 50-54 age group with an overall time of 1:44:56. Her splits were 10:44 swim (2:41 sec/100m pace), 55:00 bike (18.5 mph), and 35:22 run (10:43 per mile pace). Great job, Mary!

Tri Waco

Tri Waco featured both a sprint and Olympic triathlon on July 24. Finish Strong Racing members took on the longer tri challenge. Chantal Requier competed in the Olympic distance race and took 5th in her 35-39 age group finishing the race in 2:56:37. For the men's 35-39 age group, Finish Strong Racing's Michael Collins took 12th in 2:36:47 and Kirk Noyes came in 18th in 2:52:30, and Matthew Murphy came in 21st in 2:56:35. Great job!

Kiwanis Kid's Tri #4

Lane Barron, Finish Strong Racing member, rocked the Kiwanis Kid's Tri #4 held on July 23. He came away with the win for the 12 year old boys with an overall time of 11:11. Go Lane!!

Bayou Duathlon

Finish Strong Racing's Shannon Crowe was the overall female master's winner at the Bayou Duathlon held in Bay City on July 17. Shannon, 41, had the fastest splits among female masters for each legs of the duathlon. Her splits were 13:36 (6:48 per mile pace) for the first run, 34:01 (20.3 mph) for the bike, and 14:31 for the final run. Congrats, Shannon!

Marble Falls Triathlon

Jack Chapman of Finish Strong Racing was one of the participants in the Marble Falls triathlon on July 17. Jack swam in the warm freshwater of Lake Marble Falls, biked through the scenic hill country, and then finished with a run through the quaint lakeside neighborhood of Marble Falls. Jack came in 9th in his 50-54 AG with an overall time of 2:15:49. Way to go!

Jeff and Brede's Houston Racing Triathlon

Finish Strong Racing father and son, Manuel and Rodrigo Abascal, competed in the Jeff and Brede's Houston Racing Triathlon on Sunday, July 10 in Katy. This sprint triathlon featured a 300M pool swim, 12 mile bike, and 3 mile run.

Rodrigo came in first in his 15-19 AG and ninth overall with an overall time of 1:00:02. His splits were 4:26 swim, 34:34 bike (21.7 mile pace), and 19:54 run (6:38 per mile pace.) Rodrigo had the fastest swim, bike, run, and transitions in his age group.

Manuel came in 14th in his 40-44 AG with an overall time of 1:12:24. Manuel posted a 5:54 swim, 37:27 bike, and 26:55 run.

Congrats to this amazing father-son duo!