If you think completing a triathlon sounds grueling, try doing it with the flu.
“I’m sick. I have a temperature of 102 right now,” said women’s sprint course winner Rowena Spence of Santa Barbara.
She had a smile on her face, too.
Dense fog parked itself along the shores of Carpinteria Sunday for the city’s annual triathlon, and around 850 competitors went into the mist to tackle the course.
“The swim was tough because of the fog. I couldn’t really see where I was going,” said 19-year-old Matthew Organista, a 2007 Carpinteria High graduate who finished second overall on the sprint course and won the 15-19 division by nearly 20 minutes.
Ventura’s Josh Spiker won the sprint race by 24 seconds over Organista.
While the fog may have left many disoriented in the water, many competitors found it to their advantage on the rest of the course.
“To me the fog was ideal for the run and the bike. It was a great morning for the race,” said second-year UCSB graduate student Stepan Paul, who finished third overall in the men’s Olympic division, just under three minutes behind Leroy Thomas, who won the race with a time of two hours, four minutes and 21 seconds.
Santa Barbara’s Andrea McLarty was the top women’s finisher on the Olympic course, clocking in at 2:20.35.
The age range in the race was impressive.
Twelve-year-olds Sean Edwards of Ojai and Brennan Benko of Santa Barbara finished three seconds apart on the sprint course, while 79-year-old Doug Maijala of Atascadero crossed the finish line about 40 minutes later.
The youngest competitor of the day, however, was 10-year-old Santa Barbaran Franziska Barthel, who finished the 500-meter swim, 15-kilometer bike and 5-kilometer run on the sprint course in 1:31:51.
For complete results of Sunday’s race, see www.carpinteriatriathlon.com.
(Photo of unidentified bicyclist and women’s sprint winner Rowena Collins by Blake Dorfman)
