No one was surprised that Michael Smith crossed the finish line first in Sunday morning’s Santa Barbara Triathlon Sprint Course competition. The 46-year-old local defending champion bested second-place finisher Max Silva, 17, by nearly two minutes and finished in 36 minutes, 43 seconds.
But surprises certainly weren’t scarce on the morning… Endurance sports are all about people pushing through the pain and achieving what they never thought they could.
John and Jillian Brazelton after finishing Sunday's Parent-Child race.
At the exact same hour that the 2009 Long Course event was kicking off, 42-year-old John Brazelton was being told that he had Stage 2 testicular cancer which had spread to his abdomen. A year later, he was at the starting line to compete in Saturday’s Long Course, and his family and friends choked back tears when he crossed the finish line in the Parent-Child race on Sunday with his 11-year-old daughter, Jillian.
Brazelton, a teacher in the the Los Angeles area who is originally from Santa Barbara, finished with his daughter in 1:06:17.
“It’s been a big year, and a hard year,” he said. “I kept trying to downplay this weekend, but I very much viewed it as the chance to close the door for good on the last year.”
He and his encologist both completed Saturday’s race, even though Brazelton had to walk on the run portion. The chemotherapy regimen he was on has left him unable to feel the front halves of his feet for the last year.
“I’m cancer-free and have another scan in October. It was definitely harder than any race I’ve ever done, that’s for sure,” he said. “When I’m out here, whether I’m having to walk on the run portion or I’m freezing in the swim, I just have to think about all those days when I had IVs pumping poison into me, and it’s all good.”
His daughter, a star student, swimmer and ballerina, said she was overwhelmed by the loud cheers that greeted her when they crossed the finish line.
“My ears are still ringing,” she joked.
Top female finisher Adrienne Binder.
Local swimming standout Adrienne Binder, 25, has been topping the standings all year at events such as Nite Moves and Reef and Run, but she surprised herself in being the first female finisher on the Sprint Course (she had never done a sprint triathlon before). She was stellar in the 500-yard swim, finishing fourth overall in seven minutes 15 seconds. She took 40th in the bike portion and pushed through the dreaded two-mile run in 15:02.
“I’m really happy and surprised. This was my first sprint, so it was really excited… Running’s just really, really, really difficult for me, so the two miles at the end is a lot better option for me,” she said. “I need to start working on it though, because I know I can be a lot faster if I work on the run. That’s why this is a good bit of motivation for me.”
Santa Barbara’s Karen Schultz, 31, was dominant in the women’s only race, winning the swim and bike portions before posting the 10th best time in the run for an overall finishing mark of 44:34 — more than three minutes faster than runner up Veronica Russell, 13, of Atascadero.
A competitor wearing a bear costume in support of the Teddy Bear Cancer Foundation nears the end of Sunday's Sprint Course.
