Westchester 2016

The Yale triathlon team had a very successful race at Westchester this past weekend! Nine team members braved the 4am wakeup, 50 degree swim start, and ~3 hours of continuous swim/bike/running! It was such a beautiful morning – especially swimming straight into the fiery glow of the rising sun with the dark shadows of water splashing up around us. 

All nine Yalies completed the full Olympic distance race, with Scarlet Kilpatrick, James Wedgwood, Jonathon Simmonds, Chris Gunther and August Alloco racing their first ever triathlon! Naturally, they fell in love with the sport (because who doesn’t). In fact, August already has plans to complete an ironman before graduating from Yale. 

On the women’s side, Sanelma Heinonen, Regina Wang, and Scarlet Kilpatrick all scored points for the team, Sanelma leading with 176 points and 7th place finish among collegiate women. Lucinda’s timing chip unfortunately malfunctioned or she would have scored as well. These strong performances led Yale women to a seventh place finish in the race and thirteenth overall in the NECTC.  

Competition was a bit harder on the men’s side, but Chris Gunther managed to grab the last scoring spot at 50th place. Way to go Chris! Christoph Funke finished right behind him with a PR, having raced at an overall faster pace than during a sprint triathlon earlier in the season. Jonathon Simmonds (who really killed it on the bike!) was not far behind. Overall, the men as a team finished 17th at Westchester (ahead of Harvard, who did not even show up). 

Other successes from the day included fitting 9 people and 9 bikes into 2 vans, managing to return those said vans on time to the rental car place, and then biking back to campus with a bicycle pump, signs, and bags full of warm clothing before the end of brunch! What a great way to start and end the triathlon season! Now its time to relax a bit and then train hard for next year!! 

Again, congratulations to all who raced, especially the first time triathletes!