The annual San Francisco “Escape from Alcatraz” Triathlon was held last weekend, March 3. It’s a very hard one to compete in since the first leg is the 1.5 mile swim from the old prison to the Marina Green in 52 degree water. This is followed by an 18-mile bike ride and finally an 8-mile run.
This year’s winner was 30-yr old Javier Gomez Noya, with a time was 2:04:27 – just 1 minute before Graham O’Grady. Jesse Tomas of the USA, came in third. Noya won a silver medal in the 2012 Olympics. He was born in Spain but now lives in Switzerland. He competes under his birthplace, Spain.
Tragically, one competitor in died during the event. 33-year old Ross Ehlinger of Austin, TX expired during the swim portion. It was the first death in the tri's 33-year history,
For nearly 30 years Alcatraz was a federal penitentiary, where the badest of the bad were incarcerated. Al Capone, "Machine-Gun" Kelly, "Doc" Barker, Alvin Karpis "Public Enemy #1 and Robert Stroud “The Birdman of Alcatraz” were incarcerated. Officials told the prisonesr that the current and sharks would thwart their escape attempts. There were 14 attempts but it’s believed no one made it.
Carpe Diem!
Rick Deutsch
HikeHalfDome.com
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