The Plymouth Rock Triathlon Festival was held this weekend in Plymouth, MA with nearly 400 participants taking part in the festivities between Olympic distance triathlon, the iron distance triathlon, and the iron distance aquabike. This was the second running of the Plymouth Rock Iron Distance Triathlon, and the weather came through for perfect race day conditions.
In the men's iron distance race, Massachusetts athletes made a clean sweep, with Raymond Botelho, a local pro based out of Falmouth taking home the gold in 9:33:12, Dave Sousa of Brockton bringing in the silver with a 9:58:48, and Jerry Dezutter of Hudson taking bronze in 10:12:55.
Megan Wiseman of Hoboken, NJ just missed the 11-hour mark, winning the women's race in 11:01:26. Kendall Connerty of Hanover, MA was hot on her heels, coming in less than 4 minutes later in 11:05:14. Deborah Battaglia came all the way from Salt Lake City, UT to snag the last spot on the podium in 11:21:55.
In the iron distance aquabike, hometown pro Ironman athlete Dede Griesbauer stopped by on her road to Kona to show us how it's done. She finished the race in 6:11:10 to win the women's race and come in second overall (beating even Tim Snow, another local pro). Peter Russo was the only aquabike competitor on the day to walk away with his machismo unchallenged, taking the overall win for himself.
Local athletes also made an excellent showing in the Olympic distance race, with at least 5 of the top ten men hailing from the Bay State, including winner Jesse Kropelnicki of West Roxbury. Crystal Anthony of Beverly and Florence Chretein of Wayland also made us proud, taking first and second in the women's race over Jamie Windrow from New York City.
Although the iron distance race doesn't offer Kona slots, local budget-minded athletes may find this an excellent alternative to WTC (Ironman brand) races. The numbers are small and the elevation profile is mild. Athletes can also brag about the stiffer cut-off times. The swim cut-off is 2 hours (20 minutes shorter than Ironman), the bike cut-off is one hour shorter (7.5 hours after the start of the race), and competitors are given only 16 hours to break the finishing tape (one hour less than WTC allows). Congratulations to all athletes who competed at the Plymouth Rock Triathlon Festival this weekend.
Comments
Do your homework,
Raymond Botelho is also an established PRO TRIATHLETE and is USAT ELITE licensed with the likes of Dede and Tim
thank you very much,
RB
Raymond, I sincerely apologize for not publishing your pedigree. Your performance last weekend was truly stunning, and I did not mean in any way to downgrade your achievement. I did a google search for your name when writing the article, and again just now trying to contact you. Do you have a web site? I would love to direct readers your way. Congratulations on a stellar 2009 season, and I wish you luck in 2010.
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