Sunrise across US Route A1A.This triathlon is now in it's seventh year and I always found it on the calendar too late to enter until this year. Ormond Beach is on the Atlantic Ocean, just north of Daytona Beach. When I arrived at 5:40 AM the wind was blowing a steady 15 mph from the south. The transition area was located right at the corner of US Route A1A and Granada St, directly across from the beach. I think the wind picked up bit at sunrise and the waves looked about 5-6' at the start. The Race Director announced 5 minutes before the gun that you could compete in a duathlon because of the rough conditions. As this is a small race, 200+ people, there were 2 waves, men and women. The swim headed north with the tidal current after the first buoy but the waves were horrendous and as everyone was getting tossed around, it was difficult to get any sort of rhythm going. Finally I came ashore and took off on the bike. I passed the second place rider at mile 4 on a downwind sprint and entered T2 about 40 seconds ahead of him, averaging 21.8 mph. However, he could really run, passing me at mile 1 and kept accelerating, passing the guy in 1st at mile 2 and never looking back. I had a great run (7:54 mile splits) and was closing on 2nd place when the race ended. I was quite happy with my 3rd out of 6th finish. The capper was winning a $25 gift certificate for Stonewood Grill at the post race party!
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