June 12 was the start of the Clermont Sprint Tri series, put on by Fred Sommer of Sommer Sports. Fred pretty much started triathlon in Central Florida (and the Tri-America series across the USA). He also puts on a 1/2 Iron-distance tri in September and a full Iron-distance in October. These 4 sprint tris are held several weeks apart on the same course, which is great if you are tracking your splits and looking for improvements. I did my first tri in Florida at one of the Clermont sprint events in 1994. Interestingly enough, I drove my first auto race in Clermont, Indiana. The waterfront park in downtown Clermont is a great venue and Lake Minneola is rated "pristine waters". The area around these events is quite hilly with some really big hills, Sugarloaf, Grassy Lake, Buckhill Rd., nearby.
This race had an entry list of over 400 with 11 in my age group, 55-59. My old nemesis, Ken Junkins, was there (we first competed in 2005) and blew the field away as usual, finishing in 1:01:33. You can read about Ken at the Facebook page his daughter created: http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Incredible-Ken-Junkins/332767313666John Holloway and I battled back and forth on the bike leg with me in third exiting T2. But he passed me about 1/2 mile into it with a blistering run and finished 1:20 minutes ahead of me. I came in 4th out of 11 with a 1:10:03. My top downhill speed was 38.4 followed by a long climb at 9 mph! Another great race!
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