On Sunday, May 2nd, Ricardo Garcia, & Duncan & Maggie Rougier-Chapman endured the legendary heat, hills and wind in St. Croix.  This was a prep race for Ricardo, who has his eyes set on Ironman Louisville in August.  For Duncan and Maggie, it was a destination race with a vacation on the back end--but also Maggie's first time competing at this distance.  

 

According to Race Director Tom Guthrie, the weather conditions were "as hard as we've ever had ... truly. We always have heat, wind, and hills; sometimes we have overcast, but not today. Today was brutal."   

 

Though conditions were challenging, all three athletes reported having good experiences.  You never know how your body will respond to heat like that, but all three adapted and hung in there.  Ricardo placed 44th overall, 11th in the 35-39 age group, finishing in a time of  4:59:12--which earned him a qualifying spot to Ironman 70.3 World Championships in Clearwater, FL in November.  Good job, Ricardo!  Duncan was 1st in the 40-44 AG in the swim and 8th on the bike (due to his calf injury, he only ran one loop of the run).  Maggie then took 7th overall in the women's 35-39 age group finishing in a time of 5:58:54 - also earning her a ticket to Clearwater.  Way to beat the heat AND "The Beast", you three! 

 

View the full results at:  

http://ironman.com/events/ironman70.3/stcroix70.3/?show=results 

 

Read Ricardo's race report at:

http://tri.teamraleighrunning.com/blogdetails.asp?id=326 

 

Read Maggie's race report at: