Triathlon notebook: Adamant's Donna Smyers wins to lead Vermont contingent Excerpt from Burlington FreePress 10:50 PM, Aug. 20, 2011
Written by Alex Abrami and John A Fantino, Free Press Staff
http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/article/20110820/SPORTS/110820013/Triathlon-notebook-Adamant-s-Donna-Smyers-wins-lead-Vermont-contingent
Colchester's Angie DeFilippi to give USA Triathlon championships try
Excerpt from Burlington FreePress: 2:55 PM, Aug. 7, 2011
Angie DeFilippi is about to go out of her comfort zone in a familiar setting.
For more than a decade, the 35-year-old Colchester triathlete has thrived in grueling Ironman events. She hasn’t had much desire to compete in races shorter than those involving 2.4-mile swims, 112-mile bike rides and 26.2-mile runs. Until now.
Ironman specialists rarely drop down to shorter races on the national level, but DeFilippi didn’t think twice about making an exception to enter the USA Triathlon Age Group National Championships in Burlington on Aug. 20.
“To have such a high-profile event here, right in my backyard, is so exciting,” DeFilippi said. “I couldn’t pass up the opportunity.”
Top-flight amateur triathletes from across the country are heading to battle in an Olympic-distance event featuring a 1,500-meter swim, a 40-kilometer bike ride and a 10-kilometer run. More than 2,000 competitors, ranging from 18 years old to 80-plus, will vie for national championships on a course starting and ending on Burlington’s Waterfront Park.
Considering she’s had very little time to train for the shorter distances that rely on speed more than endurance, DeFilippi admits her chances to beat the nation’s elite in the 35- to 39-year-old age group are slim.
“I can hold my own on local short-distance races, but I’m expecting at a national-level race to get crushed,” DeFilippi said. “I’ll give it my all, but I probably won’t place in this race the way I’d hope to place in an Ironman.”
DeFilippi has enjoyed plenty of success in Ironmans. Winning her age group at the Lake Placid Ironman last month in a personal-best 10 hours, 32 minutes, she was the 13th woman to finish in a field of 696 that included professionals.
“Everything came together,” DeFilippi said. “I had my fastest bike ever in an Ironman and followed it up with my fastest run ever.
“I think it’s just years of experience, learning from mistakes, trying new things, and I really think your endurance improves year after year,” she added. “After so many years of racing, it’s nice to still be improving.”
After the Burlington race, DeFilippi will ramp up training for the Ironman World Championships to be held Oct. 8 in Kona, Hawaii. The trip will mark the 10th straight year she’s earned a spot in the sport’s most prestigious event.
Triple Threat: Amateur triathletes race for the national championships this weekend in Burlington
Excerpt from Seven days vermont’s independent newsweekly 08.17.11
Donna Smyers added another
championship to her impressive triathlon racing resume.
The Adamant resident prevailed in the 50-54 women’s
division at the USA Triathlon Age Group
National Championships to lead Vermonter contingent on Saturday.
Not that it was a big surprise, since Smyers also won world age-group championships in 2002 and 2004. Smyers is also an accomplished Ironman Triathlete but decided to focus on shorter races this year. She finished the 1½-kilometer swim, 40-k bike and 10-k run in 2 hours, 17 minutes and 9 seconds.
Smyers’ younger sister, Hall of Fame professional triathlete and seven-time elite national champion Karen Smyers, was the announcer during Saturday’s race.
Donna Smyers wasn’t the only Vermont triathlete to shine. Jessie Donavan of Shelburne finished third among 35-39-year-old woman. Stowe’s Keith Woodward also took third in the 60-64 male age group while Burlington’s Jason Frank was fifth among 25-29 men.
Other Vermonters who finished in the top 18 in their age groups and qualified for the 2012 World Age Group Championships in New Zealand included: Jeffrey Schumann of Salisbury (sixth in M 55-59), Peter Schneider of Shelburne (seventh in M 35-39), Andreas Nolte of Jericho (seventh in M 50-54), Albert Farrington of South Burlington (ninth in M 70-74), Lucus Moore of Wolcott (ninth in M 30-34), John Spinney of Waterbury (11th in M 35-39), John Brodhead of Craftsbury (12th in M 65-69), Dorthy Martin of Montpelier (12th in F 50-54), Angie Defilippi of Colchester (12th in F 35-39), Mariana Lara of Stowe (13th in F 35-39), Tom Montemagni of Stratton (15th in M 65-69), Chris Coffey (16th in M 30-34) and David Connery of Shelburne (18th in M 40-44).
Not that it was a big surprise, since Smyers also won world age-group championships in 2002 and 2004. Smyers is also an accomplished Ironman Triathlete but decided to focus on shorter races this year. She finished the 1½-kilometer swim, 40-k bike and 10-k run in 2 hours, 17 minutes and 9 seconds.
Smyers’ younger sister, Hall of Fame professional triathlete and seven-time elite national champion Karen Smyers, was the announcer during Saturday’s race.
Donna Smyers wasn’t the only Vermont triathlete to shine. Jessie Donavan of Shelburne finished third among 35-39-year-old woman. Stowe’s Keith Woodward also took third in the 60-64 male age group while Burlington’s Jason Frank was fifth among 25-29 men.
Other Vermonters who finished in the top 18 in their age groups and qualified for the 2012 World Age Group Championships in New Zealand included: Jeffrey Schumann of Salisbury (sixth in M 55-59), Peter Schneider of Shelburne (seventh in M 35-39), Andreas Nolte of Jericho (seventh in M 50-54), Albert Farrington of South Burlington (ninth in M 70-74), Lucus Moore of Wolcott (ninth in M 30-34), John Spinney of Waterbury (11th in M 35-39), John Brodhead of Craftsbury (12th in M 65-69), Dorthy Martin of Montpelier (12th in F 50-54), Angie Defilippi of Colchester (12th in F 35-39), Mariana Lara of Stowe (13th in F 35-39), Tom Montemagni of Stratton (15th in M 65-69), Chris Coffey (16th in M 30-34) and David Connery of Shelburne (18th in M 40-44).
Colchester's Angie DeFilippi to give USA Triathlon championships try
Excerpt from Burlington FreePress: 2:55 PM, Aug. 7, 2011
By John A. Fantino, Free Press Staff Writer
http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2011110806013
http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2011110806013
Angie DeFilippi is about to go out of her comfort zone in a familiar setting.
For more than a decade, the 35-year-old Colchester triathlete has thrived in grueling Ironman events. She hasn’t had much desire to compete in races shorter than those involving 2.4-mile swims, 112-mile bike rides and 26.2-mile runs. Until now.
Ironman specialists rarely drop down to shorter races on the national level, but DeFilippi didn’t think twice about making an exception to enter the USA Triathlon Age Group National Championships in Burlington on Aug. 20.
“To have such a high-profile event here, right in my backyard, is so exciting,” DeFilippi said. “I couldn’t pass up the opportunity.”
Top-flight amateur triathletes from across the country are heading to battle in an Olympic-distance event featuring a 1,500-meter swim, a 40-kilometer bike ride and a 10-kilometer run. More than 2,000 competitors, ranging from 18 years old to 80-plus, will vie for national championships on a course starting and ending on Burlington’s Waterfront Park.
Considering she’s had very little time to train for the shorter distances that rely on speed more than endurance, DeFilippi admits her chances to beat the nation’s elite in the 35- to 39-year-old age group are slim.
“I can hold my own on local short-distance races, but I’m expecting at a national-level race to get crushed,” DeFilippi said. “I’ll give it my all, but I probably won’t place in this race the way I’d hope to place in an Ironman.”
DeFilippi has enjoyed plenty of success in Ironmans. Winning her age group at the Lake Placid Ironman last month in a personal-best 10 hours, 32 minutes, she was the 13th woman to finish in a field of 696 that included professionals.
“Everything came together,” DeFilippi said. “I had my fastest bike ever in an Ironman and followed it up with my fastest run ever.
“I think it’s just years of experience, learning from mistakes, trying new things, and I really think your endurance improves year after year,” she added. “After so many years of racing, it’s nice to still be improving.”
After the Burlington race, DeFilippi will ramp up training for the Ironman World Championships to be held Oct. 8 in Kona, Hawaii. The trip will mark the 10th straight year she’s earned a spot in the sport’s most prestigious event.
Triple Threat: Amateur triathletes race for the national championships this weekend in Burlington
Excerpt from Seven days vermont’s independent newsweekly 08.17.11
By Warren Cornwall
http://www.7dvt.com/2011burlington-triathlon
Seven years ago, Jamie Harnish was getting a little soft.
As the accountant edged into his thirties, the years he’d spent building his career in Boston, the time away from his bicycle and a sweet tooth conspired to push his weight over the 200-pound mark.
So, when he moved back to his hometown of Essex, Vt., in 2004, Harnish started riding his bike again. When a neighbor mentioned a triathlon coming up in Shelburne, he looked at the distances and signed up.
“I was like, ‘Five hundred yards. Yeah, I can swim that,’” Harnish recalls.
Today, Harnish has more than two dozen triathlons to his name, including a couple of grueling Ironman races. What started as a whim has turned into a passion. He’s spent thousands of hours and thousands of dollars pursuing the sport. Harnish’s face has taken on the faintly gaunt look of the endurance athlete, his 6-foot-1 frame whittled down to 175 pounds. Recently, his 9-year-old daughter didn’t recognize him when she looked at a photo taken nine years ago.
This Saturday, Harnish expects to add another race to his resume when he and more than 1900 fellow triathletes plunge into Lake Champlain along Burlington’s waterfront for the start of the annual amateur U.S. National Championship. (Full disclosure: I’m competing on the same triathlon team, Green Mountain Multisport.)
It will be the largest gathering of triathletes ever in Vermont, and the first time Burlington has attracted a marquee event in the sport. Local businesses and tourism promoters are hoping the region can benefit, to the tune of some $2 million. This milestone comes at a time when triathlons have evolved from a fringe activity for masochists into popular mass events that draw beginners and weekend warriors in Vermont and elsewhere.
http://www.7dvt.com/2011burlington-triathlon
As the accountant edged into his thirties, the years he’d spent building his career in Boston, the time away from his bicycle and a sweet tooth conspired to push his weight over the 200-pound mark.
So, when he moved back to his hometown of Essex, Vt., in 2004, Harnish started riding his bike again. When a neighbor mentioned a triathlon coming up in Shelburne, he looked at the distances and signed up.
“I was like, ‘Five hundred yards. Yeah, I can swim that,’” Harnish recalls.
Today, Harnish has more than two dozen triathlons to his name, including a couple of grueling Ironman races. What started as a whim has turned into a passion. He’s spent thousands of hours and thousands of dollars pursuing the sport. Harnish’s face has taken on the faintly gaunt look of the endurance athlete, his 6-foot-1 frame whittled down to 175 pounds. Recently, his 9-year-old daughter didn’t recognize him when she looked at a photo taken nine years ago.
This Saturday, Harnish expects to add another race to his resume when he and more than 1900 fellow triathletes plunge into Lake Champlain along Burlington’s waterfront for the start of the annual amateur U.S. National Championship. (Full disclosure: I’m competing on the same triathlon team, Green Mountain Multisport.)
It will be the largest gathering of triathletes ever in Vermont, and the first time Burlington has attracted a marquee event in the sport. Local businesses and tourism promoters are hoping the region can benefit, to the tune of some $2 million. This milestone comes at a time when triathlons have evolved from a fringe activity for masochists into popular mass events that draw beginners and weekend warriors in Vermont and elsewhere.
