June 2012 ~ 9MB - Spokes Magazine

trispokes by ron cassie ron_cassie@yahoo.com
Course Record Set at Columbia Tri
More than 40 professionals and 2,300 amateur athletes
from ages 14 to 71 and from 28 states and five
countries participated in the 28th Columbia Triathlon
May 20th, with Cameron Dye of Boulder, Colorado
winning the men’s division while setting a new course
record.
The 28-year-old Dye beat Andrew Yoder, of Columbia,
Pa., who took second — and Yoder’s 2011 record time
by 10 seconds — posting at time of 1:49:41. Yoder
Annabel Luxford
came in this year at 1:52:18 on a morning with the
some of the best racing conditions ever at the popular
Centennial Lake event.
Australian Annabel Luxford was the top female finisher
with a time of 2:06:18. Both winners took home
a cash prize of $6,000. Luxford delivered a winning
time of 2:06:18, besting second-place finisher Leanda
Cav, 34, of Great Britain, and former Columbia
champs Laurel Wassner, 33, a Montgomery Countynative,
and Margaret Shapiro, 36, of Herndon. Debbie
Tanner, 30, of New Zealand took fifth on the women’s
side and Sara McCarty, 29, of Florida, came in sixth.
Rounding out the top six men were Ben Collins, 29,
of Seattle; Australian James Seear, 26; Matt Chrabot,
29, and Clark Ellice, 30, of New Zealand.
“The course is one of the most beautiful, and also one
of the most challenging, I have ever competed on,”
Dye told SPOKES. “The TriColumbia staff and volunteers
put on a great race and I am excited to add this
event to my resume.”
Dye, who was has a swimming background, was third
out of the water and felt he’d had an excellent swim
to get started. “I found some good feet,” he said
later. But it’s on the bike, which he now considers
his strong suit, where he won the race, posting the
best overall time on the race’s second leg — the hilly
25-mile jaunt through hilly Howard County. “I’m a
much bigger fan of hilly courses than flat rides,” said
Dye, who didn’t move to Colorado after becoming a
professional triathlete but actually grew up there. “I’m
from Boulder.”
Dye said he wasn’t really aware that he was on course
record pace — until near the end of the run. “The
people lined up were yelling, ‘Run it in! Run it in!,’
Dye recounted. “Then eventually I could see the clock."
“Maybe I should wear a watch,” he smiled, lifting up
his bare wrists.
Luxford, who grew up swimming and running crosscountry,
in Australia, said Columbia’s reputation as a
Cameron Dye
tough, but beautiful and well-run event is long established
in the triathlon community.
“It’s a really challenging, hilly, bicycle course and I’d
been looking forward to coming to Maryland for the
race,” said Luxford, who was in first place coming off
the bike. She added: “The run is brutal.
“Triathlon is a great sport and this race was a lot of
trispokes continued on p.19
14 June 2012