WORLD NAKED BIKE RIDE - Spokes Magazine

Out-of-towners dominated the pro results, only
Flicker, sixth-place women’s finisher, Laurel Wassner,
formerly of Gaithersburg, and Lindsey Jerdonek, of
Washington, D.C., had mid-Atlantic connections.
However, numerous local amateurs won or placed
among the top of their age groups.
Shandra Richardson, 29, of Gainesville, Va., won
the 25-29 age group – qualifying for a spot at the
World Championships in Kona in July – and was the
fourth place finisher overall. Her husband, Robert
Richardson, took 12th in the 35-39 age group, with a
personal-best 4:28:37.
Both have qualified and raced at Kona in the past; the
couple’s goal again this season.
“Winning my age-group and qualifying was the No. 1
goal,” said Shandra Richardson, adding that last year
her and husband went to Lake Placid to compete to
earn spots for Hawaii.
Two years ago, the Richardsons, who met training,
opened Rip Tide Swim and Tri (riptideswimandtri.
com) in Gainesville. Shandra, who also coaches swimming,
manages the store fulltime while Robert works
his daytime IT job for now, at least.
“We’ve survived the recession, but I don’t think that’s
happening soon, and I like my job, but maybe that
will happen someday,” said Robert Richardson, who
wakes up at 3 a.m. to start training before reporting
for work at 6 a.m.
The couple has one child, Madison, 2, and baby-sitting
grandparents who allow them to train cycling
together on the weekends. Next, it’s back to Lake
Placid to get Robert qualified for Hawaii.
“It’s really been a blessing for us to go to Kona together
as a couple,” Shandra Richardson told SPOKES.
Another local athlete, Lucas McCollum, of Frederick,
Md., won the male side of the 25-29 group, posting a
fast 4:12:05, three full minutes over his closest rival,
Dave Smith, of Virginia Beach. McCollum missed his
first goal – a 4:10 mark – but hit his second as top
amateur in his age group. McCollum, a former college
pitcher at Jacksonville State, was the sixth amateur
overall.
Unlike Bozzone, McCollum, was coming off a disappointing
experience at Columbia. But he bounced
back with the best average bike speed, averaging 25.3
miles per hour over the 56-mile ride, of any amateur.
He also delivered the best run split in his age group.
Sick with an upper respiratory illness at Columbia,
McCollum had to drop out of the race.
“This race was my top priority and I’ve been working
on my speed,” he said. “And did taper off (my training).
Everything went as planned, except the secondhalf
of the bike, it was pretty windy – that’s probably
where my two minutes went.”
McCollum noted getting off the bike after the blazing
split, was almost as much fun as winning the age group.
“To come back to rack in transition and not see any
other bikes there is a great feeling,” he said.
McCollum said he’s got the Spirit of Morgantown
tri and the Savageman event in Cumberland on his
schedule later this summer. He’s also pointing, however,
to Kona.
“Both are good training races,” he said. “Savageman is
one of the toughest triathlons around. Your legs feel
like they do after a full Ironman after that bike course.”
Omar Nour, 30, of Washington, D.C., was the second
overall amateur, and second in his age group, finishing
in both cases with an outstanding time of 4:08:47,
behind Mark Rochen, 34, of Downington, Pa.
Nour said a couple of years ago, before training for
his first triathlon in 2007, the Nations Triathlon in
D.C., of course, he weighed 220 pounds – at least 40
pounds heavier than the 6-foot- athlete goes now.
“I was sitting with some friends smoking shisha (a pop-
ular Middle Eastern tobacco smoked in a hookah) and
they said they were signing up for a triathlon,” said
Nour, who crossed the finish line grinning and dancing.
“I was like, ‘What is that?’ They told me, first you
swim, then bike, then run. I said, ‘Okay, sign me up.’"
A former high school swimmer at Georgetown Prep,
Nour had been racing on a “second or third-hand”
Cannondale until finally getting on a new Felt for
Eagleman.
“I got it fitted, and I told them to fit me in the most
aggressive position possible and I’ll make my body
adjust,” Nour said. It worked, he posted the secondfastest
amateur bike split, average just 0.1 mile-perhour
behind McCollom. Nour credits his brother
Diaa, with providing valuable training and racing
TRISPOKES continued on p.20
July 2009
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