Twenty-five CMS members competed in the FIRM Grand Prix; 23 scored points. Points are awarded 8-5-3-2-1 among those in an Age Group who are affiliated with a multisport club. Marc Saucier was our high scorer, raking in 32 points for a 2^nd place finish in the Males 45-49 group. Linda Usher was 2^nd of Females 45-49 with 24 points. Shari Frigon collected 15 points in the competitive F35-39 age group. Bill Ferrara and Richard Hunt both got 13 points. Cheryl Taylor came out for her first triathlon on a rainy day in Kennebunk, ME, finishing extremely well: 4^th among women (2 seconds behind #3), 3^rd in her age group F25-29. That day the stars shined on both the talented and the mediocre. In my age group, M35-39, usually one of the largest, if not the largest age group, the competitors declaring a club affiliation were missing at Kennebunk, because I earned 5 points for a 2^nd place finish among GP participants, in spite of my finish in 18^th place out of 25 in the age group. Stay tuned for the distribution of our share of the Grand Prix prize money.

CMS Multisport member Marc Saucier completed the Ironman Triathlon World Championships (results) in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, October 6, 2001, in a time of 12:29. The Ironman distance combines a 2.4 mile swim, a 112-mile bike ride, and a 26.2 mile marathon. ("All on 1 day? You’re joking.") Marc described the windy conditions as unlike any he has seen in 25 years of racing. He completed this triathlon with splits of 1:13 for the swim, 6:30 for the bike, and 4:30 for the marathon. Marc says that after realizing any time goals were unattainable given the horrendous conditions, he actually enjoyed the experience of the race more than if he’d gone faster.

I competed at only 4 triathlons in 2001, 3 of which were on the FIRM Grand Prix: Ashland, my first Olympic triathlon in under 3 hours; Kennebunk, mentioned above; the Greenfield (MA) Olympic tri; and the FIRMMan Half Ironman triathlon.

I concentrated my training efforts at my first half (1.2M swim/56M bike/13.1M run). I could not get enough training under my belt to compete at the Timberman Half IM in NH, so I did the FIRMMan in Narragansett instead. I finished in 6:34 with a smile despite deteriorating badly on the run. I had not run much since the Vermont City Marathon in May, and it showed.

I would like to grow our membership, both in sheer numbers, and in experience. Do you know anyone who is curious about triathlon but thinks s/he can’t do it? Contact me. There are many categories in the Grand Prix ripe for picking, including relay teams. Competing on a relay team is ideal for those who want to concentrate on one or two disciplines. I believe almost any relay team that finishes a FIRM event would win Grand Prix points for the club.

For 2002, I would like to assemble some web pages in order to attract people. I’ve had about 10 people find my name either from the CMS web pages or from the USA Triathlon web pages, and I’ve responded to each one individually. If we had some web pages, we could at least put some of the common information down where anyone can find it.

I’ve received a couple of mailings from equipment manufacturers who could produce a team uniform for us if there was sufficient interest. Competing at FIRM events, I could see how the uniforms increased the sense of unity among participants of an individual sport. If anyone feels passionately about this, let me know.

To join the CMS Multisport Team, send me your name, address, phone, and email. If you want to join our email discussion list (very low volume), check out http://www.yahoogroups.com/groups/CMSMultisport.

Over and out for a couple more weeks of hibernation before the winter ramp begins,

Sam Levitin

levitin@alum.mit.edu