Coach Gareth races at the 2008 Malibu Triathlon.

After nine years of coaching, Coach Gareth returns to racing at the Malibu Triathlon in a relay with US Olympian Hunter Kemper. He writes:

I was tricked!! I entered the LA Tri Club raffle to win a spot on a relay team with US Olympian Hunter Kemper. The fee was $25 to his chosen charity and, as I never win these things, I treated it as a gift and nothing more. Imagine my surprise when I actually won and had to race! I was the second athlete's name pulled from the hat so I had the choice to swim or run. As I haven't completed a structured swim workout since mid 1997, I figured the run would suit me best. I've been riding a lot this summer and running pretty frequently, but I really had no idea where my form was. My leg of the relay was a 4-mile run, so I figured if I broke 32 mins (8-min miles) I'd be happy.

The day started off cool and overcast. With five minutes to go before the race start, Hunter and I were still unable to find our cyclist, so we decided that if the rider didn't turn up that we'd just strap our chip on to a fast rider's leg from another team for the bike section. Luckily, our rider was there when Hunter came out of the water in just over 10 minutes, so we were spared having to cheat. Tasmin de Beers (dressed as a black and white COW—no joke) rode for us and completed the course in a respectable 55 minutes. Over to me.

I blazed out of transition through the crowds at a totally unsustainable pace, then once out of sight backed off so that I didn't DNF! I felt surprisingly good and was passed by only one runner. I clocked in at 29.30 for the 4 miles (7.22 pace) which was way ahead of what I expected. I was thrilled until I realized that when I raced back in the 90's, a 7-minute pace was my easy run pace—how times have changed! still great fun.

On September 7th, Bruin athletes Brittany Day, Annee Deering, and Maria Dziembowska swept the female collegiate olympic-distance division of the LA triathlon. In July, Maria Dziembowska placed first in her age group for the sprint-distance race at the Strawberry Fields Tri, qualifying her for age-group nationals, where she will compete later this month in Portland, OR.

DeAnna Steiger reports on her experience in the olympic-distance race:

The swim was a little rough—big waves to battle on the entrance and exit and big swells when you got past the break. because the water was so rough, I had a tough time navigating—I could never see the bouys marking the course. I think I actually swam 1.5 miles (at least that's how it felt). Despite the big swells and general state of disorientation, I managed to have a strong swim and got out of the water in good time. I was energized by everyone cheering when I got out of the water. Thank you!

On the bike, I felt powerful; I really enjoyed the bike course. There was a cheerleader squad and marching band along the course! People told me there were a couple of hills on course, but I didn't find anything to worry about. I really enjoyed it!

The run was tough. the Olympic women didn't start until 7:45AM so by the time we got to the run course, the heat was blazing! The hill (straight up) to the walt disney concert hall was ugly, but at least we got to go down after going up. There were lots of people cheering on the run course, which made the time go by quickly and gave my body some energy when I thought I had no more. I was stupid and didn't eat anything on the bike. I did a good job with electrolyte replacement, but I didn't eat. Stupid stupid stupid. I got to the run and crashed. Coming out of T2, I was on track to beat my time goal of three hours, but I had no game and didn't make it. But thats OK—feeling good in two outta three ain't bad.

I was in Vancouver, Canada to race Age Group Short Course World Championships (Olympic distance). The weather forecast for Vancouver was 50 degrees F and raining. It was so cold during the Junior's race Friday morning that several of them ran with their bike helmets on because their hands were too frozen to unbuckle them. At the Team USA meeting we learned that the ITU had shortened the swim from 1,500 meters to 1,100 due to the cold temperatures. There were rumors that the water was 49 degrees F, and that if it dropped another degree the swim would be cancelled entirely. Needless to say, I was feeling a little anxious about racing in such poor conditions.

Saturday morning I woke up and immediately went to my window to check the weather. It was overcast, but not raining. At the swim start, I warmed up in the Bay with a couple of girls from Hawaii who were wearing one cap and sleeveless wetsuits. I was in a full wetsuit and wearing a neoprene cap. My warm-up was extremely painful—my feet, hands, and face all hurt from the cold water. The Hawaiians on the other hand thought the water wasn't as bad as they anticipated.

The swim started on the beach. I meant to line up slightly to the side to avoid being swam over by the fastest girls, but ended up in the middle. When the gun went off we all sprinted to the water. I sprinted out the first 200 yards or so to try and get away from the main pack. Last year, the girls were brutal at worlds during the swim. This year the swim was surprisingly calm and non-violent. I had a pretty good swim and didn't even notice the cold water during the race. I did, however, notice the huge swell, which I hadn't anticipated.

The bike course was a beautiful four-loop relatively flat course around Stanley Park. There was one bigger hill in the middle of the loop. My wave was the second to go off right after the AWADS, which meant that the bike course was not at all crowded until around lap four. I felt really strong on the bike. I was inspired by the AWAD athletes I saw on the course who only had one leg, or one arm, or were on a tandem, yet still were racing their hearts out.

I was a little concerned about the run after all of my injuries this year. I had been running consistently without injuries for the past month, but hadn't put in the mileage I would have liked to. To my surprise and delight, I felt great on the run. Once I got into my stride I began passing athletes in my age group. It was a 2.5 loop run course with a few rollers. I was impressed by the 30-34 year olds who were able to pass me during my second lap. I may be a decent runner for my age group, but I need to get much faster before I turn 30 to be competitive in that age group. Around the final 3k I was passed by a Canadian 30-34 year old. I decided to try to stay with her as long as possible. She dropped me with around 1.5k to go, then I caught her again and we had a sprint finish. She won, but I was just thankful that I managed to keep pace with her.

One of the greatest moments at Worlds is the last couple hundred meters before the finish when every American at the race is cheering for you. Crossing the finish line is incredible. After crossing the line, I was immediately handed an emergency blanket - race coordinators were very concerned about hypothermia. It was a little funny to see a silver sea of athletes at the finish line. I'm happy with my race, and had a fun trip.

Josh Lamden, Marcus Perry, Su-Yang Liu, Michelle Kelly and I drove up to Auburn on Saturday morning. At the 2pm packet pick-up, we realized how hot it gets in the central valley. We then headed over to the campsite at T2, which is about 800 feet higher than the lake and T1. After taking a quick dip in the lake and driving parts of the bike course, we went to dinner, and then to bed.

Race morning we warmed up, left our shoes at T2, and headed down to the lake on our bikes. The water was relatively warm, in the low 70s, at 7:30am when the men started. I felt okay during the swim, but couldn’t really tell how I was doing. After a long run up a boat ramp, I was on the bike. Since the transition area was so large and the half ironman started at 7:00 there was still no sign of how I was doing.

The first 7 miles of the bike were uphill to T2. Some sections were mild and others were steep, including some areas that were at least a 16% grade. The rest of the ride went well – they had water bottle aid stations on the bike; pouring two bottles of water on my head helped keep my body temperature low so I was able to keep it going full-throttle. The turnaround at mile 18 showed me how close I was to the front—top 10 or so. This gave me some motivation, especially since not many looked like collegiate athletes. A few sharp turns on the course were not easy for those on triathlon bikes. Since I ride the team’s BMC Pro Machine road-racing bike, I had an advantage.

The run started on a rocky single-track trail that was steep downhill—a good way to force a quick pace right away. By this point, the temperature was in the upper 80's, but the first mile or so was relatively shady. Up a road, around on more single track, up some stairs, down a road, then it was really getting really hot. At about mile 4, we had one last turnaround, starting downhill on a fire road into a scorching valley area that was in the mid 90s. I felt like I was running in slow motion, especially turning around on the fire road for the last mile to the finish. For me, it was the most difficult segment of any triathlon this season, but I stayed strong, and finished well, keeping my first mile's pace for all 6.2 miles.

I came in at 2:24, and finished 3rd in WCCTC. Congratulations to Michelle for winning her age division in the open category, the only female racer from our team. Results are not yet posted, but Su-Yang I believe finished 7th in WCCTC with 2:30, Josh 13th with 2:42, and Marcus shortly after with 2:54.