Victoria Triathletes Show What They’re Made Of In Austin

In this part of the country, we tend to think of 3 things when asked about sports... football, baseball, and basketball. The fact is, our part of the country is filled with top-notch athletes that never even considered playing one of the "ball" sports. Triathletes are some of the best conditioned athletes in the world, and Victoria's triathletes made us all very proud in Austin last Sunday.

A one-hour rain delay in Austin made for slick roads, muggy temperatures and muddy run conditions for approximately 800 triathletes who showed up to compete in The Rookie Triathlon on Sunday. According to the Victoria Advocate, race directors made the final call at 7:40 a.m. to go ahead and hold the race that had 823 triathletes taking on a super sprint course known for its super hilly bike course. It consisted of a 300-meter swim, 11-mile bike ride and two- mile run.

Triathletes can choose one of two divisions in the race, depending on the number of triathlons they have previously competed in. The Rookie Division is intended for those who are competing in their first or second triathlon. The Veteran Division is for those who have competed in more than two triathlons previously.

There were 470 men and 353 women with the average finishing time for all males at 1:11:00 and for the females at 1:22:00. The overall male winner was Peter Mallett, of Austin, who completed the course in 44:34. D'Ann Arthur from Dallas was the overall female winner with a time of 48:09.

Joe Bratton was the top male finisher from the Victoria area with his time of 56:21, placing him ninth in the 40-44 age group in the Veteran Division and 27th overall male. He averaged 2:04/100 meters in the swim, 20.1 mph on the bike and 7:05 per mile on the run.

Missy Janzow was the top female finisher from the Victoria area with her time of 59:36, placing her 10th overall of the 353 females and second in the 40-44 age group in the Veteran Division. She averaged 2:01/100m on the swim, 19.2 mph on the bike and 7:28 per mile on the run.

Here are the full results for the Victoria-area triathletes: Joe Bratton, 9th, Veteran 40-44, 56:21; John Cuellar, 2nd Veteran 30-34, 57:53; Missy Janzow, 2nd Veteran 40-44, 59:36; Amber Smolik, 1st Rookie, 1:00:10; Matt Wickham, 5th, Veteran 50-54, 1:01:04; John Klemczyk, 7th, Veteran 45-49, 1:01:04; Leana Elliott, 1st, Rookie 35-39, 1:01:32; Lori Caballero, 18th, Rookie 30-34, 1:25:56; Steve Kuecker, 7th, Veteran 55-59, 1:03:05; Tyler Bollmann, 3rd, Rookie 20-24, 1:02:51; Denise Tomanek, 2nd, Rookie 35-39, 1:04:01; Scott Geistman, 12th, Veteran 45-49, 1:04:02; Shayne Bollman, 8th, Veteran 55-59, 1:05:36; Jeremy Chapa, 16th, Veteran 30-34, 1:07:08; Crystal Cantu, 9th, Veteran 30-34, 1:07:14; Natalie Bayarena, 10th, Veteran 30-34, 1:08:51; David Bayarena, 18th, Rookie 35-39, 1:10:46; Jessica Helms, 17th, Veteran 30-34, 1:14:55; Marie Immenhauser, 20th, Veteran 30-34, 1:17:44; Tressa Story, 4th, Veteran 55-59, 1:20:40; Kimberly Rollins, 26th, Veteran 40-44, 1:23:50; Reynolds Tharp, 1st, Rookie 65-69, 1:25:44.