Rick Fitzgerald – Smithfield Sprint – Saturday, April 2, 2016

The Smithfield Sprint is a VMTS race, which has been a big tri team event in the past and was a big college tri team event this year. It is well run, as are most VMTS races. The field was very competitive. The swim is a 300m pool swim at the YMCA, with a time trial start. The race started at 10:00am, but some racers had to wait until after noon to start. Your estimated 300m swim time determined your seeding for the swim start. I completed the swim in 4:45 and ran to the timing mats, which were slippery from the rain, so I took it easy. T1 was slow for me, as I fumbled to put my helmet on in the rain. I ran my bike to the mount line and again had some trouble slipping my foot into my shoe, due to rain. Once I got going, I felt good and decided to “go for it”on the short 10mi course, despite the rain. I knew a couple of places I had to be careful, after racing this course 3 years ago and driving it the day before. I was blown a bit when crossing open fields, due to gusting winds. I raced a Zipp 808 front and put my hands on the bullhorns when the wind picked up. I caught up with Matt Coleman after a few miles and noted he was looking very speedy! After I got to the final turn on the course, I stomped on it, as the road was straight and fast the last 4 miles. The rain was stinging!. I got my feet out of my shoes fine, in preparation to dismount and ran back to T2. I had a tough time slipping my wet feet into my Noosas. The path out of T2 was now a mud pit and the rain was teaming down at times. My shoes felt very heavy. I pushed the pace on the flat, fast course, and the rain slowed a bit. After the turn around I saw Chip Warfel coming the other way and gave him a fist bump. I finished strong and then scrambled to shower and get warm. I sat down and talked with Mark Yost, Chip and Matt Coleman after the race. We had a nice conversation, as I did not know them very well before the race. This is a great sport, with great people!