2010 National Champions

We’ve changed a few of the workout times. Here is what this semester will look like:

Monday:     6:30 pm Dryland
7pm swim (in Clare small pool)

Tuesday:    1pm Swim (in Clare small pool)
3:30 pm Bike/run (meet in front of Rec Center main entrance)

Wednesday:     12:30pm swim (in Clare small pool)

2pm bike – no coach – casual ride – 1-3 hours (in front of
Rec         Center main entrance)

Thursday:   6:30 am Dryland
7am swim (in Clare small pool)

4p run (in front of Rec Center main entrance)

Friday:    Optional swim (no coach present, in regular Rec Center pool)

Saturday:    9:30am long bike (meet at CMS-Colorado Multi Sport)

Sunday:    9:30am long run (in front of Sewell Roundabout)

4pm in the Blue Mat room at the Rec Center

The Colorado Buffaloes Triathlon Team certainly has a lot to live up to this season, but they are more prepared than ever to take on the challenge. The reigning champions will aim to defend their title at the 2011 Collegiate National Championship, which will be held in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Still, they have miles of swimming, biking, and running – as well as hours of teambuilding – to go before they reach that point.

For many of the team’s top triathletes, training and racing continue long past Collegiate Nationals and into the summer. For top female Jessica Broderick, who pulled out a second-place finish in Lubbock in May, Nationals was just the beginning. She has raced in three major races this summer, including the World University Games in Spain, the Coteau de Lac Continental Cup in Canada, in which she achieved a top-ten finish, and the Treasure Island Continental Cup in San Francisco. Men’s team standout Chris Braden demonstrated his speed with a win at the Santa Barbara Semina Nautica 15k road race, finishing in an impressive 50 minutes and 36 seconds. Several Buffs raced at home in the Boulder Peak Triathlon on July 11th, while junior Laura Greer completed the Missoula Marathon on the same day.

Besides determination to defend the national title, what will keep the Buffs going this season? For Greer, team goals are about more than just race results. The team aspect of triathlon is not always easy to master or take advantage of, so one crucial goal is to “have a team that trains together and wins together while always enjoying the sport.” The Buffs will work to have their highest attendance ever at scheduled practices, and will also try to become closer by spending more time together outside of training. In addition, they will try to “[stay] healthy physically and mentally,” a task easier said than done. The Buffs hope to create a network of support within their team so that they can push each other to new limits and become faster as a result.

Of course, says Greer, the most obvious and exciting goal still remains: “Representing CU as the best tri team in the nation!”

The University of Colorado had a dominating performance in tough conditions in Lubbock, TX and was able to secure an eleventh national title for the team. This is the first overall title won by the team since winning three straight in 2003, 2004, and 2005.

The CU Tri-team was led by runner-up finishes from Cedric Wane and Jessica Broderick. Colorado had a combined score of 109 points, which significantly outpaced Army, who scored 166, and Navy, who grabbed 187 points. Cal Poly was fourth (276), and led by the individual national champion Chris Stehula of CalPoly.

Stehula described his race: “I’ve been thinking about this race since my disappointment last year – every day just like ‘I want to go win this; I want to go win this. There was so much emotion during the race because I thought I’d lost it during the bike … In the last mile and a half I’m like ‘I think I’ve got this.’ I kept turning around, and I was so excited coming across that finish line.” He added, “Cedric was killing it on the bike. He out-biked me by a minute and a half, and he had a 40-second lead on me. I thought that the race was over on the bike. I was like ‘I can’t catch him,’ and then just because I got one of those fantastic, really lucky breaks I was able to catch him. I just buried in the first mile and a half on the run and caught up to him.”

On the women’s side, Nicole Kelleher won in 2:03:10, which beat the 2009 champion Jessica Broderick of Colorado by two minutes.

Kelleher is a former collegiate runner at SMU and Dartmouth. She was third off the bike and ended the race with an evenly-paced run to win. 28-year-old Kelleher is a medical student at Virginia and is unbeaten in triathlon over the past two years after transitioning to the sport. She was the female age group winner of the Nation’s Triathlon in Washington, D.C., last September.

Jessica Broderick described Colorado’s team victory: “The program has really developed over the last year. We are so lucky to Mike Ricci as our coach, and we have an incredible amount of respect for him. He is a wonderful person and a wonderful coach. To see how far our team has come with him guiding us is amazing. With our work ethic and the ability for us all to push each other, I really think that in the years to come we’re going to be a big threat. We have so much young talent and we work so hard together.”

This will be an awesome week of training and nightly activities. The training will include trail runs, sweet biking, open water swimming, a clinic from the Joe Munchak and much much more. If you have any questions email me directly at BlakeStretton@gmail.com Invite all the college triathletes that you know. It will be awesome. Sunday May 23rd there will be a BBQ starting at 7pm and that is where you will get a schedule and your host housing. If you cant make it to that please tell me. The camp will be 45 dollars to cover pool time and some food.
Dates:
May 23rd through May 28th
If you did not say you will be coming on facebook please email me at BlakeStretton@gmail.com if you will be attending.

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