By Rob McNeely

He came toward the Finishers’ Corral—that athletes’-only recovery space with a medical tent, massages, pizza, chips, oranges, bananas, pretzels, soda, water, and beer—smiling in spite of himself. Carrying a few extra pounds, he was soaked with sweat, his hair matted in places, sticking up in others, under his visor. His pale skin, still dripping from the 70.3-mile race he completed just moments earlier, flushed with a combination of excess sun exposure and blood vessels working overtime to push excess heat to the surface to better cool his core. He was anonymous to those of us inside the corral watching the finishers, just one of 3,341 men and women who competed in Ironman Augusta 70.3 on Sunday, September 29, 2013, in Augusta, Georgia.


He smiled broadly as he walked with the traditional post-race stagger into the corral, clearly pleased, and perhaps a little stunned, by what he had just accomplished.

“That was the best worst-decision I ever made,” he said to no one in particular before disappearing into the crowd of triathletes.

And so it goes in the sport of triathlon: training that is sometimes exhilarating, sometimes agonizing, sometimes both during the same swim, bike, or run; and racing that pushes those boundaries even further, running toward what three-time Ironman World Champion Chris McCormick called, “the suck” that shows up and argues for stopping, for relief, for anything except more racing at that moment. Racing, of course, is exactly what we keep doing.

The day dawned large in Augusta with clear skies, 60 degrees in the air and 69 degrees in the Savannah River. Thirty-five members of Gulf Winds Triathletes—21 men and 14 women—competed, several of them facing a 70.3 for the first time. The course featured a 1.2-mile downstream swim with a current sufficiently strong that race organizers made a game-day decision to have swimmers start on a dock, rather than in the water (lest someone float away); a 56-mile ride mostly through the unusually windy foothills of South Carolina; and a 13.1-mile run almost entirely through the fan- and family-filled streets of downtown Augusta. The weather remained mild all day, reaching the low- to mid-70s by midday.

The fastest time of the day among Tri Club members went to Melissa Thompson, F25-29, who clocked in at 4:55:11, a minute faster than the male Tri Club champion, Tom Murphy, M40-44, at 4:56:11. Thompson turned in a 1:35:48 half-marathon (7:18/mile pace) to finish 4th overall in her age group (out of 124), 29/1198 among all women (top 2.4%), and 240/3341 (top 7.2%) among all finishers. Thompson improved her age-group position steadily throughout the day: 16th out of the water, 11th off the bike, and 4th across the finish line.

Murphy, likewise, moved through his age-group field, coming in 83rd on the swim, picking up 16 places and finishing 67th in his age group off the bike (averaging 21.51 mph), and scooping up another 20 places on the run to finish 47/456 among M40-44.

Other top age-group finishes went to 70.3 first-timer Jamila Allen, F20-24, with a podium finish of 3rd out of 29 and a finishing time of 5:50:35; Jamie Harris, F35-39, who was the second overall Club female finisher, placed 23rd out of 199 in her age group at 5:21:56 (and was 6/199 out of the water with a time of 23:54); TJ DeVlieger and yours truly, both M50-54, came in 15th and 23rd of 216, respectively, with DeVlieger finishing in 5:03:34 and yours truly enjoying a PR by nine minutes on the Augusta course with a 5:10:00; Marty Hufstetler, M55-59, finished in 5:29:46, earning 17th out of 117 in his age group; Jo Curryearned 25th of 157 among F45-49 with a 5:44:08; and Allison Thumm, F35-39, finished in 5:29:21 to earn the 27th spot of 199 in her division.

Jon Nash, M30-34, was the second overall Club male finisher and also the only other Tri Club member to break the 5-hour mark, finishing in 4:59:01. Nash started the day especially strong with a 23:59 swim (1:14/100m), good for 17/268 in his age group. Ed Eastman, M45-49, pounded out a 23.07 mph average on the bike to finish his bike leg in a Club-fastest 2:25:38, crossing the finish line at 5:07:12.

It was a tougher day for perennial Club speedsters, training partners, and current Grand Prix points leaders, Alan Cox and Steve Steverson, both M50-54. Both men, who shattered the five-hour mark at Augusta in 2012, battled injuries but still finished in 5:22:01 and 5:42:27, respectively.

For many Tri Club members, the day was a brilliant, successful conclusion to an achievement that seemed only theoretical a year ago: completing a 70.3. What may have seemed at times, both in training and in the race itself, as the worst decision they could have made, once across the finish line, their smiles showed it was clearly the best worst-decision of all.

A complete listing of Gulf Winds Triathletes members who competed at Ironman Augusta 70.3 appears here, in order of finish, regardless of gender. (Let us know if we left anyone off the list of members, and we will update the list.) Congrats to all!