Petrella Torches Platte River Half Marathon

By: Riptide Multisports

Jocelyn Petrella entered the Platte River Half Marathon looking for a tuneup for the upcoming triathlon race season but ended up in a fight for the win in one of the most competitive races on Colorado’s road race calendar.
With cold temperatures and snow on the course in spots, Petrella went through the halfway mark in 44:00, on pace for her goal of a 1:28 finish. Feeling strong, she picked up the pace and at 10 miles the 2nd place female was in sight. By 12.5 miles, Petrella had vaulted into 2nd place and suddenly 1st place runner Susan Nuzum was in sight, approximately 20 seconds ahead.
Petrella turned it on, and with 100 meters to go was within 5 seconds of winning the race! With the crowd cheering, Nuzum took a glance behind her and was surprised to see that the race wasn’t locked up.
Petrella went all in to the line and nearly gained the winner’s wreath.At the finish, Nuzum was able to hold on just long enough to finish a step ahead with both runners finishing in 1:26:11 at 6:35 mile pace.Petrella will now put in her final preparations for St. Anthony’s Triathlon on April 25th in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Full Plate River Half Marathon Results Here

In other weekend racing action, Cyrus Severance raced the New Orleans 70.3 but had a difficult day as he was fell victim to Louisiana’s heat. Severance started well as the 13th male age grouper out of the water but started experiencing difficulty at the end of the bike which only worsened on the run. Severance can now look forward to a shorter race at St. Anthony’s Triathlon on April 25th in St. Petersburg, Florida.