Riptide Turns on the Heat at CapTex Triathlon

By: Riptide Multisports

The Riptide Elite and Junior teams traveled to Austin, Texas over Memorial Day weekend to race in the Capital of Texas Triathlon and meet with sponsor Rocket Science Sports. On Saturday the team was issued their new 2009 racing kits and received a lesson in the technology behind them from Rocket Science Sports founder Marcin Sochacki. The Riptide teams can now race confidently in the best racesuits and wetsuits available.

The Riptide Team. Photo by David Liu.

The Riptide Elite team was lead by Jordan Jones, who placed 22nd overall in the ITU Pan American Cup held after the amateur races. Jones came back from a disappointing swim that had him out of the water in 41st place, thus missing the main bike pack. Despite the early race setbacks, Jones used his ever-solid run to work his way up to 22nd. Adam Truex finished just seconds behind in 23rd place, combining his first-rate swim with his much improved run. Matt Balzer was next across the line for Riptide in 29th place, followed by Tate Behning in 34th. Tate had the 6th fastest run of the race, covering the 10k in the sweltering mid-day heat in 32:16.

Adam Truex on the bike. Photo by David Liu

Jocelyn Petrella led the Riptide women with a 13th place finish in the women’s ITU Pan American Cup. Jocelyn showed strong perseverance after suffering from illness from swimming in the Oklahoma River in the Oklahoma City ITU Pan American Cup the previous weekend. Her improving bike leg should make her a force in races to come this summer when she is healthy and able to combine all three disciplines.

Cyrus Severance and Bethany Handley both had very strong showings in the Elite Amateur division, each placing 5th. Cyrus showed off his vast improvements in the water, exiting in 7th place — just 58 seconds back from the leader, Riptide’s coach, Sean Wendt! Sean lead the swim out in 18:10 and finished in 23rd place overall. Bethany, a former University of Tennessee swimmer, lead the women out of the water, after losing a few places on the bike, Bethany rallied back with the second fast run of the women’s invitational race.

Cyrus Severance on the run. Photo by David Liu.

The Riptide Junior Team competed in the Sprint race. Linley Wendt finished 8th overall and first in his age-group. Linley had one of the fastest 750m swims of the day with an 8:46. 15-year-old James Hill finished 62nd overall and 5th in his age group, a promising result for the young speedster. Taylor Harp, who at only 14 years of age was one of the youngest competitors, finished 24th among females and 4th in the 17 & under age bracket, a remarkable result in a sport where women don’t normally peak until their 30s!