McBryant finishes Blue Devil triathlon
Second in 55-59
Hailey?s Dave McBryant and the other 250 athletes in Saturday?s Blue Devil Triathlon in North Carolina had their fill of 25 mile-per-hour sustained winds during the bike ride.
?It was very, very windy, making for a tough day on the bike,? said McBryant. ?And there was no way you could get out of the wind. But everybody was battling the same wind.?
The winds made finishing times 30 minutes slower than last year?s 140.6-mile Ironman-distance triathlon staged in the Raleigh/Durham area of North Carolina, McBryant said. The event, held in conjunction with the North Carolina Jaycees, is staged to battle cancer.
McBryant, 55, did well to place second in his 55-59 age class with a time of 12 hours and 30 minutes. The course included a 2.4-mile swim in Falls Lake, a 112-mile bike ride and 26.2-mile marathon run along five, hilly 5.2-mile loops.
It was the fifth Ironman-distance finish for McBryant, who did his first Ironman at age 47, in 1996. All his previous four finishes were in the Canadian Ironman triathlon.
Saturday?s race started before sunrise in Falls Lake. It was 70 degrees in the water and McBryant clocked a very fast time of 1.09:00. He said, ?I had an extremely good swim, about 10 minutes faster than I expected and had trained for. The sun came out during the swim and it was beautiful.?
Temperatures warmed to the mid- to upper-60s during the day, but it seemed cooler riding the bike in the wind. Still, McBryant maintained the lead in his age class until about 105 miles into the 112-mile race. He ended up finishing the bike ride in 6.15:00.
The hilly run was ?easily the most difficult run I?ve ever done, but we all survived,? he said. He finished in 4.40:00. All in all, ?I was very happy with second in my age class,? he said.
The winning time was about 9.50:00, 30 minutes slower than last year?s. The next day, Sunday, ?I was incredibly sore and it was a really tough day, but at least I can put my socks on today,? McBryant said Monday. He?s due back in town today, Wednesday.
