Ketchum's Bill McCann, 40, pulled out all the stops and won the Men's 40-44 age class of the USA Triathlon (USAT) Winter Triathlon National Championship on Sunday, Jan. 11 at Mt. Bachelor in Oregon.
McCann, placing 14th overall of 47 triathletes, conquered the snow-covered 22-kilometer (13.6-mile) course in one hour, 11 minutes and 44 seconds—17 seconds faster than the next-fastest Men's 40-44 finisher, Joel Vergona, 44, of Bend, Ore.
The best leg for McCann was in the two-lap, 8-kilometer bike portion where he had a 2:20 edge over Vergona. McCann's splits were 19:15 for the 5k run, 25:14 for 8k bike and 27:15 for the 9k cross-country skate.
Race winner was Brian Smith, 34, of Gunnison, Colo. in 59:03 over Michael Kloser, 50, of Vail, Colo. (1.02:15) and Carl Decker, 33, of Bend (1.03:24). The top three male and female finishers qualified for $1,000 travel stipends to compete in the Elite World Championship during February at Gaishorn, Austria.
McCann, as a top-three age class finisher Sunday, also qualified for the Austria competition but is fully responsible for his own expenses.
Finishing sixth overall and sixth among Elite Men was Fairfield's Dave Harrison, 45, at 1.05:30. He was nine seconds faster than the women's winner, Rebecca Dussault, 29, of Gunnison. Harrison's splits were 18:09, 22:18 and 25:03.