Atlantan Carol Sharpless is the second female at the Duke Blue Devil Triathlon, an iron(man) distance event.

In a story book ending for this inagural triathlon, the first place male, David Glover, is a cancer survivor. Many of the other top finishers have some connection to cancer also. Did I mention that the race was a fundraiser for the Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center and the Hope Lodge for pediatric cancer patients?

More information on this amateur iron distance triathlon can be found at their website.

10:16:08 PM    comment []

What an exciting weekend of sports! No, I did not mean football, although I did see the horrible coaching job done by Reeves of the Falcons. I am talking bicycle racing!

The Vuelta Espana, or Tour of Spain if you will, has been incredible. This year the race organizers decided to shorten the length of the stages to see if it would lead to more exciting racing. The racing has been much faster. The stage Sunday was blown apart early by the speed, and some favorites were left in a chase group that lost 18 minutes. They must have felt as bad as the Falcon's kicker Feely, who missed two field goals yesterday.

The breakaways have been great. Luis Perez, of Team Coast, put his heart into an excellent solo breakaway at the end of Saturday's stage. Everybody thought he had it won, and then 15 meters from the finish line, he was caught. The last little hill did him in. On Sunday, Pablo Lastras held on to his solo break, taking a win by 13 seconds over a charging chase group. Seven seconds behind them was the peleton. Today is the individual time trial.

The San Francisco Grand Prix was also televised on Sunday. While all the talk was about Lance, who really is not one of the best single day race riders, 23 year-old Charles Dionne of 7 Up / Nutra Fig covered all the attacks at the end, and outsprinted everybody in the lead pack. Just watching him cover the attcking Lance and Ekimov of the U. S. Postal Team, you knew he was on form, and was planning to be there at the end. A great ride, and win, for him.

11:27:49 AM    comment []