Here is a growing archive of anything related to the 1986 Cape Cod Endurance Triathlon. It was the fourth edition of six Ironman distance triathlons held on Cape Cod. Boston Marathon race director Dave McGillivray was the race director of this fantastic race in the pioneering days of triathlon,
You can read about the first Cape Cod Endurance Triathlon here:
1983 Cape Cod Endurance Triathlon.
Here is the information on the second race:
1984 Cape Cod Endurance Triathlon.
The 1986 version of the race was won by Scott Molina in 8:48:43 and Julie Olson in 9:57:09. The event was held Saturday, September 6, 1986. For the second year in a row, the race was the Tri-Fed Ultra-Distance National Championship race.
I remember how cold the Craigville Beach swim was and I had no wetsuit, but I did double up on swim caps. The newspaper said the water was 67-degrees. Just like the previous three years when I did the race I was thrilled to get out of the water without drowning or getting lost out at sea.
Because it was a rainy and overcast day, there was lots of traffic out on the 112 mile bike course out to Provincetown and back as people where shopping rather than spending time at the beach. I remember that it took many miles to feel warm again once getting on the bike.
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After 112 miles getting off the bike hurt and felt good all at the same time.
I guess it is a good sign that most of the bikes are still out on the course! |
I finished in 10:23:42 in 25th place out of 310 athletes.
It was 3 minutes slower and 5 places more than I did the previous year.
Here are the splits/not including transitions for the top three males and females.
swim bike run total
1. Scott Molina 54:25 4:52:23 2:58:38 8:58:43
2. Marc Suprenant 53:37 4:45:41 3:20:44 9:02:00
3. Kevin Mackinnon 1:03:43 5:10:49 3:09:40 9:28:46
1. Julie Olson (11th) 1:05:05 5:17:49 3:26;20 9:57:08
2. Beth Nelson (17th) 1:26:17 5:21:21 3:19:24 10:10:10
3. Kristen Evans (24th) 1:11:25 5:25:29 3:26:05 10:22:53
25th me 1:19:44 5:16:25 3:41:47 10:23:42
Takeaways (since I don't remember much about this individual race compared to the others I did)
I thought my slower time by three minutes from the previous year meant I was slowing down as an athlete. This may actually have been a better race due to the conditions. Although I was a runner, I was a better biker when doing triathlons! I think I went out pretty hard on the run this year. I remember passing Colleen Cannon on the run and she was the prerace favorite and one of the best short course triathletes in the world at the time. She did later drop out on the run. I do remember trying to find a bathroom at around 8 miles into the run. Finally, a spectator said that I could use the bathroom in their house. They had a very long driveway through some woods to get to their bathroom. I am sure I lost at least 5 minutes from that detour, but I sure felt better once I started running again!
From the Pre Race Program
