Triathlon dominates
Men take first place at Buzzard’s Bay
The MIT Triathlon Team returned from Buzzard’s Bay Sprint Triathlon on Sept. 16 after an incredible performance. The team raced in the ¼ mile swim, 14.7 mile bike, 3.1 mile run triathlon as part of the Northeast Collegiate Triathlon Conference (NECTC) competitive season. For the second week in a row, the MIT Triathlon men placed first among collegiate competitors. The women performed solidly with a fifth place finish. The team sent 24 athletes to this race, which emphasizes the huge growth in MIT Triathlon and triathlon as a sport in general; in 2009, only four members attended the average race.
Daniel Jang ’12 aptly summed up the reasons for this increase in interest, stating, “The spirit of the collegiate competition was very apparent and really made it exciting. The beautiful weather and scenery made the whole thing quite exciting.”
Individually, Benoit Landry ’14 placed second among all collegiate athletes, Zachary W. Ulissi G posted the fastest bike split of the day by over three minutes, and Sarah A Weir ’14 — who is also a Tech sports editor — completed her first triathlon. Many non-student, MIT-affiliate members of the triathlon team also competed as part of the Max Performance regional race series. At the end of the day, many of them stood on the podium within their age groups.
The men and women will finish up their season compete in the MightyMan Olympic Triathlon in Montauk, N.Y. on Sept. 30 as the NECTC Championships. After her first season of racing, Katie F. Maass G pronounced, “I’m sad that the season is almost over, and can’t wait for next year!”
MIT is currently poised to qualify again this season for the USA Triathlon Collegiate National Championships in April 2013.