1st race of the IUTA cup is complete: The Florida Double Anvil which took place on March 8th and 9th, 2019 in Lake Louisa Park, in Clermont, FL. Clermont is a small town just outside of the more popular city of Orlando. Clermont actually has some hills and elevation as is evidence on this race course which has a bike loop containing about 150ft (46 m) elevation per loop totaling an approximately 4,500 ft of climbing during the bike (1,370 m). Most people think of Florida as a flat terrain, edged with beautiful beaches and warm temperatures. But Clermont adds some altitude to the warm weather.
Text by Joey Lichter
The race began at 7am on Friday morning with 17 men and 3 women racing the double ultra triathlon solo. There were some other teams, and single and half racers at the same venue as well including IUTA secretary Joey Lichter racing the single. The race began with an open water swim in Lake Louisa with water temps around 65 degree Fahrenheit (18 deg C). Laps of approximately 2,112 ft (644 m) were done 12 times to achieve the full double distance. The first swimmer out for the men was Jeff Wamser (USA) at a time of 2 hours and 20 minutes, collecting the IUTA points for fastest swim. He was followed by Martin Qvist (DEN) with a time of 2:32, Donnie Robinson (USA) 2:43, Jay Sonnenklar (USA) 2:43 and then a host of others who followed.
The bike course is a 6 mile (9.7 km) out and back within the park and is to be done 37 times for the double. On the bike Jeff Wamser was quickly pursued by Martin Qvist who maintained the lead throughout the bike and for a good portion of the run. Former IUTA champion Konstantinos Zemadanis (GRE) charged through the field during the cycling section, posting the fastest time on the bike (12:07:32) which was just one minute faster than Qvist, who was stymied by having a tire puncture during the race. One of the competitors was kind enough to donate a wheel while Qvist was having his tire replaced but Qvist had to ride 3 miles from the bike turnaround on a flat tire.
The run brought out a race between Qvist and Zemadanis that led to an eventual overtaking by the Greek former IUTA champion. Zemadanis finished the race in a time of 25:10:38 and Qvist came in second with a time of 26:33:10, followed by Wamser who finished out the podium with a time of 26:47:43. Linda Hayes (USA) crossed the finish line in first position after 33:32:19 and relegated Erin Couch (USA) to second place.
Of the 20 racers there were only four who DNF’ed which is a small number of DNFs comprising 20% of the field. It was an excellent time for everyone and the next IUTA race will be upon us shortly in Germany with the Double in Emsdetten. Good luck to all who are going to Germany.