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Pacific Crest race weekend in Sunriver, Oregon USA

Half Triathlon and Duathlon on Saturday, June 26, 2004
Road-bike leg, aid station near Mt. Bachelor and finish festival

Copyright© 2004 by Robert Speik. All Rights Reserved.

Bend's Larsen, Waskom win Pacific Crest events

The Bulletin
By Inge Scheve
June 27, 2004

Bend triathlete Steve Larsen so dominated the first day of the Pacific Crest Sports Festival on Saturday that he nearly beat the top duathlete.

Larsen, 34, won the Half-Ironman triathlon, finishing just 52 seconds behind the duathlon winner, who started at the same time as Larsen but did not have to complete a swim.

Larsen also set a course record, finishing the 1.2-mile swim, 56.3-mile bike segment and 13.1-mile run in 4 hours, 15 minutes and 32 seconds.

Douglas Obletz of Portland, winner of the duathlon, finished the same course, minus the swim, in 4:14:40.

Larsen, a former professional cyclist, recently "retired," but he obviously has not lost his competitive edge.

"Honestly, I didn't know what to expect," said Larsen after the race. "It's been since last October since I trained full-time for anything. It's always fun to win, but I really didn't know who was going to be out there. It was a hard race, and pretty hot.

"The scenery is spectacular and crystal clear. The Pacific Crest is one of the most beautiful courses anywhere and a great way to showcase Central Oregon," said Larsen, who has competed throughout the world during the past two decades.

Larsen, who also won the 2002 Pacific Crest Triathlon, said he doesn't consider his background in cycling to be a competitive advantage, but he believes his experience in competing at a world-class level gives him a mental edge.

"I know what it takes to win at a certain level," Larsen said with a grin. "I have suffered through the biggest, toughest races in the world. I know I can push it through. I didn't really train for this event, but I have trained for 20 years so I have a big reserve tank.

"I still love to compete, but it takes a lot more out of me than it did two years ago."

Tracy Orcutt, 37, of Seattle, was the top female in the triathlon, finishing in 4:57.41.

"This was my first time here, so it's beginner's luck. My strategy was to have low expectations," said Orcutt, who has raced triathlons for nine years.

"I loved the bike ride, although going down was scary. I am quite a chicken when it comes to that. I felt the altitude slightly, but I tried to forget about it."

Orcutt, who said the bike leg is her favorite part of a triathlon, said the run is always a challenge, and that the swim also poses some problems for her.

"I am never quite there on the swim, but today I think I had a good swim for a change," she said.

The Half-Ironman triathlon, which is USAT-sanctioned and also serves as the 2004 TRI Northwest Long-Course Championship, treats participants to a 1.2-mile swim in Wickiup Reservoir, a 56.3-mile bike ride from Gull Point at Wickiup Reservoir around the Cascades Lakes Highway and Mount Bachelor, and finally a 13.1-mile run to the finish line in the Sunriver Country Mall.

The duathlon covered the same bike and run course as the triathlon. Jill Waskom of Bend was the top female finisher in the duathlon with a time of 4:37:38.

The first day of the 2004 Pacific Crest Sports Festival proved to be a feast for first-timers of all sorts.

Soto Marcial, 51, of Mexico City won the half-marathon, finishing in 1:16:11, just in front of Bend's John Stolz (1:16.24) and Jeff Cook of Canby (1:16:46).

"This is one of the most beautiful courses I have raced," said Marcial, who currently lives in Eugene and was visiting Central Oregon for the first time. "It was a mix of flat and rolling. I started in the back because I really felt tight. But by mile seven I started pushing, and I was in the lead before mile eight."

But winning or losing doesn't matter much to Marcial.

"I am really happy to be here, not because I was first," he said. "I am happy to be here in this kind of environment.

"I don't run marathons anymore, so I need a push," Marcial explained, noting that he is trying to increase his race distances and enter a marathon in the fall.

Kristin Duyn, 24, of Beaverton, was the top female in the half-marathon, finishing the 13.1-mile course through Sunriver in 1:24:30, followed by Jennifer Overlock of Corvallis (1:24.47) and Bend's Cheryl Tronson (1:25.05).

"I loved it! It was a great, beautiful course ... flat, very flat," said Duyn, who thanked her husband and two friends who joined her in Central Oregon for their support and cheering. "Support is the key. I didn't really have a strategy."

In the Pacific Crest Marathon, which serves as a BAA Boston qualifier, Murray Thorson, 49, of Richland, Wash, finished first in 3:01.00, more than seven minutes ahead of second-place racer Chad Pilgeram of Grandview, Wash. Nathan Dufault of Corvallis was third in 3:09.44.

Thorson, running in his first-ever marathon, was surprised to win, having trained for only two months.

"I run about 50 to 60 miles per week," Thorson said. "I ran one 17-mile training run. All my friends told me I had to run at least one run over 20 miles, so I guess I didn't follow advice."

Among the women, 34-year-old Eva Lust of Yakima, Wash, was first in the marathon.

"I've never won anything before, so this is really cool," Lust said. It was her first marathon since giving birth to a daughter last summer. "I used to do quite a few before I had my daughter. Now, I try to stay constant with my training and get in long runs on the weekend."

Established in 1997, the Pacific Crest Sports Festival has become one of the largest sporting events of its kind, attracting about 4,000 athletes from all over the United States and several foreign countries to Central Oregon every June, along with scores of support staff, friends and family members.

Today's schedule features an Olympic-distance triathlon (500-meter swim, 28-mile bike and 10-kilometer run) and a duathlon (28-mile bike and 10-kilometer run), as well as 5-kilometer and 10-kilometer run/walk events.

The Olympic-distance triathlon and duathlon will start at 9 a.m. at Gull Point on Wickiup Reservoir.

The 5K event will start at 9 a.m. near the Sunriver Country Mall and the 10K starts at 9:15 a.m. at the same location.

Complete results of Saturday's events will be posted at www.racecenter.com/pacificcrest.

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Seven TraditionalMountaineering folks thank the Pacific Crest organizers for the opportunity to volunteer and assist this fine weekend of world-class aerobic sport!
~~Webmeister.