Congratulations to Tammy and Darlene on their outstanding races! Bright and early Sunday morning, Darlene Hunt and Tammy Wildgoose made their way to Carlsbad for the scenic Carlsbad Triathlon. It was calm and overcast, excellent conditions to race.

They set up transition in the Tamarack parking lot, and chatted with the girls setting up on the racksaround them.Tammy headed to the bathroom only to find a line all the way through transition. She attempted two other nearby restroom locations only to find lines just as long. So, she decided to make a warm-up run out of it and headed 1/2 a mile down the beach to the next nearest bathroom...ahh no lines.Just as she got back to transition the first wave of men were lining up on the beach. She raced to pull on her wetsuit and managed to catch up with Darlene at the water's edge to jump in for a quick warm-up swim.

The already swim-heavy distance of 1000-meter swim/25K bike/5K run favored experienced swimmers even more on this day, with some of the set waves reaching 5 feet. Tammy Wildgoose and Darlene Hunt raced in the 29-and-under female wave. Their surf entry was complicated by a set arriving just as they made it to the main break. Darlene popped up with a couple other women at the front, and Tammy did a great job negotiating the waves as well. Luckily on the way out of the swim they were both able to come in between sets and weren't pounded too badly by incoming waves. Darlene was first out of the water with nearly a minute lead, and Tammy’s new mantra of “swim hard the whole time!” helped her to a very strong swim split.The bike course was along the Coast Highway which was closed to traffic and has ocean views the entire time (which can be a little distracting). :)

It is a quick course and both Darlene and Tammy had great bike splits, 47:02 and 47:23 respectively.Tammy’s continued strength on the bike propelled her past other women in her age group to arrive at T2 in second place. Feeling good on the run, she held her ground and finished the race second in women 20-24. Darlene enjoyed her lead on the bike until the second lap, when she was passed by a woman in her age group. They entered T2 about 45 seconds apart, and although the gap widened during the run Darlene was able to hold on to second place in women 25-29.Both women have struggled with the run in their last few races but both held their own on this course, Darlene ran a 24:02 and Tammy ran a 23:33. Overall it was a great race.

Darlene finished in a time of 1:23:33 and Tammy in 1:26:42. Tammy raced so well that she dropped 17 minutes from her time last year!Afterwards we relaxed on the grass and ate fresh strawberries and oranges with some other friends that had raced. We headed to the awards area only to find out we had missed our divisions. So, we watched the rest of theawards, gathered our beautiful dolphin plaques, and headed home exhausted but content.

Congratulations to Tammy and Darlene on their outstanding races! Many thanks to Chris Burnham for cheering them on through the entire race!