First Coast Off Road Triathlon

By Jim Harman, XTERRA representative

(Jacksonville, FL – July 24, 2005) They don’t call it the “sunshine” state for nothing! Under blazing sun, scorching heat, and high humidity, the First Coast Off-Road Triathlon went off with much fanfare from spectators and beach combers alike.

Boasting one of the only ocean swim in the Nissan Xterra USA Championship Series, the contest began with a dramatic air-horn-blast heard over the pounding surf. Within seconds, 154 age group racers and 6 relay team members, representing 11 states, were diving into the waves of the Atlantic Ocean. Once past the break, Craig Evans (27, Spring Hill, TN) took up his leading position, one which he would not relinquish the entire race. Evans finished the .5 mile swim in a super-fast 9 minutes flat, followed by Casey Fannin (44, Birmingham, AL) and Shawn Burke (39, Atlantic Beach, FL) in 10:44 and 10:58 respectively.

Despite losing time and having to turn around from missing a buoy, national caliber swimmer, Megan Melgaard (25, Atlanta, GA) was the first female out of the water in 11:06. She was followed at 13:18 by Cynthia Fowler (34, Landrum, SC) and at 13:39 by Brynn Shader (21, Tallahassee, FL).

After a quick transition, Evans continued his domination on the bike. He completed the 3 lap, 13-mile bike course with the fastest split time of 57:55. The tight, twisty, palmetto lined bike course was devoured by Sean Crichton (27, Jacksonville, FL) in 59:00. Despite Crichton’s stellar bike split, it was not enough to catch second place finisher, Casey Fannin who was second out of the water and completed the bike course in an impressive 1:00:18.

After the swim, eventual first place female finisher and expert mountain biker, Stephanie Stetter (32, Fernandina Beach, FL) started reeling in the competition. With a bike split of 1:06:28, Stetter bested Melgaard by over 4 minutes on the bike. Melgaard continued to battle it out with an impressive 1:10:37 bike split. Three minutes back, fellow Atlanta native, Ellen Carroll (39) followed suit.

The 3.2 mile run course traced its way through the hiking trails of beautiful Hanna Park finishing up with a sandy dune climb and a 50 meter beach sprint to the finish line. Once again, Evans rocked the field with an extraordinary 25:03 run split to finish the race in first place overall with a time of 1:31:58. John Metzgar (42, Orange Park, FL) and Justin Hoblet (26, Jacksonville, FL) burned up the run course with split times of 25:10 and 25:13 respectively. With his consistent performance on all three elements, Casey Fannin finished the race in 1:38:18, claiming second place overall honors. Close behind and third place overall, Justin Hoblet finished his race in 1:40:30.

Niki Celani (37, St. Augustine, FL), Denise Metzger (38, Orange Park, FL), and Hellen Cox (41, New Smyrna Beach, FL) showed off their running talent with split times of 27:02, 30:42, 30:45 respectively. Despite these fast split times, the steady performance of Stephanie Stetter brought her across the finish line first with a time of 1:55:24. At 1:59:23, Megan Melgaard was a not-to-distant second. And, the super-fast run helped Niki Celani moved into third place with an overall time of 2:02:01.

It was a great day of fun in the Florida sun. Thanks to all the volunteers and congratulations to all who competed. Special thanks goes out to Race Directors’ Brent and Chris for hosting this wonderfully fun and unique XTERRA race. Looking forward to next year!

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