Clam Man Sprint 10-1-2011

On Saturday I ended my triathlon season with the Clam Man Sprint at Berkley Island Park in New Jersey. “You Thrill’em, we Grill’em” is the race theme. I heard about this race last year (and the grilled clams at the post-race feast), and was thrilled when my brother in New Jersey wanted to race it with me this year.

The event started at 7:00 so transition set-up and body marking were done by flashlight. They had two different race courses. The “Little Neck” course featured a ¼ mile swim out and back along one side of the island in water that most people could stand in and the feature length "Cherrystone" race, which had a 0.4 mile swim along three sides of the island that boasted of a beautiful sunrise, which did not make an appearance due to the overcast morning. Spectators could walk along the island and easily follow the swimmers for the entire route of the swim. The water was in the bay, a nice temperature and quite calm.

I was in the first Cherrystone wave. It was a in water start, which was weird because all previous in water starts I have been able to stand, when we started, I went to push up and there was nothing to push off of. I swam easy and had only a few smackdowns. One, I got punched across the back, so I responded with a hard punch across the back, but then I got kicked, and I got a look at the other swimmer and he looked like a squat champion muscleman who was flaying away, so I conceded the space and moved off to the left. I had a little trouble getting out of the water at the end, as I staggered as I tried to undo my suit and looked probably like I was having a stroke. I took my suit off once I got out of the water and at that moment got passed by the first swimmers from the women’s wave that atarted five minutes after ours.

The bike was a flat out and back 10 miles on beach roads that went through beautiful salt marshes. My computer wasn’t set so I had no idea what my pace was. I didn’t feel like I was going particularly fast, nor was I really hammering it. I was just happy to be riding and to have my tires holding air. I passed no one. I did see Jim, who’se race had started letr than mine as he rode by on the out loop.
The run was also flat. I did pass several other runners. The “Little Neck” race had a 3 mile run. The “Cherrystone” was 3.5 mile run, which just meant you ran .25 miles past the Little Neck turnaround, and came back. This worked out great, as I did the Cherrystone race and my brother did the Little Neck. As I was heading back from the Cherrystone turnaround I spotted my brother getting water at the Little Neck turn around. He waited a moment for me, and we ran the last mile and a half in together. At the finish line, they presented us with our race medals, which were quahog clam shells with the race logo stamped on them and a ribbon through them. The grilled clams were awesome.




Unfortunately, we left before the awards as I later learned I came in third in the Clydesdale division and would have won my age group had I entered it (No great achievement as there was only one other contestant in the 50-54 year old men, but I would have gotten a nice beer mug. ) I came in 53 of 67 overall in the Cherrystone race. Another 54 did the Little Neck race. My brother and I had nearly identical bike and run paces.

My time was 1:32:08.

I was 49th in the swim, 59th in the bike and 58th in the run. I averaged 15.3 mph on the bike and 9:48 per mile on the run.



The event was put on by Jersey Shore Multi-sports who run quite a number of tris each summer along the shore. Several of their events offer alternate race courses, as well as some interesting atypical triathlons. They have a vice versa race, which starts with a two mile run (and a running start to the run), a 12 mile bike and ends with a ¼ mile swim, a double trouble race with 5 transitions (.2 mile swim, 6 mile bike, 1.5 mile run, another .2 mile swim, 6 mile bike, and 1.5 mile run). They have a Born to Tri in Asbury Park, which features the slogan, “Prove it All Morning.” They have a Cheap and Easy and a Cheap and Not So Easy race, which features a second transition area for singles. They also have Everyone Can Tri race which has a 300 yard swim, 5 mile bike, 1.5 mile run. I would be curious to do both the Double Trouble and Vice-Versa races in the future as well as the Born to Tri, which has great Springsteen take off t- shirts. There were a nice group of people there and it was great event (I always enjoy doing tris with my brother) and a great way to end the triathlon season for me.

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