Vandam, Roman-Duval Repeat As Champs At Mightyman Sprint Triathlon

By Brett Mauser

Nicholas Vandam of the United States Military Academy finished in just over 52 minutes to record the fastest time in the short history of the Mightyman Sprint Triathlon. Photos by Brett Mauser

Montauk - Nicholas Vandam and Julia Roman-Duval are the top triathletes in the Northeast Collegiate Triathlon Conference (NECTC). If there was any doubt after last year's Mightyman Sprint Triathlon, which doubles as the NECTC's conference championships, there isn't anymore.

Between them, they're a soon-to-be commissioned second lieutenant from West Point and a third-year graduate student at Boston University in the field of astrophysics. On the side, they're elite triathletes, which they showed to be true at the third annual Mightyman Sprint. Vandam did so in grand style, shaving nearly three minutes off his course-record time.

Sprint triathletes make the transition from the swim to the bike at the third annual
Mightyman event.

Vandam, who won the race last year in 55 minutes, two seconds, posted a time of 52:24 in his second go-around through Montauk. He was second out of the water, trailing Springfield's Brian Mulcahey by 39 seconds, yet he built a lead simply in the transition area, beating teammate William Eggers out of the transition area. With the day's fastest bike, a blazing 25-minute, 38-second ride north on County Road 77, south on County Road 49 and back, a distance of 17 miles, Vandam's edge over the field stood at a few minutes going into the final leg. The Minneapolis native's lead was never threatened during the run, which outlined Fort Pond before finishing on the grass to its southeast.

"I just wanted to do better," Vandam said. "I was just hoping the whole team would have solid races. This is kind of a training race for us."

Although his lead provided him with a pressure-free environment, the race wasn't without its difficulties.

"The water was pretty cold and the air temperature pretty cold on the bike," said Vandam, who two weeks prior finished third at the Under-23 World Championships in Portland, OR. "My feet were numb. I had a hard time putting my shoes on because I couldn't feel anything. It warmed up once the sun got out."

Swimmers dash up toward the transition area with early-rising fans cheering them on.

Vandam ended up second, more than two minutes ahead of Army teammate Nicholas Stergos (54:58), who finished two seconds ahead of Vandam's time last fall. Three other Cadets - Robert Sherry, Eggers, and Ryan Peacock - finished third, fourth and fifth respectively to give Army its second team championship in as many years of the NECTC. Last year, the men from West Point took nine of the top 10 spots at Mightyman.

Julia Roman-duval won the Northeast Collegiate Triathlon Conference
women's championship for the second consecutive season.

As a group, they've traveled the world, heading to the past three International Triathlon Union (ITU) World Championships in places such as Switzerland and Germany. Additionally, Army finished third overall (2nd men; 5th women) at the collegiate national championships. They're training for the Soma Half Ironman in Arizona in three weeks.

On the women's side, Roman-Duval's time of 1:01:26 was nearly seven minutes faster than her winning time of 1:08:10 from a year ago. Roman-Duval, who was born and raised in Normandy, France, said that the conditions were ideal.

"It was a really fast race," said the 26-year-old Frenchwoman. "On the bike course, I probably averaged over 23 miles per hour - flat, no wind, nice roads, smooth - and it was the same thing for the run course."

Although not a part of the NECTC championship, Point Lookout's Kerry Simmons managed to become the second woman across the finish line (1:02:49). Army's Randy Wintermantel finished second among women with a time of 1:03:40. She was followed by teammate Kari Vahle in fourth as well as Sharon Levy of Great Neck.

Roman-duval, who called the run her strongest suit, had trailed Simmons by a minute heading into the third and final leg. The BU grad student put on the jets from there, posting an 18:06 for the 5K run, or better than six minutes per mile. Last year, she ran a 20:31 for the last stage, yet she called the conditions "really windy," and in the case of the swim, the water "really choppy."

Southampton's Tim Davis was the first local racer to complete the journey, finishing in 36th place overall with a time of 1:06:30.

Swimmers make their way up the shore of Fort Pond and onto the next
challenge - a 17-kilometer bike.

The Mightyman Sprint Triathlon challenged its entrants to a 750-meter swim, a 17-kilometer bike as well as a five-kilometer run.

Mightyman Half Ironman
Montauk held not one but two triathlons in one weekend. On Sunday, the fifth annual Mightyman Half Ironman took over the Town of East Hampton, with more than 400 participants spanning the 70-mile swim, bike and run course. In the end, it was Nils Goerke of Kiel, SC, doing it the fastest. The 35-year-old German stood in fourth place after the first two legs, yet he was able to make up a six-minute deficit on the half marathon to post a winning time of four hours, 20 minutes and 37 seconds.

Goerke trailed Peter Russo, Peter Ventura and Michael Halstead heading into the run. He proceeded to record the second-fastest half marathon time on the morning (1:20:25) to eventually pass all three. Goerke is a veteran of 15 Ironman triathlons, including five Ironman World Championships in Hawaii; he finished 31st in 2007.

Triathlon Video

Russo, who hails from Rumford, RI, took second in 4:28:33. Glen Cove's Ventura was third (4:30:23), and he was followed by Stone Ridge's Halstead in fourth (4:30:48) and Michael Bosl of New York City, who grabbed fifth (4:42:33).

The women's side also had a come-from-behind winner. Carol Wilke of Rye Brook, NY, finished just under five hours (4:59:21) to win her division and take 28th overall. She had trailed New York City's Liz Vitai after the 1.25 mile swim and 56 mile bike by roughly four minutes, yet she registered the second-quickest half marathon among the women's division to win by 1:33 over Vitai. Hampton Bays' Jessica Allen (who won the Hamptons Marathon just last weekend), roared up the standings to third place with her one-hour, 34-minute half marathon, best among women and 14th best altogether. South Boston's Carolyn Culling finished fourth (5:07:31), and New York City's Raquel Miller was fifth (5:10:34).

As for the local participants, Charles Whalen of Montauk was the first to cross the finish line, posting a time of 4:48:05 to take ninth place. Sag Harbor's Dylan Schlott was 19th (4:52:16) and Tom Cohill of Wainscott finished 66th (5:16:25).