Competing in his last race of this year’s Virginia Triathlon Series, Spotsylvania and Fredericksburg injury and disability lawyer Doug Landau managed to get first place in his age group. Managing 12:21 for the 750 meters in the shallow crystal clear heated lake Landau found himself in 11th place in his age group. The swim begins with an in water start with the course going around the transition area and the finish line. Spectators could walk around the race site and never be more than 150 yards from away. This section of Lake Anna is unique in that the water coming into this section is used to cool the power plant and is a good 6-10 degrees warmer than the rest of the lake. The water was 72F in 2006 and 77F in 2007 and 74F in 2008 which is pretty nice for October! The super fast rolling bike and run courses are located just 45 minutes SW of Fredericksburg and 45 minutes NW of Richmond at Lake Anna Beach Marina. As this was the final race of the 2009 Virginia Triathlon Series, there were athletes from the Tidewater area, Western Loudoun County, as well as Maryland, Pennsylvania, California, North Carolina, Texas, West Virginia, Nevada and Washington, D.C.!

In most of his races this season, Landau is not passed once on “dry land.” Making use of a quick transition, good enough for 3rd, the Triathlon Trial Lawyer biked 33:34 over the rural roads of Louisa County, good enough for second place. Another fast transition in under a minute put the disability, accident and sports injury lawyer within striking distance. In the heat Landau was able to manage a 21 minute 5k for 1st in the grouping, with a total time of 1:09:06 for this hotly contested sprint event. Unfortuantely, Landau did not compete in 5 Virginia Triathlon Series events, the new requirement for overall series awards. Had he done another race at the level of his other 4, he would have finished in 3rd place, behind a client who finished in first place ! At this time, Landau does not again plan on competing in the series in 2010. After all, he will be competing as a “Grand Master,” and thus hopes to focus on the USAT Duathlon, Olympic Distance and Sprint Triathlon Age Group National Championships as a 50-year-old.