Best on Land, Less by Sea!
After visiting a client in Orange County Virginia, Doug Landau arrived in Colonial Beach in order to compete in both the Virginia Triathlon Series Sprint Triathlon as well as the AquaVelo the next day. Despite hours of driving, “my goals were not to get passed once I got out of the brackish water and to complete the bike course — both transitions and run — in under an hour,” notes Landau.
After a pedestrian swim, Landau ran up the pea gravel beach, jumped on his son’s bike (which had been retrofitted the day before), and took off on two wheels. He went back and forth with three other riders, but passed about 100 other competitors. One of those riders was penalized for drafting after the race was over. Triathlons do not allow drafting off other cyclists, as it is supposed to be an individual time trial effort. Once off the bike, Landau overtook the trio and passed 30 more runners. He accomplished his goal, finishing the land portion in under an hour and won his age group. His friend John Lysher , who usually comes out of the water with a lead on lawyer Landau, also put in a strong performance and wound up on the podium. Lysher has beaten Landau in races and in the overall series age group title in the past. The Lysher family turned out in force in order to see John and his son compete as a relay the next day.