By Jay Prasuhn
May 6, 2007 -- For many in the Southwest states, the Rocky Point triathlon is a seasonal rite of passage, marking the unofficial opening of the regional season. Never mind that the area is a rite-of-passage for scores of Arizona college students, with the area besieged every April for Spring Break.
This year with spring breakers back in school, nursing headaches while cramming for finals, Saturday’s race saw someone who has been making a big break this season—Arizona pro Lewis Elliott—continue his breakout season, by winning the Las Palomas Rocky Point Triathlon by five minutes.
The women’s race was a nailbiter as recent collegiate national champ runner-up Katie Ellis out-kicked pro Heather Haviland in the final 100 yards in a deep sand beach finish to win by just six seconds.
Times were unavailable early after the race, and this report will be updated as they are received.
The Olympic-distance race, located 50 miles southwest of Arizona at the Northeasternmost point of the Sea of Cortez, saw major change. New organization, a new venue and course -- at Las Palomas Hotel and Golf Resort along Sandy Beach, one of several new luxury condo developments that have been an economic shot to the arm for the tourism town. The town (and this race) are expected to see more influx next year from Southern Californians when a new road under construction will run direct from Yuma, Ariz. to Puerto Penasco, carving an hour and a half off what is currently a circuitous six-and-a-half hour drive from San Diego. As promised, the race retained its low-key, laid back aura, offering a cold Tecate to athletes at the beachfront finish line.
Due to the massive tidal fluctuations in the Sea of Cortez, the race start was delayed an hour to allow the tide to come up a bit past the exposed reefs. Unfortunately for about five athletes, that low tide left them at the mercy of small stingrays resting in the sand, which ended their days just as they began with foot punctures to the stingray barbs. Temperatures were ideal by race time in the upper 60s, but the mercury crept up to the lower 90s as the morning wore on.
Once past the stingray gauntlet, the biggest adversary for athletes was a stiff wind out of the west that made hard work on the mostly flat three-lap bike through the sandy, barren Pinicate desert.
Among the men, Scottsdale, Arizona’s Lewis Elliott came in the big favorite. After a third-place finish at Ironman 70.3 Oceanside and an eighth-place result and Hawaii Iroman qualification against a highly-competitive field at Ironman Arizona, all eyes were on the up-an-comer.
Fortunately for Elliott, it wasn’t much of a fight. Out of the water second, Elliott took the race lead in the first two miles of the bike. From there he pushed hard through the winding sections past a growing strip of in-construction hotels toward La Choya, extending to a four-minute lead off the bike.
The man in pursuit, Phoenix resident Patrick Bleff, “Aw, I’ve raced Lewis a few times. I knew he wasn’t’ coming back,” he said. Bleff crossed second, just over four minutes back.
The womens battle was a much tighter affair. The early bike leader saw Ellis, an Arizona State University senior who recently recorded a runner-up finish at the USAT Collegiate National Championships. “Heather was creeping, creeping, creeping up on me,” she said of Heather Haviland, a Wisconsin-based pro who has been training in the Phoenix area this spring. Late in the bike, Haviland assumed the lead. “She made a surge in the last couple miles of the bike, and I really wanted to stay with her.”
Off the bike together, Ellis and Haviland ran side-by-side throughout the affair. “No, we never really tested one another, and if we did, it was pretty minor,” Haviland said. “It was too hot out there do make big efforts.”
Stride for stride through day, the last turn off pavement and onto the deep sand was the deciding factor, and Ellis pushed to separated herself. “She just had that short-course extra gear,” Haviland said. “It was fun racing side-by-side all day and to have it come down to the last few yards.”
2007 Las Palomas Rocky Point TriathlonMay 5, 2007, Puerto Penasco, Sonora, Mexico1.5k swim, 40k bike, 10k runWomen
1. Katie Ellis (USA) 2:04:08
2. Heather Haviland (USA)2:04:15
3. Luisa Bryce (USA) 2:09:49
4. Sage Grossi (USA) 2:22:49
5. Shannon Driscoll (USA)2:25:41
Men
1. Lewis Elliot (USA) 1:53:36
2. Patrick Bless (USA) 1:56:43
3. Mike Montoya (USA) 2:00:58
4. Alex manessis 2:01:55
5. Mike Melley (USA) 2:02:25