preview - Tri-California Events

RACE
ELITE
PREVIEW
Males
P
acific Grove is one of the
prettiest little corners of the
planet and luckily for the
sport, Terry Davis and the folks
at Tri-California have hosted a
triathlon weekend there for nearly
two decades. On September
13 and 14, Pacific Grove and
the triathletes who flock to this
lyrical jewel of a town, just down
the street from John Steinbeck’s
old haunts in Monterey, will
celebrate the 20th Anniversary of
this triathletic event perched on
the edge of the Pacific Ocean.
Lined by elegant cypress trees
and rimmed by colorful ice plant,
the rocky shores are inhabited
by seals, seabirds, and beautiful
blue and green seawater. The
swimmers will do the kelp crawl
off Lover’s Point, the cyclists will
loop along the winding shoreline
and the runners will traverse the
parks and pathways out toward
the aquarium and back to the city
center.
To be sure, the race has had it’s
share of legendary competitors.
Winners include 4-time World
Champion Chris McCormack
in 2001, five-time ITU World
Champion Simon Lessing in
2002 and 2003, Matt Reed in
2004 and Becky Gibbs Lavelle
used to own this race in the
first decade of the 21st century.
Other legendary winners include
Carol Montgomery in in 2005 and
four-time World champion Leanda
Cave in 2009.
This time around, local hero and
two-time Pacific Grove champion
Tommy Zaferes brings a rising
international profile to the race
and fast rising international star
Katie Hursey will be aiming at
adding her name to the legendary
winners of Pacific Grove.
Tommy Zaferes
26
Triathlon at Pacific Grove 2014
RACE
Jeffrey Dahlen
John Dahlz
Tommy Zaferes 28
Aptos, CA
John Dahlz, 29
South San Francisco, CA
Jeffrey Dahlen, 27
San Juan Capistrano, CA
Zaferes is a local Monterey County hero
and a budding international star. In
2011, he won the elite men’s title at The
Triathlon at Pacific Grove and at the San
Francisco Triathlon at Alcatraz and won
Pacific Grove again last year. He comes
into this year’s event on a hot streak with
a victory at the Kelowna PATCO Sprint
Triathlon Premium Pan American Cup
and at the Tri Santa Cruz in which he set
a triathlon PR for the 10k run in a time of
31:47.
Dahlz, the 2009 USA Triathlon National
Collegiate Champion, finished 4th at this
race in 2010, 2nd in 2012 and recently
finished 2nd to Zaferes at the Tri Santa
Cruz a few weeks ago. Dahlz, who
coaches the famed UC Berkeley Triathlon
team, recently took 12th at the hotly
contested Vineman 70.3 and 9th at the
Dallas ITU Pan American Cup.
Last year Dahlen was 14th at the
Wildflower Olympic Distance race, 29th at
the Life Time Fitness Oceanside Olympic
distance race, 9th at the Tri Monroe
(WAS) sprint and 1st at the Big Kahuna
Sprint Triathlon in Santa Cruz.
The 2008 U.S. Olympic Trials swimmer
has had a few shots at the elite ranks,
taking 2nd at the 2013 Sarasota ITU
Triathlon Pan Am Cup and 4th at the
2013 USAT Elite National Championships,
3rd at the 2013 ITU World Cup in
Tiszaujvaros and 22nd at the 2014 ITU
World Triathlon Series event in New
Plymouth, New Zealand. Zaferes endured
and recovered from a scary medical event
in late May in which he collapsed with
a seizure after finishing 7th at the Dallas
Pan American Championships and has no
memory of the race.
The 29 year old Brazilian is currently
training in Boulder, Colorado and splits
his time between Curitiba, Brazil and
Los Angeles, California. He has been
a triathlete since 1998. He is the 2010
Brazilian National Champion and is a
3-time runner-up in the South American
Championship and is currently ranked
97th in the ITU 2016 Olympic qualification
points list with a most recent 22nd placing
at the Pan American Championship in
Dallas, Texas.
Mauro Cavanha, 29
Brazil
Jeff was born and raised in Southern
California, and began his athletic career
swimming for the legendary Mission Viejo
Nadadores under Coach Bill Rose. After
four years of collegiate swimming Jeff
took up triathlon in 2012 competing for
the University of California San Diego
Triathlon Team. At the end of his rookie
season he finished 2nd at the Skins
Fearless F1 Triathlon earning his elite
license. Highlights from his first season
as an elite include winning the San Diego
International Sprint Triathlon and finishing
4th at Tri Santa Cruz. Jeff is currently
completing his PhD in Neuroscience at
the University of California San Diego.
tricalifornia.com
27
RACE
Nicholas Chase, 28
St. Petersburg FL
Staff Sergeant Nicholas Chase competes
for the U.S. Military Triathlon Team. In
2013, he was 22nd elite amateur at St.
Anthony’s, 1st overall at the Florida
International Triathlon, 1st Male 25-29 at
Steelhead 70.3 and 21st Male 25-29 at
the ITU Age Group World Championship
in London and won Tri Rock Clearwater.
This year was 31st at Oceanside 70.3
and 10th at Superseal.
Erik Clarkson, 32
Santa Cruz, CA
24 and was a top 3 overall amateur at
Wildflower Long Course and qualified
for his elite card. He decided 2014 will
be his first pro season focusing on half
Ironman distance races representing
PacWest Athletics Club. So far he was
scored 12th overall pro at Wildflower
Long Course, 10th at Vineman 70.3 and
7th at Lake Stevens 70.3. Yu has a BS
in mechanical engineering at UCLA, a
Masters in the field at Stanford. He is
fluent in English and Mandarin Chinese
and can communicate in Japanese and
Taiwanese. He also makes triathlon
training videos and race blogs that are
comedic and entertaining and can be
seen at www.youtube/yuxc.
Nicholas Chase
A professional triathlete since 2009,
Clarkson competed for the UC Santa
Cruz swim team and took up triathlon
and cycling when he graduated. Last
year he was 6th at the Triathlon at Pacific
Grove and this year he won the 2014
California International Triathlon and
took 3rd at 2014 Tri Santa Cruz just 10
seconds behind runner-up John Dahlz.
Yu Hsiao, 24
Cupertino, CA
He started racing triathlons when he
joined the UCLA Tri Club in 2010 and
earned USA Triathlon All-American status
in 2011 and 2012. His breakout season
came in 2013 when he won Male 2028
Triathlon at Pacific Grove 2014
Eric Clarkson
Yu Hsiao
RACE
ELITE
PREVIEW
Females
Amanda Hahn-Peters, 27
Los Angeles, CA
Hahn-Peters began triathlon a year
before graduating from Florida State
University in 2008 with a degree in mass
communications. This year she finished
19th among elite women at the Clermont
PATCO Sprint Triathlon, 15th elite woman
at the Sarasota PATCO Sprint Triathlon,
11th at the Toronto PATCO Sprint
Triathlon Pan American Cup and 10th
elite woman at the Magog PATCO Sprint
Triathlon Premium Pan American Cup
Katie Hursey, 24
Scottsdale, AZ
Hursey is one of the United States’
shining young triathlon stars with big
wins on the international stage who is a
realistic contender for the 2016 Olympics.
Following in the footsteps of U.S. star
Gwen Jorgensen, she earned 2013
Rookie of the Year honors on the strength
of two ITU World Cup wins in Palamós
Spain and Tiszaujvaros, Hungary. This
year she proved she was no flash in the
pan with a win at the 2014 New Plymouth
(NZ) ITU World Cup over top ITU World
Triathlon Series star Andrew Hewitt, 2013
WTS series runner-up Jodie Stimpson
and two-time ITU World Champion Helen
Jenkins. Like Tommy Zaferes, Hursey
comes into this race on a high with a win
at the Kelowna PATCO Sprint Premium
Pan American Cup.
Photo Credit: ITU
Emily Cocks, 37
Napa, CA
Emily Cocks comes into this race on the
heels of a confidence boosting victory at
Tri Santa Cruz and has a strong record at
Pacific Grove which includes a 5th place
in the elite category in 2011 and a 4th
place finish in 2012. Cocks struggled
through the Wildflower long course this
year but held on to a 6th place finish in
May. At the end of the 2013 season,
Cocks had an encouraging 4th place
finish at Rev3 Florida. In 2010 she scored
a career-best 3rd at the Honu Ironman
70.3. In 2009, she was 8th pro at
Chicago in one of her first pro races and
2nd overall amateur woman at Escape
From Alcatraz.
Erika Erickson, 28
Berkeley, CA
Erickson, who earned her undergraduate
degree at M.I.T. and is working on her
graduate degree at UC Berkeley, started
triathlon in 2010 and has a consistent
record as an elite age grouper including a
win at the 2011 ITU Grand Final Women’s
25-29 age group, a 5th place at the 2012
USA Triathlon Collegiate Nationals, a
2nd place at the 2013 USA Triathlon
Collegiate Nationals. As an elite she was
8th at the 2012 Triathlon at Pacific Grove
and 5th place last year.
tricalifornia.com
29
RACE
Brianna Blanchard, 26
Boston, MA
A Pepperdine University graduate in Business
Administration, Blanchard has embraced a wide variety
of sports including the traditional - swimming, running,
gymnastics – and the unusual – modern pentathlon,
endurance horseback riding, horse vaulting – as
well as a three year stint as a lifeguard in Southern
California. While at Pepperdine, she swam the 200,
500 and 1650 for their Division 1 swim team and also
managed to break 5 minutes in the 1500 meter run
on the track. Since graduation, she has been training
and racing full time as a professional triathlete while
working a wide variety of jobs to keep food on the table
– including acting and modeling.
In 2013 her focus was on short course ITU racing and
she has taken on some of the top competitors in the
world. Her results include a 3rd place at the San Juan
Pan American Cup, 3rd at the Cohasset Sprint, 9th
at the Dallas ITU Pan American Cup, 36th at the San
Diego WTS, and 11th at the 5i50 Kansas Olympic
distance. Current form is getting better – a 2nd place,
1:13 behind Emily Cocks at Tri Santa Cruz.
Gina Horath, 23
Aptos, CA
A Santa Cruz native, Gina was a top runner on the
Aptos High School track team that won a state
championship. She enrolled at University of California
San Diego where she started her triathlon career,
racing nearly undefeated in the West Coast Collegiate
Triathlon Conference in 2013 and 2014, as well as
leading the UCSD women’s team to top 5 finishes at
USAT Collegiate Nationals in 2013 and 2014. Her
collegiate career culminated in a 17th place finish in
the USAT Collegiate Nationals Olympic Distance race
this past spring and a 5th place in the USAT Collegiate
Nationals Draft-Legal race where she earned her elite
license. In her first year as an elite she won the San
Diego International Sprint Triathlon, finished 25th in the
Santa Cruz Wharf to Wharf Race, and finished 5th at Tri
Santa Cruz.
Erika Erickson
Gina Horath
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Triathlon at Pacific Grove 2014