San Diego Triathlon : Home Course Is Sweet for Tinley : He Moves Up Biking Past His House, Then Runs to Win
Scott Tinley, running on his home course, made up a 1-minute 35-second deficit with a 32.39 10-kilometer run Sunday to win the United States Triathlon Series’ sixth annual San Diego event in 1:50:15.
Tinley, 30, from Encinitas, steadily moved up the leader board through the 1.5K ocean swim, 40K bike ride and 10K run to earn $1,400. It was the second time in two years that the two-time Hawaii Ironman champion has won the San Diego event.
In the women’s division, Linda Buchanan, 30, again showed that the San Diego course might as well be considered her home course. Buchanan, from Davis, Calif., won for the third consecutive year, this time in 2:02.57, to earn $1,400.
Tinley raced the course as if it were tailored for him.
“Obviously it’s an advantage to race over the same road that I train on every day,” Tinley said. “In fact, the bike course goes right by my house.”
However it didn’t start out that way, as Tinley was the 16th man out of the water in 18:57. He was 2:25 behind leader Brett Marshall of New Zealand, whose specialty is the swim.
For Marshall, who trains in Encinitas, it looked as if this event would be a repeat of the San Diego International Triathlon held June 21. In that race, Marshall came out of the water with a 200-yard lead, but a quarter of the way through the bike leg, Tinley and eventual winner Brad Kearns passed him. Marshall finished 10th and said he needed more work on his biking and running.
This time, Marshall’s lead in the swim was 29 seconds over Brooks Clark, 20, of West Chester, Pa., and 1:10 ahead of William Powers II of Tempe, Ariz. A mile into the bike leg, it appeared as if Clark would do to Marshall what Tinley and Kearns did in June. But this time, Marshall held him off.
Marshall slowly improved his lead from 15 seconds to 23 seconds to 38 seconds 20 kilometers into the bike leg, the halfway point of the event.
Closing in on Clark was Jim Riccitello of Tucson, Ariz., who was the ninth man out of the water, 2:07 behind Marshall. Before the bike leg was completed, Riccitello had caught and passed Clark and was aiming for Marshall, as well as for his first win in 1987.
He was 17 seconds behind Marshall at the transition from bike to run, and four seconds ahead of Clark. However, looming behind in fourth place, 1:35 behind Marshall and 1:16 behind Clark, was Tinley, whose best event is the run.
As it turned out, Riccitello had spent himself on the final portion of the bike race, and a quarter-mile into the run, he had to stop because of nausea. He finished the race in sixth place.
Clark caught Marshall within the first mile and Tinley caught him in the third mile. Tinley eventually ran down Clark and pulled away, winning by 20 seconds.
“I thought maybe I could stay with him (Tinley),” said Clark, a two-time national age-group champion. “But I thought if it came down to a sprint that he would take me because at this moment, I don’t have any sprint in me.”
It was easier for Buchanan. She was the fourth woman out of the water at 19:50, 1:17 behind leader Shannon Delaney of Del Mar. Buchanan moved into first during the bike leg and established a 1:57 lead over Elizabeth Bulman of Columbia, Mo., into the final transition. She increased her advantage over Bulman to 2:58 by the finish. Delaney had dropped to ninth after the bike race and finished 13th.