They Weren’t Just Faces in the Ironman Crowd

It’s tough to compete when you can’t pick your opponents out of the crowd, which is why most age-group triathletes focus on beating the clock.

On rare occasions, however, the battle becomes personal, like the one between Chris Johnson and Bill McDermott last Saturday among the 1,666 people who started the Ironman California in Oceanside.

Johnson of Laguna Niguel and McDermott of La Habra Heights knew before the race that they would be clashing in the men’s 50-54 age group. Johnson, 51 and an eight-time Ironman Hawaii finisher, won the division last year. McDermott, who won the 40-44 title in Hawaii in 1991, turned 50 in 2001.

“We talked about it in the transition area,” Johnson said. “I said, ‘This is going to be good and we are going to be going at it all day.’ It turned out to be a lot of fun.

“It sounds funny but that 10 hours went by pretty quick.”

McDermott, an aerospace engineer, came out of the water after the 2.4-mile swim eight minutes ahead of Johnson. Johnson, an electrician, moved into the lead during the 112-mile bicycle leg and left the final transition area with a four-minute advantage.

McDermott, the 13-time overall winner of the Catalina Marathon, finally ran down Johnson at the 17-mile mark of the 26.2-mile run. McDermott hoped he would be able to break Johnson’s spirit by passing him, but Johnson hung tough.

“I couldn’t afford to relax even the slightest bit all the way in,” McDermott said. “It really hurt. I crossed the finish line and I was absolutely wasted.”

McDermott won in 9 hours 56 minutes 33 seconds. Johnson finished in 9:57:39, beating the third-place finisher by nearly 28 minutes and the winner in the 45-49 age group by nearly 19 minutes.

Speed Boat

Huntington Beach’s Pete Melvin was a member of the crew of PlayStation, Steve Fossett’s 125-foot catamaran, when it set the record for sailing from Miami to New York this week.

PlayStation sailed the 1,047 nautical miles from South Point Tower in Miami to Ambrose Light in New York in 2 days 5 hours 55 minutes 8 seconds, averaging 19.39 knots and breaking the previous record by nearly 17 hours. Melvin is co-designer of the boat with Gino Morrelli of Newport Beach.

Noteworthy

Vans Skatepark in Orange will host the third stop on the Winterfresh amateur street skateboarding series at 10 a.m. Saturday. . . . The Huntington Beach Pro/Am Surf Series is holding an event Saturday and Sunday at 9th Street, north of the Huntington Beach Pier. Surfing starts at 7 a.m. each day. . . . The Op Pro Oceanside, the second stop on the 2001 Professional Surfing Tour of America, will run Thursday to June 3 on the north side of the Oceanside Pier. . . . Professional women longboarders from Team Margaritaville will give surfing demonstrations at 11:30 a.m., 1 and 2:30 p.m. today in the wave pool at Wild Rivers water park in Irvine.

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