Third Thursday Adventure Series

5/17/07 Tower Grove Park

Results

Sprint 1:

Sprint 2:

The first doubleheader also resulted in the closest finishes so far this year. The first sprint (map) was won by Eric Buckley, who was ineligible for the second round because he set the course. That left the tightly packed trio of Bill Langton, Rob Wagnon, and Mark Geldmeier to hunt down Rick Armstrong in the handicap. Although he mispunched in the opening round, Rick was seeded using his time (13:48), so the handicap formula only gave him a head start of 35 seconds.

Not surprisingly, all four converged quickly and the tactics of "split or stick" commenced. At the end of the first section, Mark Geldmeier held a lead of about 15 seconds over Rick, with Rob and Bill close behind. Rudy Schwarz also got in the mix, but lost time on a route choice and was unable to regain contact.

The four leaders bunched up again on the ulta sprint section. Between the short legs (most under 20 seconds) and ultra-detailed map, precision took precedence over foot speed. When Mark bobbled the final control, Rick zipped by to score the win. Not too shabby for a guy in his late 50's! His wife, Fran, also joined the action, giving us our first female performances of the year.

Look for more head-to-head action throughout the summer. The second sprint at all the double headers will feature some sort of mass start.