Carl Eichert and Nick Sykes traveled to Burlington, VT this weekend to race the USAT Age Group National Championship. Both coming off of less than perfect training regimens, they each performed respectably, placing 35th and 79th in the 20-24 age group.

Eichert entered the race with few expectations, but crushed all 3 disciplines with a 23:00 swim, 1:02:33 bike, and 37:47 run to cross the line in 2:05:57 but unfortunately received a 2 minute penalty to push him back to an official time of 2:07:57, good enough for 130th place overall!

Sykes came into the race having struggled over the past couple of months with a few nagging injuries and training around a full time job. Nevertheless, after a 30:44 swim, a 1:07:00 bike (splitting 36:32 then 30:28 for each half), and a 41:16 run, he crossed the finish line for a total of 2:21:47; good enough for 614th of the 1873 finishers.

In addition to the competitors, team members Brady Thomas and Michael Edge drove the team trailer to Vermont providing bike transport to athletes flying up to compete from the southeast. Their dedication to the team and local area athletes is greatly appreciated.

Next weekend, the team will be taking 10 athletes to the Rocketman Triathlon in Huntsville, AL for the first SECTC Olympic distance race of the year!