Lake Nasworthy Triathlon Race Report

(Photo courtesy of Barry Kleypas)

Air Force service members took top overall honors in Sunday's Lake Nasworthy Triathlon with Major Jeff Dierdorff from Dyess Air Force Base winning the Men's division and Goodfellow's Morgan Diglia racing to the overall Women's division win.

The race started with a 300 yard open water swim with ASU Physical Therapy student Ryan Ruh posting a fast swim time of 5 min 24 sec to lead the field out of the water and into the transition area. Ruh went on to finish 6th overall and 2nd in the Men's 20-29 age group.

Dierdorff took command of the race on the bike leg and held on during the run to take the overall Men's win with a time of 46:49, edging out Goodfellow AFB intelligence school instructor Brian Lemaster who crossed the line in 48:49 to finish 2nd overall and 1st in the 40-49 age group. Mertzon's Brian Tillman leveraged a fast swim and strong final running leg to place 3rd overall and round out the Men's podium/

  In the Women's category, eventual overall winner Diglia and San Angelo's Dionnie Hoelsken raced a close back and forth battle with multiple lead changes before Diglia pulled away for the win in the second mile of the final run leg. Diglia lead coming out of the water, then Hoelsken took the lead during the bike leg and led during the first half of the run until Diglia retook the lead for good to win in a time of 1 hr 43 sec.

(Photo courtesy of Barry Kleypas)

Hoelsken finished 2nd overall and 1st in the 30-39 age group with a time of 1:01:55.  Former collegiate volleyball player Stephanie Starnes put together strong swim, bike and run legs to claim 3rd overall in the female field and 1st in the 20-29 group in a time of 1:06:58.

San Angelo athletes Lenny Christo, Sebastian Haynes and Sam Spooner ('Team Randy's Bike and Run') took home top honors in the team relay category with Christo doing the swim leg, Ironman triathlete Haynes racing the bike leg and Team RWB's Spooner bring it home with a strong final run.

Although the competition was fast and furious at the front of the field, the Lake Nasworthy triathlon also welcomed a number of beginner triathletes who were racing their first multisport event. One of those athletes was San Angelo resident Amanda Razani who said she normally does just running events.

(Photo courtesy of Barry Kleypas)

"This was my first triathlon," said Razani. "I was a little nervous going in but the friendly attitude of everyone and the lifeguards in kayaks during the swim leg helped make the race fun. Before my next triathlon, I need to do more multisport training and hopefully upgrade to a better bicycle."

The triathlon action in San Angelo will continue on July 25th with the Goodfellow triathlon and then on August 9th with the San Angelo Triathlon. For full results and flyers for up coming events visit roadlizards.org.