Triathlon: Beware of Dave

Triathlon: Beware of Dave
By Todd Balf (with Derek Rielly)

As the season kicked off last April with the St. Croix International Triathlon, the buzz on the street was about the imminent return of Dave Scott, the six-time Hawaii Ironman champion turned restless 40-year-old retiree. Scott, who wasn’t at St. Croix and last raced in a major triathlon in 1991, was training seriously and expects to be at Kona come October to try for his
seventh Ironman. Ironically, defending champ and longtime rival Mark Allen won’t be on hand. Instead he’ll run the Berlin Marathon in an attempt to qualify for the Olympic trials. As for the race in question on St. Croix, Karen Smyers, 32, of Massachusetts, won her third straight, dispatching the two-kilometer swim, 55-kilometer bike, and 12-kilometer run in 2:53:23, a mere seven
seconds off the course record and almost five minutes ahead of Paula Newby-Fraser, who was fourth. Mike Pigg, 30, of California, made the winning break early in the bike leg and was never again challenged, finishing two minutes up on Jimmy Riccitello in 2:33:12.