Greg Welch was just 400 meters from the finish line and certain victory Sunday in the Chicago Bud Light Triathlon when he took a wrong turn.
”I noticed something was missing near Soldier Field,” said the 25-year- old native of Sydney, Australia. ”I was running and looked down; I had my hat, had my glasses . . . but I forgot my shirt with my race number on it in the transition area.”
Welch checked his backside and, seeing nothing, turned left when the finish line was right.
”People were grabbing me and everyone was yelling, `Stop, wrong way!`
” he said. ”But I needed my shirt.”
Now properly dressed (runners without race numbers can be disqualified), Welch crossed the finish line in 1 hour 42 minutes 19 seconds to win his first United States Triathlon series race in four seasons as a professional.
On the women`s side, Jan Ripple of Baton Rouge, La., built a substantial lead through the 1.5-kilometer swim and 38K bike portions, then coasted through the 10K run to win in 1:56:11.
But Welch`s maneuver marked a strange finish to an even stranger race.
Dark clouds covered Chicago, then erupted roughly 40 minutes after the 6:30 a.m. start, causing nearly unbearable race conditions.
”It was definitely the windiest and rainiest race I`ve ever been in,”
said Harold Robinson, who, as reigning Coke Grand Prix champion, has been in a few races. ”The visibility was really bad.”
The men professionals were on their bikes, at the southernmost part of the triathlon`s route near Jackson Park Golf Course, when the rain hit.
Back on the Ohio Street Beach, the countless waves of amateurs were being either pulled out of the water by lifeguards or herded under whatever cover they could find to wait out the storm.
But both the men and women pros had to pedal on down Lake Shore Drive, through the thunder, lightning, rain and, most fiercely, wind.
”It was the wildest bike leg in history,” said Welch.
”It got to the point,” said Rob Mackle, who finished third, ”where everyone forgot about the race and just tried to stay on the bike.”
That was anything but easy as women`s pro Laurie Samuelson, leading after the swim leg, found out when she crashed hard to fall back and finish fourth. The bike leg, especially northbound after the turnaround, was excruciatingly slow. At one point, the triathletes had to battle blowing sand from the lakefront and crossing a median on slick grass because the ramp provided for the lane change had blown away.
Only Brad Kearns of Cool, Calif., and Welch came on strong in the bike leg. They entered the transition area from the bike to the run in third and fourth place, respectively, behind Mackle and Garrett McCarthy of Redondo Beach, Calif.
Mackle, who led after both the swim and bike legs, knew that Welch, ninth after the swim, had made up too much ground.
”I stayed right in there on the run for the first couple of miles,”
said Mackle. ”But I knew I was running over my head.”
”They had about 20 seconds on me after the bike,” Welch said. ”I was probably most worried about (Kearns); he`s the only guy who can outrun me.”
Kearns, who would finish second, tried to do just that. But Welch was too strong, turning in a 31:47 split for the 10K run, counting the seconds needed to grab his T-shirt. Robinson, a cross-country star at Cornell, also turned in a strong run to finish fourth. Last year`s winner, Brooks Clark, came in fifth.
Ripple, though tight on the run, held off second-place finisher Janet Hatfield of Bloomington, Ind., on the women`s side.
But the day clearly belonged to Welch. The amiable Aussie left for Belfast, Ireland, late Sunday to race in another triathlon.
But for one day, he took the best the Windy City had to offer and finished with the competition, and his shirt, on his back.
