Triathletes winning spring road races

It’s spring! Hello, warmer weather and springtime road races. If you needed any more motivation to do a road race, over the March 16/17th weekend, two professional triathletes won half-marathons on the west coast. In Portland, Oregon, Jesse Thomas ran a 1:08:07 to win the Shamrock 1/2 Marathon. And in Vancouver, Rachel McBride won the Shamrock’n 1/2 Marathon in 1:20:33.
Related: Break out of winter with a 5K road race
In 2018, McBride won Ironman 70.3 Victoria, finished second at Ironman 70.3 Mont-Tremblant and fourth at the Ironman African Championship in South Africa. Based on her Ironman and 70.3 success in 2018, she qualified for the World Championship in Kona. In her debut race, McBride came off the bike inside the top-10 and went on to finish 28th. In 2019, McBride hopes to learn from her first Kona experience and begin her qualification process at Ironman Lanzarote.
But before McBride begins her triathlon season, she will have done a number of single-discipline events. Most recently it was the Shamrock’n road race, and at the end of April, she plans to do the Cascade Gravel Grinder – a three-day gravel stage race.
These types of races give you a benchmark and are a way to keep sane (the tri season is still far out). “It gives you quick letter grade on where your fitness is – it lets you see if your plan is working or if you need to make changes,” says Karsten Madsen, a top ten finisher at the 2018 Xterra World Championship.”Doing an early season event is the perfect opportunity to get back into the racing mindset,” adds Matthew Sharpe, an elite Canadian triathlete on the World Triathlon Series.
So, check your local running or cycling series and get outside, the tri season is just around the corner.