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GREENWICH, Conn. Getting to Beijing for the International Triathlon Union World Championships was the biggest hurdle for Riverside's Reenie Parker. Once she arrived, she made the most of her trip.
Parker finished sixth in the women's 50-54-year-old age group, competing the Olympic distance race in 2:36.33. Her best leg was the swim, where she had the third fastest time among the 35 women in the field. She also finished second among women from the United States.
"I'm delighted with the outcome,'' Parker said. "I didn't have any expectations. I didn't want to be disappointed."
Parker's biggest challenge came prior to the race. Her flight from Newark, N.J., on Thursday was delayed for three hours. She arrived in Beijing a half hour before the deadline to pick up her race packet. After a three-hour ordeal, she finally got the proper paperwork to compete.
"It was a real roller-coaster ride,'' Parker said. "I had to give a woman holding my packet my social security number, passport number and bib number. When we finally got to the place to pick up the packet, she wasn't there. She came back and she had all my numbers. I was thinking she might want to race as Reenie Parker."
Parker competed in the event along with Greenwich's Karen Newman and Stamford's John Cook. She qualified for the event by finishing 10th in the 2010 U.S. Age Group National Championships in Tuscaloosa, Ala.
She also had a strong summer of training and competing, including a victory in the Park City Mossman Triathlon in August in Bridgeport. She was first in her age group in two other triathlons and second in another.
"This summer I was on a roll,'' she said. "I had my fastest bike split ever at the Mossman race."
Parker trained for swimming at the SportsPlex and rode at Targetraining in Greenwich. The world race was her final event of the year. She says she will now focus on her personal training business and triathlon coaching. To find out more about Parker's training and coaching programs, contact her at reenieparker@hotmail.com.
Contact Tom Renner at trenner@mainstreetconnect.us or at 203-947-4815.
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