69°
NORWALK, Conn. Norwalk's Eneas Freyre won a national championship in his age group in the duathlon in April. Last weekend in Gijon, Spain, he added a world championship to his resume.Freyre, 35, won the 35-39 age group title at the Duathlon World Championships. His time of 1:47:06 was the fastest among the 14 age groups. He was also one of five American men to win world titles. Freyre, a native of Greenwich, helped open and runs fitness training programs at Targetraining in Westport.He took control of the race early. Starting behind the younger age groups, Freyre ran a 33:37 10k (6.2 miles) to catch nearly all of the athletes who started ahead of him. He powered through the 40k bike ride in 52:35, the fastest time in the entire field. He finished up with a run in the 5K in 17:22, the fourth best time in his age group.Freyre said running races this summer in Norwalk and Westport helped sharpen his running skills for the race. "I knew my big splits would always be around the top,'' he said. "I focused on getting some running and some racing this summer. I made it a point to hit the Norwalk and Westport summer series events to build that running background that I lacked."He also said he was not surprised his team beat some of the younger groups. "The older athlete tends to be better in the endurance sports,'' Freyre said. "I had a good sense of what I could do physically. Knowing what the competition had done in the past, I knew it would take a big effort to beat me."The last time Freyre competed in the world championships, he finished third. He broke his foot early in that race two years ago, and still managed to finish. The victory in Spain helped erase those memories, and lifted him to the top of the heap."I achieved my goals of being a national champion and the international race,'' Freyre said. "It's a nice cherry on top. I'm going to think about maybe doing longer distances, or maybe qualifying as a professional. There are still a few events I'd like to do."
Contact Tom Renner at trenner@mainstreetconnect.us.
Click here to follow Daily Voice Norwalk and receive free news updates.
