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A pair of Wilton residents made the half-hour trip to Old Greenwich to capture championships Sunday morning in the Volvo of Stamford Greenwich Cup Biathlon.
Mitch West was the overall winner in the bicycle/running race out of 200 finishers. Katie Bottini was the female champion and third overall. The 15-mile biathlon began with a 2.5-mile run at Tod's Point, followed by a 10-mile bike ride in the streets outside of the venue. It concluded with another 2.5-mile run at Tod's Point.
West, 41, covered the course in 52 minutes, 7 seconds to finish 1:17 ahead of runner-up Don Gustavson (53:24) of Fairfield.
"I felt good," West said. "I just tried to not push it too, too hard on the first run. Even though the bike part is only 10 miles, you still don't want to push it too hard. You have to save a little for the last [running] race."
Bottini, 24, who was a member of some state and conference championship lacrosse teams at Wilton High School, placed third overall and had the fastest time, 55:17, among the 53 women who finished.
"It was my first biathlon," Bottini said. "I kind of went into it not expecting anything. I went slower than normal on the first run. I felt real good on the bike and I felt real good on the last run."
Dan Isleib placed fourth overall in 55:44. Rickey Fisiaski, 25, of Fairfield placed fifth in 56:16.
Bob Dahl, 54, was the fastest finisher from Greenwich and sixth overall with a 56:19. Jonathan Baxendale, 36, of Riverside placed seventh (56:23).
Daniel Conroy (56:56) of Stamford, Scott Beauregard (56:58) of Milford and Brett Jones (56:58) of Bridgeport completed the top 10.
Cassandra Maximenko, 28, of Naugatuck placed 11th overall in 57:24 and was the runner-up female. Rose Shabet, 39, of Darien was the third woman and 19th overall in 59:53.
This biathlon was the second of 10 events put on by series director Mickey Yardis in the annual Volvo of Stamford Greenwich Cup, now in its 25th year.
"It was phenomenal," West said. "It was a gorgeous day and, obviously, Mickey always puts on fantastic races. They're safe races with the traffic control being great to keep them safe. It really is an "A" race in terms of how it's put on."
Complete results from the biathlon and a schedule of future events may be obtained at threadsandtreads.com.
The Jim Fixx Memorial Day Run on May 30 is the next event. It includes a 5-mile road race and a half-mile run for kids.
Did you participate in the race? How did you fare? Start the discussion below!
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