The following race report was submitted by Lisa:

I don’t know about the rest of you, but I have raced in the rain before and have a strict “no rain” policy.   Well, not really very strict…I just hate racing in the rain.  Who doesn’t?  But once you’re committed, get up early, drive to the race, etc, etc, what are you supposed to do?  I mean, really, isn’t the team motto HTFU?  Greg, Margaret and I were planning to do a relay…rain or shine.  As it is freakin’ pouring and we are using the Chekmobile to stay dry (along with Alex & Jocelyn, who are waiting for their swimmer, Tony “the ringer” Delogne), Margaret and I are wondering about the “rain or shine” bit ~ who the hell started that…Greg, of course, as he was doing the swim, he could care less if it was raining.  We are soaking wet, trying to somehow stay dry.  Alex is bouncing around with that perpetual smile on his face, doing an imitation of Gene Kelly in “Singing in the Rain” (no, really ~ he even sang ~ you all missed it).  Jocelyn is constantly checking her watch and doing some weird calculations about what time it is (“it’s been 6 minutes since 8:13” or something like that).  She is so worried that Alex will not be in the transition area on time.  Margaret and I are secretly thinking that that would be f**ing hilarious if Alex wasn’t there when Tony came running up ~ Alex had already missed his TT start time earlier in the week.  Just icing on the cake.  But Joc would have none of that, and as a result we all stood under one umbrella in the transition area for about 15 minutes waiting for the first swimmers/trail runners (long run through the woods to get to transition ~ one of those special things that makes Ashland a challenging race).  While standing there a woman comes into transition in her wetsuit and grabs her bike ~ she’s quitting before even starting ~ probably not the only one (even Andy & Beth only did the swim part of their made-up aquabike category ~ they were seen peeling out of the parking lot before the first bikers were back). 

So we’re soaking wet, standing under an umbrella (I know, doesn’t make much sense, does it?) when we see a green cap ~ Tony, in wave 3, is one of the early swimmers to T1 ~ and Alex takes off like the roads were dry (all that pent up energy).  Alex later reports that he felt like Tony was going to wrestle him for the bike and take off in his wetsuit ~ those competitive juices kicking  in.  Next out of the water is Brian (wave 1), then Dan (wave 2) and then Greg (wave 3) ~ really nice swims by all.  Brian, then Dan, then Lisa leave transition and head out onto the roads.    Okay, I cannot report what the swim was like, but it was a swim in the rain ~ who cares.  But I did do the bike, and it sucked.  The first road out of transition is a pothole filled mess, only made worse by literally rivers of water running down it.  Everyone was tentative at first.  At times the rain truly stung your face (I am not being a baby ~ others said the same thing) and it was challenging at times to see where you were going there was so much water in your face.  But I LOVE that bike course ~ want to do it again next year, when it is dry.  Of course, it rained just long enough for all of us to finish the bike…and then stopped for the run.  Go figure.  I wasn’t in transition, but Brian, Dan & Joc were already out on the run when I come in ~ and off goes Margaret.  Tony shows up to cheer everyone on after going home to take a hot shower and put on dry clothes.  He is nice enough to bring hot tea, which feels good in my hands, but I cannot drink as I am shivering so hard.  It doesn’t seem like we are standing around very long before Dan & Brian come into the finish ~ they both deserve the greatest of applause for doing that entire race in such lousy conditions.  It is a challenging race under perfect conditions and they both were awesome.  Team Chek/Delogne finished before Crist/Van Dore/Kadlick, but it was a good race ~ with Chek/Delogne nabbing third (originally Greg, Lisa and Margaret were down for 1st in the all female category…we wanted Greg to go collect our award, but then decided to ‘fess up ~ when Margaret told the woman of the mistake, the woman wondered if Greg was a pretty looking guy ~ to which Margaret replied that he was a good-looking guy, but would be a freak as a woman ~ so no award for us). 

Dean was there in his Hooters t-shirt to support everyone (and sell Alex his wheel).  Ashley was in wave 4, so unfortunately I didn’t see her during the race ~ but she too did the entire race in the rain, sporting her Team Infinitri top that her husband couldn’t believe she was going out in public in (with all our tight-fitting tops, Alex said we were like the guys in Dodgeball).   All in all, despite the worst of conditions, it was a blast.  Nice perseverance by the team.  

[Here are a couple of additional observations from Dan:

1.  Tony's swim time was the fastest overall swim time at the race.

2.  Dean got a special award for being first in line for the Pizza.

3.  Lisa kicked some serious ass on the bike course.

4.  If Alex hadn't been in transition when I came back from the bike, I think I would have dropped out.  I was so cold, I couldn't even feel my feet.  But there was Alex, all happy and encouraging me to go on.

5.  I think (I am not sure I heard this correctly) Greg challanged Tony to some sort of a showdown this weekend at the Webster Sprint.  No, I couldn't have heard that correctly.

6.  Despite the cold, rain and general misery it was a really fun race and a good time hanging out with everyone post-race.]