Women's Cross Country

Hartwick Runners Compete at the Duathlon World Championships

CONCORD, NC - Five Hartwick Cross Country runners loaded bike, body, and all the proverbial race gear into a van and headed to the ITU Duathlon World Championships on September 25th. The race which represents the culmination of a season of hard work for all the athletes was held at the famous Lowes Motor Speedway in Concord, NC.

Competing for Team USA were Hartwick Students; Erika Gates (18-19 age group), Gabrielle Dello (20-24), Laura Gray (20-24), Tim Sattler (20-24), and Justin Pedersen (20-24). The event being held for the first time in the US in almost a decade provided an opportunity for the athletes to compete against top amateur duathletes from all over the world. Some athletes traveled from as far as New Zealand, Japan, and Australia.

The ITU Short Course World Championships follows a race format that starts with a 10k run, to a technically challenging 40k bike, and finishes with a blistering 5k run held within the grounds of the speedway.

The bright colors of the various national team uniforms drowned out the overcast skies and intermittent rain of race morning. As the Hartwick athletes laced up their shoes and pulled on the red, white, and blue Team USA kits, it was soon apparent that racing conditions would be less than optimal. The skies opened up, the starting gun fired, and in an almost indiscernible blur of color upwards of 800 athletes were off.

Dello was the first of the Hawks to roll into T1 after posting a lifetime 10k personal record of 41:56. Sattler led the Hawk men as he rolled into T1 with his own 10K PR of 36:27. The almost constant rain presented treacherous conditions on the bike course, on a day that left many athletes skittering into hay bales the Hartwick athletes all rolled into to T2 unscathed as they prepared for the 5k second run. As the athletes sprinted under the finish banner it was apparent that everyone was spent from the effort of the day.

Closing well to finish 15th with the 7th fastest 5k in her age group was Dello. Gray was 16th, while Gates finished on the podium with a silver medal as she was 2nd in the 18-19 age group.

The men's side was rounded out with Sattler finishing strong placing 15th in the tough 20-24 age group, while Pedersen's hard effort rounded out the day in 25th.