Powerman Tennessee
USAT Long Course National Championships
Sunday, May 5, 2002
7.5k run, 50k bike, 7.5k run
College Grove, Tennessee
Complete Results

A blanket of fog greeted Powerman competitors as darkness lifted on Sunday morning, delaying the start of the race. The fog was so thick that the beginning of the race was pushed back by 15 minutes. About 30 minutes after the first wave went off the fog was gone, and after several days of wet weather, the sun appeared for the long course US National Championships.

The out and back run course was shortened from 7.5k to 7.3k because of mud caused by rain in the days before the race. The run course rolls up and down on a dead end tree lined paved road before an uphill grind on a stone driveway to the turnaround. South African Josephus Le Roux was the first man to the halfway point, and at T1 he had a 32 second lead over Greg Watson, Christopher Georgule, and Eric Schwartz. David Boutillier and Leroy Popowski were 1:15 behind Le Roux, and the next group of three, which included Jonathan Hall, was 1:38 behind Le Roux.

LeRoux, who is just one week away from graduating at Western State University in Colorado, held the early lead on the bike. Watson spent the first two miles on his bike eating a Clif Bar before powering past Le Roux into the lead by mile four. While Watson's lead over Le Roux grew, behind him Popowski, Svarre, and Hall were making their way toward the front. Popowski, who in the last 5 months has been hit by a car twice while riding his bike, was the only one who got within sight of Watson.

Watson was riding cautiously, trying to avoid the bonk that slowed him down late in the bike at Powerman Alabama. Watson hit T2 with an 18 second lead over Popowski, followed by Svarre (fastest bike split), and Hall, who said he had the worst bike ride of his life and considered dropping out several times.

Watson extended his lead on the run and won his first American Powerman Duathlon since 1996. His time of 2:05:26 was 1:35 faster than second place. Hall passed Svarre in transition and ran down Popowski to finish second, a placing he was happy with considering the way he felt. Popowski was third, and Svarre fourth. First year pro Christopher Georgule had the fastest final run, moving from 8^th place to 5^th place as he passed Eric McBride in the final mile.

With wins at Dannon Florida, Powerman Alabama, and Blackwater Traverse, Desiree Ficker was the favorite at Tennessee. Late entrant Agnes Eppers of Bolivia, who arrived in Tennessee on Saturday after a bus ride from Miami, led the first run by 48 seconds over Marjan Huizing, Anne Preisig, and Melissa Hopkins. The fifth and sixth women in were Lisa Bentley and Ficker.

Midway through the bike Ficker took the lead but then made a costly mistake, making a right turn instead of a left turn. She was off course for about two minutes before a volunteer caught her in his truck and told her to turn around. All of a sudden Huizing was in the lead, but she didn't realize it. At T2 Huizing had a lead of two minutes over Ficker, who had climbed her way back into second. Gollnick was almost a minute behind Ficker, with Eppers in fourth, 32 seconds behind Gollnick.

Huizing ran toward the turnaround expecting to see Ficker in the lead, and it wasn't until the turnaround on the last run that Huizing realized she was the leader. She easily held on, winning in a time of 2:22:31. The lanky Eppers moved up from fourth to second, finishing in 2:24:02. In her first duathlon of the year Gollnick finished third in 2:24:50, and first year pro Melissa Hopkins had a solid race to finish fourth. Preisig was fifth and Lisa Bentley was sixth. Ficker struggled on the last run, walking parts, with pain in her achilles. She had a minor achilles problem over the last couple weeks that flared up during the race. She finished seventh, and Rachel Sears was eighth.

Powerman Tennessee was the second Pro qualifier for the long course World Championships at Powerman Austria. The top 4 men and women earned spots. Among the men Popowski, Georgule, McBride, and Schwartz all earned spots. The women earning slots were Huizing, Gollnick, Hopkins, and Preisig. Any unclaimed slots would pass down as far as the 10^th American. Previous slots were earned at Powerman Alabama by Desiree Ficker, Andrea Ratkovic, Greg Watson, and Michael Lovato.