Sports
Naugatuck Man Wins Ninth Annual Mossman Triathlon [Video]
Tim Steiskal, a senior-to-be at Southern Connecticut, posts a winning time of 1:00.14 in a race that attracted more than 700 participants
With a warm water temperature and cool 72 degrees on land at the 6:30 a.m. start time, more than 30 elite men, woman and top youth athletes went head-to-head on the 15.1-mile mini triathlon course that weaved its way through the somewhat flat Calf Pasture Beach Park and Marina.
Naugatuck's Tim Steiskal, a 21 year old captain on the Southern Connecticut men’s swim team, led virtually from start to finish. Steiskal, who had set a goal of finishing in under an hour, missed his mark by 14 seconds, posting a winning time of 1:00.14
He attributed that gaffe to the change over after the bike portion of the race when he and Jonathan Baxendale, 37, of Riverside, exited the transition stage and started running the wrong way for about 50 yards before race officials turned them around. Steiskal regained his composure and stretched his lead over Baxendale to a minute.
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Steiskal, who will be a senior at Southern this fall, competed in the Mossman two years ago and finished third in 1:01.00. He is looking forward representing Connecticut at the nationals in Burlington, VT, on Aug. 20.
In the woman’s elite group, 23 year-old Laura Cummings of Bayshore, N.Y., competing in only her second triathlon, won the race in 1:09:44. She finished 2:10 ahead of runner-up Jessica Fox of Norwalk.
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Cummings, a college track star at Albany University in New York, ran 5:52 miles for the 5K (18:12) to run away from the female field. There was no third-place finisher in the woman’s elite race.
In the youth elite 15-19 division Taylor Peterson Fairfield edged out Marcus Russi of Westport by a half a second. Third-place finisher Matt Jardin of Lakeville, Mass., finished a minute behind the leaders.
Since the early 2000’s the sport of triathlon has grown faster than any other race sport in the country as evidenced by both equipment sales and race participation. The Mossman Triathlon had more than 700 individuals enter the race.
