By By Marty Stamper / EMG sports assistant
July 14, 2002
Donny Forsyth of Memphis turned in his best time in the 2002 edition of the Sunfish Summer Triathlon Saturday morning and it was good enough to move him from runner-up to champion of the 16th annual event.
Two hundred and sixty athletes completed the race with six teams also finishing the three-stage event at Lake Okatibbee. A rather large alligator checked out the last contestants in the swim stage as it cruised off the beach.
Forsyth had a time of 1:35:19 to beat five-time champion Victor Perini by 72 seconds. Perini won in 1994 and from 1996-99.
Perini, who is from the Memphis suburb of Cordova, was the best man in Forsyth's wedding. Saturday, however, Forsyth, 36, was the better man despite Perini, 34, leading the staggered-start race coming out of the water.
Forsyth was in first place by the end of the 34K bike, however, as he had a time of 51:26 heading into the run. Perini had fallen back to fourth with a time of 54:00.
The staggered starts saw several athletes getting out of the water from their half-mile swim before Forsyth ever got wet.
Forsyth did well on the 8K run also.
Curro is competing in the duathlon nationals at Carlsbad, Cal., this weekend.
Third place went to Robert Lombilla, 30, of Jonesboro, Ga., with a time of 1:38:16. Forrest Owens, 34, of Memphis was fourth at 1:39:08, while Rehan Mahmood of Memphis was fifth with a time of 1:40:09.
The first Mississippian to finish was Pete Pritchard, 38, from Ocean Springs. His time of 1:43:27 was good for 14th place overall.
The top local finisher was Elton Reed, 26, of Meridian at 1:51:48 which was four seconds faster than Matt Espey, 19, of Meridian who came in at 1:51:52.
The female champion was Melanie Holloway, 32, of Roswell, Ga. Her time of 1:44:07 was nearly four minutes faster than runner-up Margaret Finley's 1:48:05. Finley, 28, is from Germantown, Tenn.
Holloway also won the 2000 Sunfish.
Completing the top five females are Erika Pollock, 27, of Spanish Fort, Ala., at 1:49:56, Lesley Brainard, 31, of Collierville, Tenn., at 1:50:11, and Marda Kaiser, 28, of Memphis at 1:51:38.
In the relay competition, the Johnnycake Runners (David Maron and Rhoda Maron) came in first with a time of 2:04:14. Second place went to Team Ironmen (Christian Eifert and Evan Hurley) at 2:09:00.