Drivers Club Sweeps Parkside Triathlon Team Competition

Drivers Club #1 and Drivers Club Too shook off the cobwebs from a long night of volunteer work at the Rain Dance festival to confirm their dominance of team triathlon competitions by sweeping the Spring 2006 Parkside Triathlon.

Rumme led the assault again by biking an astonishing 9.8 miles in 20 minutes to secure the victory for Drivers Club #1. This was a 1.3 mile increase over last falls event. "I’ve been concentrating on my stationary bike, and following Dan’s (Dan Allemand, team trainer) carefully laid out training schedule and the pieces just came together" said Rumme.

The race started with the much anticipated showdown between Drivers Club swimmers Chris Hannes and Josh Martin. After two weeks of talking smack Martin finally got his shot at Hannes. Hannes was the first in the pool posting a total of 675 yards while winning his wave. Although this was an improvement over last falls event many onlookers were unconvinced it would be enough. Hannes was among them, "I thought I would need 700 to have a chance, but I just ran out of time and energy."

Knowing the mark he had to top Martin was cautiously optimistic, "I can swim that in my sleep, just as I thought, Hannass just doesn’t have the goods to even make it sporting. How anti-climatic. If it wasn’t so pathetic it would be funny. Maybe Dan should promote me to #1 and put him out to pasture. Did you see all of that gray chest hair and those muffin tops, just plain disgraceful, and you can quote me on that."

With such a bold statement out there Martin began the fifth wave. His pace was swift and sure. With two minutes left he needed a scant 75 yards to bring home the victory. Despite this Allemand was still hesitant to declare him the victor, "This is where a man with the pain threshold of a guy like Martin will normally fold."

Stacy the event timer agreed, "He is cute as a button, but there’s that soft look of a quitter in him, plus all of his flip turns are getting me wet."

Josh proved all of his doubters wrong and kicked it in to high gear to finish with 725 yards, giving his team a 50 yard lead going in to the bike.

After Martins victory a visibly shaken Allemand had this to say, "Did anyone see Aqua Teen last night. It was hilarious, that Master Shake just cracks me up."

The bike also had a budding rivalry with Dave Riley vowing to give Rumme a run for his money. Riley, a road bike specialist and rising star on the Drivers Club MTB team, had to confront Rumme in his specialty, the stationary bike. Allemand summed up this clash, "This is where Rumme shines. What I’m looking for from Dave is to make it close. This summer he will be doing the YMCA triathlon. This is outdoors, on a road bike. Rumme will have his hands full there, but I can’t think of many people who can beat him on the SB."

To remove any doubt Rumme posted a PR of 9.8 miles to crush the competition and pave the way for another Drivers Club victory. Stacy, the event timer was blown away by this total. "Wow, he just kept getting faster and faster. How could someone so precious ride so fast. Those bikes aren’t comfortable, and he just kept going."

Rumme was a tough act to follow but Riley pinned his ears back and gave it his all. Totaling 8.8 miles he surpassed the Drivers Club rookie SB record by 3 tenths of a mile. "This is exactly what I wanted to see. A rapturous Dan Allemand exclaimed. "These bikes take lots of time to master. With this race under his belt I guarantee next fall we will have a real barnburner. And this summer at the YMCA I predict Dave will take Rumme down. Things are getting exciting on this team, within a few months we could have a new champion."

After the bike the runners of Driver Club were left to vie for mere bragging rights, and second place. Jim Strouf, back from self imposed hiatus, was sharp in his first race in almost six months. He ran 2.125 miles in 15 minutes to seal the victory for the undefeated team. After being mobbed by the throngs of Drivers Club fans an exhausted Strouf howled, "Put that in my review."

After seeing Strouf’s run Wes Djuplin, Drivers Club Too’s runner, was unimpressed. "That’s all. I thought he was good."

One hour later, with a sizeable lead over the third place UWP team, Djuplin let loose and stunned the joyous fans with a defiant sprint to the finish cone, to tie Strouf and declare himself the new #1 runner for the team. "I had plenty left. I was only pretending to cramp up and almost vomit to psych out that guy from Parkside. And it worked. They should call the other team ‘Team Rumme’, he’s the only one holding that team up right now. Josh took Hannes down as did I Strouf. We are on the verge of putting this streak thing to rest."

Riley was equally optimistic for the future "Just let me get Rumme on a Road Bike and it’s over. This was just a warm up for us. Now we are ready. Frankly, who cares about stationary bike, the road is where we separate the men from the boys. I am THE man, and on the road Rumme is just a little boy"

Allemand, as his swagger made evident, was boastful of his growing stable of elite team tri-athletes. "I didn’t hear anyone else mention it, but I now have the makings of a dynasty. When they said I couldn’t field a winning team I developed DC #1. Then they said I couldn’t do it twice, now I have DC Too knocking at the door. John Wooden, Vince Lombardi, Red Aurbach, and now it looks like you can add my name to that list of perfection driven coaches."