[photo - Ritch Viola on his way to the finish]

Despite rain showers, strong winds and unusually cool temperatures down in Tempe, Arizona today, all five of our PacWest athletes dominated the Ironman Arizona course.

Race team athlete, Ritch Viola, completed his first Ironman in impressive fashion. In fact, one could say it was a “pro” performance. Ritch not only took first in the M35-39 age group, he was the 3rd overall amateur. His time of 9:14:03 also placed him 28th overall including the pro men and women. His splits of 51:11-swim, 5:06:15-bike and 3:12:17-run were incredibly strong and balanced from start to finish. Ritch pushed his way off the bike from 4th to 1st on the run. A truly amazing Ironman debut!

Meanwhile we had five other solid performances on the day including from our “veteran” Ironmans, Nicky Barber and Jeffrey Tyler. Nicky finished in a strong 11:31:01 and took 14th in the F35-39. Way to go Nics! While Jeff battled through a tough race and finished in 13:54:47 (M50-54). FYI, this was their second Ironmans (IM CDA and IM Canada respectfully) this year!

Our final four athletes are also first time Ironmans and trained together all year. Congratulations to twins Chrissy Hirsch-Towle and Cindy Hirsch. Incredibly, both did the entire race together! Which begs the question, how did they stay together during the swim with 2,498 other athletes in the water next to them? Wow. They finished with the exact same time of 12:04:28 and took 17th and 18th respectively in the F25-29. Amazing job ladies!

Right behind the twins was Kevin Bukata who finished in an awesome 12:21:55 and 66th in the M25-29. Having only started doing triathlons two years ago, Kevin took his training much more seriously this year and has come an incredibly long way. To perform as well as he did is validation of all his hard work and dedication. We’re all proud of you Kevin!

Name (Division) Finish Time (Overall & Age Group Place)
Ritch Viola (M35-39) 9:14:03 (OA 3rd, AG 1st) Podium & Kona ’11 qualifier
Nicky Barber (F35-39) 11:31:01 (OA 451st, AG 14th)
Chrissy Towle (F25-29) 12:04:28 (OA 683rd, AG 17th)
Cindy Hirsch (F25-29) 12:04:28 (OA 684th, AG 18th)
Kevin Bukata (M25-29) 12:21:55 (OA 811th, AG 66th)
Jeffrey Tyler (M50-54) 13:54:47 (OA 1,510th, AG 94th)